Namecheap allows you to host your own nameservers, and therefore point your domains at your VPS or dedicated server‘s IP address more quickly in future, by doing the following:
Note you only need to do this once, for the domain with which you will host the nameservers. Your future domains (assuming they reside on the same server / VPS) can use these same nameservers to point that domain to the right machine in future (using these instructions to preconfigure DNS).
- Login to your Namecheap account;
- Mouse over the Account option in the upper right corner of the page and choose Domain List or select the Domain List menu in the left sidebar;
- Click on the Manage option in front of the domain name;
- Click on the Advanced DNS tab and find the Personal DNS Servers section > click on the Add Nameserver button;
- Select the hostname of your server from the drop-down menu for Nameserver and assign an IPv4 IP address to it (i.e. your server’s IP address);
- After that, click on the Done button.
Note – this only works with IPv4 addresses at present.
Note – this will not re-point the domain in question (it will only register the nameservers for that domain – so in theory, you would use your business, or most appropriate, domain for this. That domain itself does not need to use those nameservers for its DNS).
Note – Once you’ve registered your nameservers, do not forget to create the corresponding A records for them in your domain name zone file. This can be done in the DNS or Zone Management menu of your hosting control panel. You might need to contact your hosting company for assistance with setting up the records. Basically, if you have used ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com make sure these are setup in the DNS part of your cpanel or Plesk setup for that mydomain.com (or ask your host to do this).