Domain name changed

Greetings,
I chose a domain name for my page, went pretty smoothly, only it had the ‘www.’ part missing.
When I tried to deal with that I ended up changing the domain name altogether, reverting my page back to a state where it’s domainless, since the new one is pending confirmation.
Tried to look for a solution in the docs to no avail.
What should I do next please?

I wish to recover my domain name (sealite.org) that became “owned” by the person I paid to update it in 2017. It has belonged to me, owner of SeaLite Engineering, for decades.

How do I do that?

@theExperienced, which Netlify site is this for and what is the correct domain name for this site?

@g.seaver, that domain (sealite.org) isn’t registered via Netlify nor is it using our Netlify DNS service. It is configured to point to a site at Netlify using external DNS configuration.

Are you asking about how to get control of the domain name? If so, I’m showing it registered using www.namesecure.com so this question is likely best directed to them as Netlify literally has no control over the domain name itself.

Or, instead, are you asking how to update the site at Netlify which this domain is pointing to? If so, and you don’t have access to the site at Netlify, the best solution is to make a site at Netlify you do control and then point the domain to that site.

If you give us more information about the nature of the issue, we’ll be happy to respond with a more targeted answer. Would you be willing to please tell us more about what the issue is?

Luke,

When I try at Netlify to “add a custom domain to my site” so that I can update it, I am told that “another site is already using this domain”.

The site “owner” is Jeffrey Wyman who has “given me permission” to access it.

Actually, I am the owner (for decades) and had hired him in October 2017 to modify it.

I want to “drag and drop” my updated website at Netlify, as suggested by Laura Jodz at Netlify.

George Seaver

Sealite Engineering, Inc.

Cataumet, MA. 508 564 4404

SeaLite.org

@g.seaver, there are a couple of options:

  • if you have access to the site settings at Netlify, remove the domain from the other Netlify site where it is configured and delete any Netlify DNS configurations on the other team
  • create a DNS record to prove control of the domain and we can remove the domain from the other Netlify site/team for you

If you want to use the second option, here is the record to create:

netlify 3600 IN TXT "EDRnSc21v1651vwsxV3zCMBMstZEFIo3"

This is the text format for a DNS record. Most people enter their DNS records into a web UI these days (instead of manually editing a text file). If you are using a web UI, below are key/value pairs to help create this DNS record:

Key = Value
Name/Host/Subdomain = netlify
TTL/“Time to Live” = 3600
Type = TXT
Value = “EDRnSc21v1651vwsxV3zCMBMstZEFIo3”

Once this record exists, you can verify it is working with the URL below:

https://toolbox.googleapps.com/apps/dig/#TXT/netlify.sealite.org

​Please let us know which option you prefer and if there are any questions.

Luke,

I went to: dnsmgmt.msc to create a DNS record, as you suggested.

It said that, at a minimum, I would have to have “membership in Administrators Group”.

Then, I went to “owner” Jeffrey Wyman’s Netlify site (I am listed as a “collaborator”), decorator-benedict-63454, and subdomain (?): /alohakepeli/seaite.org, and did not have a choice to remove the sealit.org domain from his site. When I tried to delete it, it said that I did not have permission.

Also, what is an “Administrators Group” and how do I join to create a DNS record?

Sincerely,

george seaver

Hi, George. From the reference to "“dnsmgmt.msc”, it sounds like you are trying to create a local DNS record on system running Windows.

This is probably not going to work for our purpose. I say this because I’m showing the authoritative DNS servers for this domain are the ones below (and changes to your local system won’t affect these DNS servers):

$ dig sealite.org NS +noall +answer

; <<>> DiG 9.10.6 <<>> sealite.org NS +noall +answer
;; global options: +cmd
sealite.org.		7199	IN	NS	dns1.namesecure.com.
sealite.org.		7199	IN	NS	dns2.namesecure.com.

It looks like the domain is registered here:

https://namesecure.com/home.page

In most cases (but not all), you would log into the domain registrar’s website above and create the DNS record there.

This registrar isn’t associated with Netlify so I won’t be able to assist you with logging in to their service.

If there are questions about creating the record, though, we are happy to answer - we just won’t be able to help you login. If/when you can login, we can help with any other questions about creating the record itself.

You might also just ask the team owner for the other team/site (you stated his name is Jeffrey) to remove the custom domain from their Netlify site.

If the verification record is created, we (Netlify Support) can remove it or the site owner can do this instead. If you cannot get Jeffrey to do this for some reason, the verification record is the remaining solution.

Being able to control of the DNS records for a domain name constitutes the real “keys to the kingdom” for domain name. Once you have DNS control, you can direct the traffic for the domain with DNS records and also verify control of the domain with Netlify and any other services which use DNS records for verification purposes (such as - Google, email services, etc).

If there are other question about this, we’re here and happy to answer.

What is an “UI” and where do I [date=2019-12-03 timezone=“America/Chicago”]find it? (To me UI means “unemployment insurance”)

@g.seaver, sorry about that, as I do try to use the full term before an abbreviation and I did not in this case.

  • web UI = web “user interface”

A web user interface is text and images displayed in your web browser when you visit a website.

In other words, I’m showing sealite.org is domain registered using www.namesecure.com. Somewhere at that website (after logging in of course) there will be a place to add DNS records for this domain. This is where the verification record should be created.

If you create the record using dnsmgmt.msc, it would only exist on your local computer and it would be only work there.

This is why I recommended creating the record with the registrar. This is what will make this record available to all systems using the internet.

Right information…thanks for sharing