Domain Hosting and DNS Management
Domain hosting is the service that keeps your domain name active and connected to your website or email services. It's distinct from web hosting (which stores your website files) but equally crucial to your online presence.
Domain Registration Management
Maintaining your domain registration records, renewal dates, and contact information to ensure uninterrupted ownership and control of your domain name.
DNS Infrastructure
Operating the name servers that translate your domain name into IP addresses, enabling visitors to find your website and emails to reach your inbox.
Comprehensive DNS Management
The Domain Name System (DNS) is the internet's address book, translating human-readable domain names into the numerical IP addresses that computers use to communicate. Our DNS management services give you complete control over this critical infrastructure.
What We Manage
A Records: Direct your domain and subdomains to specific IP addresses, ensuring visitors reach the correct web server when they type your domain name.
MX Records: Configure mail exchange records to route email correctly to your email servers, whether you're using our email hosting or an external provider.
CNAME Records: Create aliases that point one domain name to another, useful for services like CDNs or when managing multiple subdomains efficiently.
TXT Records: Store text information for various purposes including email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), domain verification, and security policies.
NS Records: Manage name server records that delegate DNS authority, allowing you to use different DNS providers for different purposes if needed.
DNS Updates & Propagation
Making changes to your DNS records requires careful management to ensure smooth transitions without disrupting your services. Our team handles DNS updates professionally, minimising downtime and ensuring reliable propagation.
Quick Updates
Fast DNS record updates that begin propagating across the internet within minutes, not hours or days.
Planned Migrations
Carefully orchestrated DNS changes when moving between hosting providers or updating infrastructure.
TTL Management
Optimising Time To Live settings to balance fast updates with efficient caching and performance.
Propagation Monitoring
Tracking DNS changes as they propagate worldwide to confirm successful updates across all regions.
Rollback Capability
Quick reversal of DNS changes if issues arise, minimising any potential service disruption.
Expert Support
Technical guidance throughout the update process to ensure changes are implemented correctly.
Understanding DNS Propagation
When you make changes to your DNS records, these changes don't take effect instantly worldwide. DNS propagation is the process by which updated DNS information spreads across the internet's network of DNS servers.
Propagation typically takes anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours, though most changes are visible within a few hours. The time required depends on several factors including TTL settings, ISP caching policies, and geographic location. During propagation, different users might see different versions of your DNS records as some servers update faster than others.
We manage this process carefully, often reducing TTL values before major changes to speed up propagation, then increasing them afterwards to improve performance. Our monitoring tools track propagation progress globally, ensuring we can verify when changes are fully implemented and identify any issues that need addressing.
Advanced DNS Features
Beyond basic DNS management, we offer advanced features that enhance performance, reliability, and security for businesses with more demanding requirements.
DNSSEC Support
DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) add cryptographic signatures to your DNS records, protecting against cache poisoning and other DNS-based attacks. We can implement DNSSEC for domains requiring this additional layer of security, though it requires careful management to avoid service disruption.
Subdomain Management
Create and manage unlimited subdomains for different purposes - separate websites, testing environments, regional variations, or specific services. Each subdomain can be configured independently whilst remaining part of your main domain structure.
Email Authentication Records
Proper configuration of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records is crucial for email deliverability and protecting your domain from being used in email spoofing. We help you implement these authentication mechanisms correctly, improving your email reputation and reducing the likelihood of your legitimate emails being marked as spam.
DNS Performance & Speed
DNS lookup speed directly impacts website performance. Whilst often measured in milliseconds, these small delays accumulate and affect user experience, particularly for users making initial visits to your site.
Our DNS infrastructure is optimised for speed with strategically located servers that respond quickly regardless of where your visitors are located.
Enhanced DNS Management with Cloudflare
For clients requiring the highest levels of performance, security, and reliability, we offer DNS management through Cloudflare's global network. This premium option provides significant advantages for business-critical websites and applications.
Global Anycast Network
Cloudflare operates one of the world's largest Anycast networks with data centres in over 300 cities across more than 100 countries. This means DNS queries are answered by the server closest to each user, resulting in faster response times regardless of geographic location. For businesses with international audiences, this global presence delivers consistently fast DNS resolution worldwide.
