Point a Network Solutions domain at your church website

Do this

1. 1Publish your site first. Network Solutions is slow. Your old site keeps showing for hours after you save.
2. 2Domain Names. Tick your domain. Three dots → Manage.
3. 3Scroll to Advanced Tools. Click MANAGE next to Advanced DNS Records. A pop-up may appear — click Continue.
4. 4If it warns about moving nameservers to Network Solutions, stop. Your DNS is not here. Going ahead drops your church email. Make these two records where your nameservers point instead.
5. 5Under IP Address (A records), click the pencil icon on the row whose Refers to is @ — it may read @ (None), same row. Points to is the address from the domain screen. Leave TTL. Click EDIT.
6. 6Still under IP Address (A records), open the row whose Refers to is www and click Delete. Delete nothing else. No www row? Skip this step.
7. 7Click + ADD RECORD. Type CNAME. Refers to www. Alias to is the value from the domain screen. Leave TTL. Click ADD. No Host Name box appears — that one is only for Other Host.
8. 8Back to the domain screen. It says Live on its own. Give it a few hours.

4 traps

• Advanced DNS needs their nameserversAdvanced DNS Records only works while the domain uses worldnic.com or netsol.com nameservers. A warning about moving nameservers to Network Solutions means your real DNS is elsewhere. Their words: existing nameservers will no longer be used, and websites and emails from other providers will be lost. Do not click it. Make the change where your nameservers point, and tell us who that is.
• www is already an A recordNetwork Solutions pre-creates www as an A record pointing at its under construction page, 205.178.189.129. A www A record and a www CNAME cannot both exist. Delete the A row first.
• No CNAME on the bare domainThe Advanced DNS Manager refuses an alias on the second level. The bare domain must stay an A record.
• Two screensClassic View, top right, is the old interface. Its sections have their own buttons — EDIT A RECORDS, EDIT CNAME RECORDS — and you delete by ticking a box. Nothing saves until Save Changes. The new screen saves on ADD. No + ADD RECORD button anywhere? You are in Classic View — switch back, top right. The Continue pop-up in step 3 is not Classic View.

Do not touch

Mail Servers (`MX`) · `TXT` / SPF · Nameservers · DNSSEC · any `A` row named `mail`. MX is your church email — deleting one stops mail silently, and the mail row is what it points at.

Not working

• Nothing after a few hoursNormal here. Wait overnight before changing anything.
• There is no @ row under IP Address (A records)Click + ADD RECORD. Type A. Refers to @. Points to from the domain screen. Click ADD.
• The bare domain does not workThe @ row still points at the old address. Edit that row. Do not add a second.
• www does not work, or it refused the CNAMEThe www A record is still there. Delete it.
• The under construction page came backWeb Forwarding or Under Construction is on. Turn it off under Advanced Tools. Then re-check the @ row.
• Email stoppedAn MX was deleted, or the nameservers moved. Tell us. Do not keep changing.