To make your website and email work on your hosting account, your domain has to point to the Instant Access Internet Services servers. The simplest and most reliable way is to set your domain's nameservers to ours at the company where you registered the domain. This guide lists our nameservers and shows how to point your domain to your hosting.
Our nameservers
Enter all four, in this order:
| Nameserver | Hostname |
|---|---|
| Nameserver 1 | ns5.instantaccess.net |
| Nameserver 2 | ns6.instantaccess.net |
| Nameserver 3 | ns1.fanaticalhosting.com |
| Nameserver 4 | ns2.fanaticalhosting.com |
You don't need IP addresses for these. Registrars only ask for IPs when you create "child" or "glue" nameservers under your own domain, which you don't need to do.
Why use our nameservers?
- Your DNS records (website, email, SPF and DKIM) are created and kept up to date for you automatically.
- You can manage all your records yourself in cPanel's Zone Editor.
- Free SSL certificates from AutoSSL are issued automatically for domains that use our nameservers.
How to change your nameservers at your registrar
Nameservers are changed at your domain registrar (the company you pay for the domain name), not in cPanel. If you registered the domain with us, open a ticket and we'll check it for you.
- Log in to your registrar's website (for example GoDaddy, Namecheap, Network Solutions, Squarespace Domains, Cloudflare Registrar).
- Open the domain list and select your domain.
- Find the Nameservers (sometimes called DNS or DNS servers) setting.
- Choose the option to use custom nameservers. Registrars word this differently, for example "Custom DNS" or "I'll use my own nameservers".
- Remove the existing nameservers and enter the four listed above.
- Save the change.
The change usually takes effect within a few hours, but it can take up to 24-48 hours to be seen everywhere. See DNS Propagation: Why Domain Changes Take Time and How to Check to check progress.
Keeping your DNS somewhere else instead
If you'd rather keep DNS with your registrar or a service like Cloudflare, you can. You then need to create the records yourself at that provider, and keep them updated if anything changes on our side. At minimum you need:
- An A record for
example.comandwww.example.compointing to your account's IP address (shown in cPanel under General Information on the right side of the home page, as Shared IP Address or similar). - An MX record pointing to
mail.example.com(and an A record formail) if you use our email. - SPF and DKIM TXT records. Copy them from cPanel's Email > Email Deliverability page.
Note that AutoSSL can still issue certificates when DNS is elsewhere, as long as the A records point to our server. If a proxy (such as Cloudflare's orange cloud) sits in front, certificate checks can fail.
Common questions
How do I check which nameservers my domain uses?
Use an online lookup such as ICANN Lookup, or run this in a Windows Command Prompt or Mac Terminal:
nslookup -type=NS example.com
I changed nameservers and my email stopped working
If your email was hosted somewhere else (for example Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace), those MX records now need to exist in our DNS. Add them in the Zone Editor. See How to Use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace Email with Your Domain.
The registrar says the nameservers are invalid
Check for typos and stray spaces, and make sure you didn't add "http://" or a trailing dot. If it still fails, open a ticket and tell us your registrar.
Do I have to change anything in cPanel?
No. Your DNS zone is created when your account is set up. Once the nameservers change, it simply starts being used.
Related guides
- DNS Propagation: Why Domain Changes Take Time and How to Check
- How to Use the cPanel Zone Editor (A, CNAME, MX and TXT Records)
- Free SSL Certificates: How AutoSSL and SSL/TLS Status Work
- One Website Per Account: What Your Hosting Plan Includes
Still stuck? Open a support ticket and the Instant Access Internet Services team will help.
