If you own both the .net and .com of your domain name, will you use the .net version of your domain name as the nameservers or will you use the .com? Why?

As far as I'm concerned - no difference.

Thanks for replying. I know there are no differences. This is where my problem lies. I thinking of which one to use.

Well, .net of course sounds more "netty", so that might be a logical choice. That's how I arranged my domains with my web sites. My nameserver I just gave it .com since it didn't seem to matter to me.

I agree with you though - I also like when "things make sense".

Take care

actually its more logical to use ns1.domain-name.ext, if your domain-name is a domain-name.com then use ns1 and ns2.domain-name.com, just my 0.02 ;)

I'd have to agree with Asher. From an end users standpoint, it only adds confusion if the nameservers use a different TLD.

-Dan

Originally posted by Byron
If you own both the .net and .com of your domain name, will you use the .net version of your domain name as the nameservers or will you use the .com? Why?

I personally would use the .net for .net domain, and .com for .com domain. Some DNS caches (most notably djbdns' dnscache) won't cache additional records if those records are outside the domain. So, it would take a bit longer for some of your visitor to visit your web site if you use different domain for your DNS server.

Thanks for replying,

I see that the older and more established hosting companies use .net as their nameservers as .net was more related to internet network companies in the past. It is only recently that I started seeing companies using .com for nameservers.

How about other web hosts here, what's your opinions?

I tend to agree with the 'avoid confusion' argument. Seems customers are confused by little things enough and you might as well just make it the same so they don't have to think about it much.

There are also web hosts that use a short form version of their main domain as the nameservers.

We own both .com and .net too, but we use .net for the main web site and for NS. It is really a personal preference on which one you want to use. For NS .net always sounds better to me, but like it was said might confuse the customers if you use .com for your company's domain.

Actually, there is a right answer.

The best practice is to always try to stay within your TLD because it keeps you in-baliwick as opposed to a nameserver outside of your TLD which is glueless and requires an extra lookup for every recursive lookup.

I know that sounds weird but here's an example:

lets say you are looking up yahoo.com which has nameserver ns1.yahoo.net

a) lookup nameserver for yahoo.com --> ns1.yahoo.net
b) lookup .net
c) lookup yahoo.net
d) lookup ns1.yahoo.net
e) query ns1.yahoo.net for yahoo.com

There is an extra step for every non .net answer that ns1.yahoo.net returns because it forces the client to requery the gTLD servers.

Since I now do DNS for thousands of domains I have no way around it (other then to offer ns1.everydns.net and ns1.everydns.com) but the impact is so small we aren't concerned.

-davidu

thanks.

Are you saying that if your main site ends with a .com then use the .com for the nameservers?

But I thought this will only affects the main company site? I don't think it will affect your hosting customers. :confused:

hoping for more comments from all the good web hosts here.

Byron,

As was mentioned above, keeping it simple for clients that will be transferring domains to you is best. A WHOIS lookup on domains also provides great free advertising for your business if someone's impressed by load times on that site.

We also own .net for our domain. It's basically just there to ensure there's no competition with our existing TLd but may have some community uses in the future for the online presence we provide customers.

Regards,

-Doc

Hi,
One strategy for choosing namservers and the exrension that has come to my attention is:
As reseller it may be possible to simplify a future move by having a nameserver other than you domain name. If you have a domain name that is your master account say xyz.com it may be to your advantage to have your nameservers ns1.xyz.net and ns2.xyz.net and use it for you resold customers accounts nameservers and you master account's nameserver.

My understanding is if you ever had to make a move it would be easier or more simple because your customers do not rely on you master accounts name as their nameserver.

My understanding is that this way if you ever had to move or change providers you wouldnt have to move everything at the same time.

I could be wrong but i am exploring this option and I am interested in the previous post by DavidU with regard to the extra lookups. i didnt know about that.

Does this make sense folks?

I am thinking along this line too. I believe that there could be other reasons that are not related to WHOIS lookup or making it simple for customers. I am concerned about planning for growth and having a contingency plan.

Are there any other operation related reasons for using the .com as your main domain and using a different or short form or .net for the namerservers?

Any advice from other web hosts?