Hark, fellow adventurers! Having ventured forth into the digital wilds to establish mine own website, I encountered a fearsome beast known as DNS.

DNS, or the Domain Name System, is the grand map of the internet realm. It translates human-readable domain names (like www.johnantrobus.co.uk) into the arcane IP addresses that machines comprehend (such as 172.217.160.142). Though seemingly straightforward, this path can be fraught with peril, as I discovered on my recent quest.

My journey began with a strategic alliance of providers. I secured my domain from the esteemed House of Namecheap (their prices were most favourable, forsooth!), while entrusting my website to the sturdy keep of IONOS. This required me to first direct my domain’s nameservers to IONOS, granting them dominion over my digital address.

How did I do this?

Okay, so to do this, you first need to get a verification token from your IONOS account. This is just a simple code that proves you own the domain.

1. Go to your Namecheap account and create a TXT record with the verification token.
2. Wait for the verification to go through (it can take up to 48 hours).
3. Change your nameservers in Namecheap to the IONOS nameservers.
4. IONOS will then automatically link your domain to your website and create the necessary A records.

That’s it! Your domain is now pointing to your IONOS hosting.

But the path twisted further. I sought to employ my newfound domain for the sending and receiving of missives, yet wished to avoid the burden of managing numerous mailboxes. Thus, I enlisted the aid of addy.io, a magical scriptorium that allows the creation of aliases, forwarding messages to my primary scroll repository. To achieve this, I delved into the depths of IONOS’s DNS settings, inscribing MX records that guide the couriers of the internet to deliver messages to my domain.

And how did this work?

To set up email forwarding with addy.io, follow these steps:

1. Create an addy.io account and get your own addy.io domain.
2. Set up aliases in your addy.io account to forward emails to your main inbox.
3. Go to your IONOS DNS settings and add the MX records provided by addy.io.

That’s all there is to it! Your emails will now be forwarded to your main inbox.

And lo, to add further challenge, I sought to host a separate application within a mystical tower known as a VPS, provided by the noble House of Fasthosts. This entailed establishing a subdomain and directing it to my VPS through the use of an A record. I felt akin to a grand mage, weaving enchantments to connect the various threads of my online domain.

How did I point my subdomain to my VPS?

To point your subdomain to your VPS, you’ll need to create an A record in your IONOS DNS settings.

1. Find the IP address of your VPS from your Fasthosts account.
2. Create an A record in your IONOS DNS settings that points your subdomain to your VPS’s IP address.

Now your subdomain will point to your VPS!

Just as I believed my spellwork complete, a formidable obstacle arose: my website remained inaccessible! After much divination and incantation, I uncovered the source of the disruption: my ISP’s DNS server (the mischievous sprites of Sky, in this instance). Their magic clashed with mine, preventing access to my digital keep. The solution? A swift invocation of Google’s public DNS servers, and lo! My website appeared in all its glory.

How did I fix the DNS server issue?

If you’re having trouble accessing your website, it could be a problem with your ISP’s DNS servers. To fix this, you can change your DNS servers to Google’s public DNS servers.

1. Go to your router’s settings.
2. Find the DNS settings.
3. Change the DNS servers to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

This should fix the problem and allow you to access your website.

Until we meet again fellow adventurers!

The Binary Bard