Tell HN: NetworkSolutions.com lost the ability to update root DNS w/ custom DNS

I have had a domain via network solutions since the start. I have had zero drama.

Remember, people who manage servers want nothing to change, ever.

They excel in sucking so much that people are afraid to move away and continue to pay $100 a year or more to just register a domain with "features" that aren't of use to anyone.

They did understand but said that function no longer works. I don't know why the UI still exists. To be clear you can add name servers that were already defined to your zones in the root servers but can not create new ones. So I could for example add pdns196.ultradns.org as an authoritative NS for my zones but if I rack mount a server and expose DNS using one of my domains then people will only learn about it when they query my NS records from other DNS servers that are already defined such as ultradns, google, etc... because they already queried NS from pdns196 meaning to your point that one I just provisioned will lack glue records in the root DNS servers.

So is their official solution for customers to change name servers to move the domains to a different registrar?

I don't know. Either that or perhaps they might expect people using them as a registrar to also use them for DNS or to use another one of the paid DNS provider services. I only had a short conversation on their web chat and that person had to ask others.

They are an incredibly shitty company.

As late as last year, and possibly even now, they were STILL charging extra if you wanted to use TLS connections for email. Otherwise, they're more than happy to allow connections with passwords over cleartext.

Their failure modes for all sorts of things is to default to pointing everything at their servers.

I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to charge extra for "premium" registrar features like adding glue for nameservers.

Anyone using them should move away as soon as humanly possible, even though they make it incredibly difficult to do so.

One of the reasons I am using it (I inherited it, looking to move) is due to being able to delegate some responsibilities to other staff without giving them the whole thing.

What other services would you recommend that provide the same? I reached out to their support because I couldn't update contact info and the spam to my company phone line was so ridiculous I had to send it to voice mail for a month.

I'd love a service that lets me delegate some technical aspects to others. Godaddy is a non-option.

All the services I use personally are, well, for personal use and don't seem to support multiple accounts.

I have been registered with them since pre-icann. I never had a reason to change. I paid for my domain for a 100 years and now I just pay yearly automatically the last time I dealt with them.

I have my DNS handled by panix.com.

>People still use Network Solutions? Is there a reason?

I'm with them since time immemorial.

The cost and headaches, both actual and potential, of the downtime incurred changing providers exceeds the potential savings in annual bills.

> One where you own the domain, like Gandi, rather than just renting it from the domain registry, as with current NetSol terms?

I don't think this distinction exists in the way you think it does. Different registrars may use different phrasing when referring to the registrant of a domain, but no matter whether the registrar uses the words "owner" or "rent", you're paying to be temporarily treated as the registrant of a domain name.

(There are some weird registrars like Njalla where the customer explicitly isn't even listed as the registrant of the domain, but that's probably not what you mean.)

How can you tell if a DNS server is already defined in the root anycast clusters?

One way is to query one of the root servers responsible for that TLD

If example.net, then adding extra steps to make it more explicit what's happening.

    # get the root servers for .net
    dig NS net
    net.   7 IN NS e.gtld-servers.net.
    [snip...]

    # just adding this step to make it more descriptive of whats happening
    dig +short e.gtld-servers.net
    192.12.94.30

    dig @192.12.94.30 +all +norecurse +nocookie -t ns example.net

    ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
    example.net.  172800 IN NS a.iana-servers.net.
    example.net.  172800 IN NS b.iana-servers.net.
    [snip ... extra data ignored]

What's a good domain registry for an important domain? One where you own the domain, like Gandi, rather than just renting it from the domain registry, as with current NetSol terms?

All domains are rented. Premium registrars like MarkMonitor have monitoring options to see if someone managed to change the root servers for your domain and will try to fix it but I have no idea if they still do that or if they are still any good. They are meant for businesses.

> 1. How can you tell if a DNS server is already defined in the root anycast clusters?

Is it yours? Then did you define it?

Is it someone else's? Then yes.

> 2. What's a good domain registry for an important domain? One where you own the domain, like Gandi, rather than just renting it from the domain registry, as with current NetSol terms?

That's not how any of that works.

The registry is the TLD.

The registrar is Gandi or Network Solutions.

You are always renting a domain from the registry, subject to the terms and whims of the registry and registrar.

I emailed the mods.

Sorry I missed that.

Ugh, flashbacks to Hostgator, where random employees (like literally all of the customer support trainers and supervisors?) had access to view not only the customer's "security PIN" but also their full, unredacted CC#... (And everyone else could see 10 digits of the CC#, i.e. only 6 digits were masked!)

Fixed. Thanks!