Enabling automatic glue record updates

Automated glue record updates require a supported registrar. For background, also see automatic registrar updates.

Glue updates are only relevant for domains used as the base domain of a vanity name. When this is not the case, the options below will not be present.

To enable automatic glue updates:

  1. Connect your registrar

    Go to Preferences -> Registrars -> Add Registrar. Select your registrar from the list of currently supported registrars.

    Name will default to the registrar’s name. If you have two or more accounts at that registrar, you may wish to modify the name to distinguish accounts.

    Follow the remaining instructions on the page to locate or create an API token for your registrar.

  2. Enable glue updates for the domain

    Go to Domains -> {your-domain.tld} -> Nameservers.

    If Detected registrar shows your registrar name, then click ‘Enable’ under the Glue records section. DNScaster will automatically make any necessary glue record updates within a couple minutes.

    If Detected registrar does not show your registrar, return to step 1 and verify the registrar’s connection. You may attempt a manual verification of the connection by selecting the connection and clicking ‘Refresh’.

  3. Enable delegation updates too

    We recommend enabling automatic delegation updates for any domains with automatic glue updates enabled. Simple click ‘Enable’ under the Nameservers section.

Migrating in

Make sure your DNS host records are ready to go before updating the glue records at your registrar. When ready to make the switch, simply enable automatic glue record updates (and probably delegation updates too) and DNScaster will make all necessary changes.

For sensitive migrations, some folks may prefer to update glue records and delegations manually at first and then enable automatic updates afterward. It is imperative that automatic glue record updates be enabled as soon as possible though. When disabled, DNScaster will be unable to properly recover from a nameserver failure!

Migrating out

When automatic updates are enabled, DNScaster periodically reverifies each domain’s glue records and repoints the records back to your DNScaster nameservers, thinking something is misconfigured.

When migrating out, this is obviously undesirable. When you’re ready to begin the transfer of production traffic to another provider, disable both automatic glue record and automatic delegation updates first. Do this only immediately before transferring traffic, and not any earlier.