Your domain, website and email might arrive on one invoice, but they are separate parts of your business setup. DNS is the piece that connects your domain to the right services.
Knowing which provider looks after each part makes it easier to understand what you are paying for, give your developer access and change providers without accidentally breaking something else.
The four parts of your setup
Domain registration: your address
This is the name customers use, such as yourbusiness.com.au. Your registrar manages its registration and renewal. Registering it does not automatically give you a website or a mailbox.
We suggest VentraIP for registration. If you are starting from scratch, follow our guide to registering a business domain.
Website hosting: where your site runs
Your hosting service stores and runs the website so people can visit it. This could be a WordPress hosting account or hosting included with a platform such as Shopify.
The domain points visitors towards that service. You can change hosting without changing the address customers already know.
Email hosting: your mailboxes
Email hosting provides addresses such as hello@yourbusiness.com.au and the mailboxes behind them. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are examples; some website hosting packages also include email.
The app you use to read mail is not necessarily the provider storing it. For example, using Outlook does not by itself tell you where your mailbox is hosted.
DNS: the connection settings
DNS stands for Domain Name System. Its records help browsers and mail systems find the services connected to your domain. You can manage those records with a separate provider, such as Cloudflare.
What DNS actually does
When someone visits your website, DNS helps their browser find its destination. When someone emails you, a different set of records tells their mail system where to deliver the message.
You do not need to memorise every record type, but these names often come up when connecting services:
- A, AAAA and CNAME records commonly connect your website address to its hosting provider.
- MX records tell other mail systems where to deliver incoming email.
- TXT records can verify that you control the domain or hold email authentication settings. You may hear about SPF, DKIM and DMARC when setting up email; your provider supplies the required records, which can also include CNAME records.
Nameservers identify which provider manages your authoritative DNS records. You normally choose these through your registrar. If your domain uses Cloudflare's nameservers, you make DNS changes in Cloudflare, even if you renew the domain through VentraIP.
Changing one website record and replacing the nameservers are different jobs. The first changes a destination. The second changes where the domain's DNS is managed, so all the records your services need must be present at the new provider.
Why we suggest Cloudflare for DNS
We recommend Cloudflare for managing DNS. It offers free authoritative DNS, and keeping your connection settings separate from website hosting makes future hosting changes easier to organise.
A practical setup is a domain registered with VentraIP, DNS managed in Cloudflare, website hosting chosen for your site and email with your preferred email provider. You do not have to transfer your domain registration to Cloudflare to use its DNS.
This recommendation is about managing your business domain's records. It is separate from Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 public DNS service, which people can use on their devices.
For an existing domain, moving DNS needs some care. Cloudflare can scan for existing records, but its setup guide explains that the scan may miss records. Check against your current provider before switching nameservers, including email, subdomains and records used by other business tools. Have your developer check DNSSEC too: this protects DNS answers, but needs to be handled correctly during a provider change.
You may also see an orange cloud beside some records. This turns on Cloudflare's web proxy, which routes web traffic through Cloudflare. It is a separate choice from DNS management. Follow your hosting provider's instructions for website records; hostnames used only for email should stay DNS-only.
Will moving your website affect email?
It does not have to. If your email is hosted separately, your developer can point the website to its new home while preserving the email settings.
For example, if your website is on a WordPress host and your mailboxes are in Microsoft 365, moving the website does not require moving those mailboxes. The new site needs its own connection settings; the email records still need to be there.
The catch is email bundled with your old hosting. If your mailboxes live in the hosting account you are about to cancel, they need their own plan before you cancel it. Keeping the same MX records will not help once the service they point to has been closed.
Moving mailboxes is also different from changing DNS. Existing messages, contacts and calendars may need a separate migration. Confirm what will be moved and who is responsible.
Website forms need checking too. A contact form may use a separate service to send enquiry notifications. Test a real submission after the move and make sure the notification reaches the right inbox.
What to check before changing providers
- Know where each part lives. Record your registrar, DNS provider, website host and email provider, along with who manages each account.
- Keep business access. Use accounts your business controls, enable two-factor authentication and give your developer appropriate access without sharing your main password by ordinary email.
- Save the existing settings. Export or record your DNS entries before making changes, and identify any tools using the domain.
- Agree on the scope. Are you moving the website, DNS, email or all three? Confirm what is included before cancelling anything.
- Allow for cached settings. DNS updates are not seen everywhere at the same moment. Keep old services available for an agreed overlap and plan how to reverse changes if needed.
- Test the result. Check the website with and without www, secure connections, forms, incoming and outgoing email, and any connected subdomains or tools.
- Cancel only what is no longer needed. Confirm the move is complete and check the old account is not still providing email or another service.
You do not need to become the person who manages every setting. Having a clear record of your providers and access means you can ask the right questions and keep control as the business grows.
