How to Add a TXT record to your 1and1 domain & How to use external DNS for a 1and1 hosted site.
Unfortunately there are lots of registrars that don’t allow you full access to your DNS settings. 1and1.com is one of these. If you host your site with 1and1.com and you want to add a TXT record to your domain for verification purposes or to set a SPF record whatever, you simply can’t do it… unless…
If you have access to another DNS server that allows you to edit your DNS zone and add TXT records, you can set your 1and1 domain to use that DNS server. However, THEN you must edit the DNS zone on that server and have all of the A records point back to the IP address for you 1and1 account.
Here are the steps:
- Ping your site and write down the IP address
- Go to the 1and1 admin domain listing
- Select the row for your domain (should be the only one checked) and the click DNS->Edit DNS.
- Select My DNS Servers
- Enter the URLS for your other DNS server (Something like ns1.example.com and ns2.example.com
- Close and save and allow a few hours for this to update before testing it.
- In the mean time, go to your other DNS server and setup a new DNS zone for your domain. It needs to have at LEAST an a record pointing to the IP address you wrote down for step one. You probably also want setup a cname for your www subdomain. You also can setup your TXT record.
- After hitting save wait for a few hours and you should be done.
If you are a visual learner, here is a screen cast.
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Hello
Thank you very much for these explanations
cordially
thank you so much for the help!!
please, can you tell me something else too in case you know..
What record should i add to my host dns server so that my mails that go to 1and1 webmail will be still active?! Thank you in advance!!!
You need to add the following MX records to your DNS host:
Mail server 1: mx00.1and1.com, 10
Mail server 2: mx01.1and1.com, 10
Thanks a lot for everything!
Felicitaciones desde Canarias.
good post, do you have a contact number, I may need you to help our company setup the spf record. we are currently using 1and1.com cloud server, and have a big problem for our customer receiving emails, at the same time, we using 1and1 mail service. if you think you can help, please send me a email and price. thank you.
ken
Would your instructions work if my domain name is with my Registrar, and I have pointed their nameservers to 1and1? I do NOT use 1and1 mail; using Google Apps. I cannot create DKIM TXT with 1and1 because they don’t allow alteration to the name of the TXT record. I’m thinking I could use a DNS manager, point both to the DNS manager, and then point back to 1and1 by adding IP address in ARECORD. Perhaps if you could email me I could explain if this isn’t clear. Thanks for your help even though it was three years ago! 1and1 has been of no help.
I’m not sure I know what you mean by “I could use a DNS manager, point both to the DNS manager” but if you mean use the registrar’s dns manager, then yes, that is exactly what you need to do.
At your registrar:
1. Stop using 1and1 as the name servers and change it to the registrar’s name servers.
2. Modify the registrar’s name servers to create an A record pointing to the ip address of your site
3. Create a cname for www that points to the non www url for your site.
4. Create the MX records to point to google apps
5. Add an spf record for google apps
6. Create the dkim record you need.
That should do it.
Thank you! I completely understand your reply. What I meant to say is that I have a 3rd player in the mix “namecheap.com” that will allow me total control over DNS entries. I pointed both 1and1 and my Registrar to NameCheap, implemented your instructions, and it appears to be working perfectly. Thank you so much for your reply. Should this fail, I’ll go back to your more uncomplicated instructions. Much appreciated.