How to Point a Domain Name to Your Vultr VPS

This tutorial will show you how to point a domain name to your Vultr VPS using Namecheap’s DNS control panel as a visual example. If you only have a couple of sites to manage, it is recommended to use your domain registrar’s built-in DNS tool rather than try to run your own nameservers.

Since all registrars use the same overarching system (i.e. DNS) to map IP addresses to domain names, the DNS settings in this guide will work regardless of where you registered your domain.

Promo for 2024: Sign up with Vultr here and get $100 free credit!

What you need to know

The Domain Name System can be tough to get your head around, what with all the “CNAMEs” and other strange new terms you will encounter. However, setting up your DNS records is easy enough once you know the basics.

When you register a domain, you get two things with it:

1. The domain itself, and;
2. The domain’s DNS Host Records… which you, as owner (in the sense of paying registrant), can edit.

To edit your DNS Host Records, log in to your domain registrar’s dashboard. With Namecheap, you must first find your domain and click the “MANAGE” button. Here’s a screenshot:

Namecheap’s DNS control panel is tucked away in the “Advanced DNS” tab. See below:

The two examples shown in the image above (A Record and CNAME Record) are all you need to point a domain to an IP address. Let’s look at how we got there.

Step 1: Get your Vultr server IP address

Go to your Vultr dashboard and find your server IP address, shown on the Servers page:

Copy your server’s IP address to the clipboard, and then go to your DNS control panel where you will configure your domain’s DNS records.

Step 2: Set your A Record

A Record stands for “Address Record”, and this is where you will place your server IP address. Add a new Host Record now and select A Record as its type. There are three fields you must fill in:

• Host: Type @ to specify that this record is for the root domain example.com (not a subdomain).
• Value: Paste your server’s IP address here.
• TTL: Keep as default. The Time To Live is how long DNS servers should keep this record in cache, but DNS servers don’t always use this value the same way. Your domain registrar should have an optimized default setting.

Step 3: Set your CNAME Record

Now your domain is pointed at your IP address. But what happens when users type in www.example.com instead of your plain domain name example.com?

Good question, we need to make a DNS rule for redirecting visitors, and this is where CNAME (CANONICAL NAME) comes in handy. A CNAME Record lets you redirect a subdomain, e.g. subdomain.example.com, to your root domain example.com. In other words, the CNAME sets up an alias.

To redirect www.example.com to example.com, add a new DNS host record as type CNAME and enter the following for each field:

• Host: Type www to specify that this record is for the subdomain www.example.com (not your root domain).
• Value: Type example.com. with an extra full stop at the end to redirect visitors to your root domain.
• TTL: You can keep the TTL as default, or set it anywhere from 5 mins to 30 mins.

Wait, why is there a trailing period at the end of example.com.? The reason is simple. Just as www.example.com is a subdomain of your root domain example.com, your root domain is technically a subdomain for the root DNS system.

The trailing period must be added in order to qualify the domain as a FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name). Otherwise, your CNAME record won’t be recognized as valid DNS syntax.

Step 4: Test your site

There is a common myth that DNS changes take forever to propagate, but in most cases DNS servers around the world will be updated with your new host records within minutes, if not instantly.

Go to your browser and enter your domain name. The web browser should silently translate “example.com” into your server IP address. And, when you go to “www.example.com”, the browser should redirect to “example.com”.