DDoS Protection
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks attempt to overwhelm your servers with traffic, making your website inaccessible to legitimate users. Cloudflare's infrastructure automatically detects and mitigates DDoS attacks at the network edge, before they can reach your servers. This protection operates at massive scale, capable of handling even the largest attacks that would overwhelm most individual hosting providers. Your DNS remains responsive even under attack, ensuring continuous accessibility for your website and email services.
Rate Limiting & Traffic Management
Cloudflare's rate limiting features protect your infrastructure from abusive traffic patterns and potential attacks. You can configure rules that limit how many requests individual IP addresses can make within specific time periods, blocking malicious bots whilst allowing legitimate users through. This intelligent traffic management prevents resource exhaustion, reduces bandwidth costs, and improves overall site performance by filtering out unwanted traffic before it reaches your servers.
Advanced Security Features
Beyond basic DNS services, Cloudflare provides comprehensive security features including Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules, SSL/TLS encryption, bot management, and IP reputation filtering. These features work together to create multiple layers of protection for your online presence. The system learns from attacks across their entire network, continuously improving detection and mitigation capabilities.
Performance Optimization
Cloudflare's Content Delivery Network (CDN) caches static content at edge locations worldwide, dramatically reducing page load times for international visitors. Combined with automatic image optimization, minification of CSS and JavaScript, and HTTP/3 support, these performance enhancements can significantly improve user experience and search engine rankings. Faster websites engage visitors better and convert at higher rates.
Analytics & Insights
Detailed analytics provide visibility into traffic patterns, security threats, and performance metrics. You can see where attacks are originating, which countries your visitors come from, how fast your pages load in different regions, and much more. These insights help you make informed decisions about security policies, content strategy, and infrastructure optimization.
Always Online Technology
If your origin server goes offline for maintenance or experiences issues, Cloudflare's "Always Online" feature serves cached versions of your pages to visitors. This minimises downtime impact and maintains business continuity even during infrastructure problems. Users see a recent version of your site rather than error messages, preserving their experience and your reputation.
Who Benefits from Cloudflare DNS Management?
Whilst all our DNS services are reliable and professional, Cloudflare's enhanced features particularly benefit certain types of organisations and use cases.
E-commerce Businesses
Online stores require maximum uptime and protection from attacks that could disrupt sales or compromise customer data.
International Companies
Global businesses benefit from Cloudflare's worldwide presence ensuring fast performance for users in every market.
High-Traffic Websites
Sites receiving significant traffic need infrastructure that can handle load whilst maintaining performance and security.
Security-Conscious Organisations
Businesses handling sensitive data or frequently targeted by attacks gain peace of mind from enterprise-grade protection.
Migration & Setup Process
Moving your hosting to Internet Direct is a straightforward process designed to minimise disruption whilst ensuring everything transfers correctly.
Assessment & Planning
We begin by reviewing your current setup, identifying all website files, databases, email accounts, and DNS configuration. This thorough assessment ensures nothing is missed during migration. We then create a detailed migration plan specifying exactly when changes will occur and what to expect at each stage.
Website and Database Transfer
We copy all your website files and databases to our servers, configuring everything to work correctly in the new environment. This includes setting up email accounts, SSL certificates, and any special configurations your website requires. We test thoroughly before making any changes to your live site.
DNS Update and Cutover
Once we're confident everything works correctly, we update your DNS to point to our servers. During DNS propagation, both old and new servers remain operational, ensuring continuous service. We monitor the transition closely, verifying that all services migrate smoothly.
Post-Migration Support
After migration completes, we remain available to address any questions or concerns. We verify that email flows correctly, all website features work as expected, and performance meets expectations. Only when you're completely satisfied do we consider the migration finished.
Get Started with Professional Hosting
Ready to experience reliable, secure hosting backed by decades of expertise? Whether you're launching a new website or looking to migrate existing sites to better infrastructure, Internet Direct makes the process smooth and worry-free.
Contact our team to discuss your hosting requirements. We'll assess your current setup, recommend appropriate solutions, and provide transparent pricing with no hidden costs. Our goal is to become your long-term hosting partner, supporting your online presence as your business grows and evolves.
For websites requiring enhanced security and performance, we can demonstrate the benefits of Cloudflare-powered hosting and show you exactly what features and protection levels your investment would provide. There's no obligation - we're happy to answer questions and provide expert advice about the best hosting approach for your specific situation.
Call us today on 01243 607171 or email sales@idms.co.uk to discuss how our hosting services can provide the reliable foundation your online business needs.