Making changes without breaking things.
BEFORE ANY CHANGE
Record every existing record, exactly.
Every one, not only the ones you think matter.
WHY
Mail, verification and third-party services depend on records people forget.
WHAT TO CHECK
Where DNS is actually managed.
Records must be added wherever the nameservers point, not necessarily where the domain is registered.
WHAT THAT EXPLAINS
Adding a record in one place and nothing changing.
WHAT TO CHANGE ONE AT A TIME
Anything you are unsure of.
WHAT TO VERIFY AFTERWARDS
That the record resolves as intended That mail still flows That the site still loads
THE MAIL CHECK
Changing the A record does not affect mail.
Changing nameservers affects everything, including mail.
WHAT BREAKS MOST OFTEN
Nameserver changes that lose MX and TXT records CNAME conflicts Typos in long records
FOR LONG RECORDS
Copy and paste. Do not type them.
WHAT TO KEEP
A record of your DNS configuration, outside the DNS system.
