Check Your Nameservers After Domain Name Transfers

When a domain name transfers to a different domain registrar, the nameservers remain the same until they are changed. When a domain name uses the initial registrar’s default nameservers, which is often what people use for forwarding, the nameservers will not resolve after the domain name is transferred. As a result, a domain name that forwards to a different domain name, will no longer forward correctly.

I maintained a small portfolio of domain names at Enom for many years. These names were primarily names I bought via NameJet that were pushed to my Enom account, but there were also some hand registered domain names. Because the price of .com domain names is relatively cheap, I continued to renew them at Enom. In addition, a transfer would lock all of the names for 60 days, making them ineligible for the GoDaddy / Afternic Fast Transfer network during that period of time.

With Verisign’s .com price increase coming soon and Enom now sending its expiry domain names to GoDaddy, I decided to transfer nearly all of my domain names registered at Enom over to my account at GoDaddy. Several of my domain names are used for forwarding and used the default Enom nameservers. After the transfer to GoDaddy, the domain names no longer forwarded correctly.

Shortly after the domain names landing in my GoDaddy account, I changed the nameservers to the default GoDaddy nameservers. I then set up the proper forwarding so any downtime would be limited.

One of the nice things about having a large account at GoDaddy is that I was assigned an account manager who can help me manage my account. I’ve had an account manager at GoDaddy since 2005, and it’s definitely a nice feature. I requested that my account manager send me a nameserver report so I can be sure all of the domain names in my account are being directed to the right place. I am pretty sure I missed at least a couple of domain names that I was forwarding and I want to be sure to resolve any issues.

Checking nameservers is essential upon the completion of a domain name transfer.