Domain transfer : what should I transfer from one DNS provider to another?

Question

I need to transfer my domain from a [registrar + DNS provider + email provider] (gandi.net) to another. I understand that, to prevent downtime, before actually doing the transfer, I must first copy the DNS records from the old registrar to the new one.

My DNS records look like:

@   A   10800   <IP>
@   MX  10800   10 spool.mail.gandi.net.    
@   MX  10800   50 fb.mail.gandi.net.   
@   TXT 10800   "v=spf1 include:_mailcust.gandi.net ?all"   
blog    CNAME   10800   blogs.vip.gandi.net.    
gm1._domainkey  CNAME   1200    gm1.gandimail.net.  
gm2._domainkey  CNAME   1200    gm2.gandimail.net.  
gm3._domainkey  CNAME   1200    gm3.gandimail.net.  
imap    CNAME   10800   access.mail.gandi.net.  
pop CNAME   10800   access.mail.gandi.net.  
smtp    CNAME   10800   relay.mail.gandi.net.   
webmail CNAME   10800   webmail.gandi.net.  
www CNAME   10800   webredir.vip.gandi.net.

As far as I understand:

• The IP for the A record will change for the new IP address at my new provider
• The mail records (MX,TXT,CNAMEs) should be provided by the new provider as well
• The rest is registrar-specific or unused as I only use the email service.

So my conclusion is that I don't need to do anything else than what the new registrar tells me about IP and mail. Could you confirm that I am correct? First time doing this and my emails need no downtime so I'm being very cautious.

Answer 1

So to confirm, you're moving ALL services from one provider to the other?

It's probably a question best asked to the new provider, since they can advise on how best to do it with their system, but...

Generally speaking I'd always recommend doing the domain transfer and the DNS changes as two separate actions if you want a seemless transfer. So either :

1. Setup ALL those existing DNS records on the new provider's DNS servers first, then do the domain transfer, and once complete, update the DNS records to point to the new provider's services.

2. Update the DNS records on your existing provider's DNS servers to point to the new provider's services, eg update the MX records and other mail related records to point to the new mail server when you're ready to switch email provider. Once all your services are running on the new provider, then initiate the domain transfer to the new provider (which should obviously have those records setup at their end).

Domain transfers can take a long time, and it can be hard to predict when exactly they'll be completed (it's actually controlled by the Registry not the Registrar, so will often be "at some point in the next day when they next do a batch of changes" so you have no control of when it happens).

Some providers will tie their services to the fact that the DNS is with them, so the act of transferring the domain away will initiate the termination of the services they provide. Based on that, option 2 may be the safer option since that way once the domain transfer is initiated you'll no longer care about the old services since they're no longer in use.

Answer 2

First, check which NS (Name Server) records you are using. If you are using your hosting's nameservers, there is no need to change all these records. You just need to add your hosting's nameserver to the new registrar's control panel.

Secondly, if you are using registrar NS records, then and only then you need to move all these A, MX, CNAME, and TXT records.

You can't be sure that there will be no downtime. According to my knowledge, it can take up to 48 hours to propagate your records globally.

The best way to speed up DNS propagation is to reduce the TTL value for your DNS records. This tells DNS resolvers how long to cache your DNS records, so reducing the TTL value will ensure that DNS resolvers refresh your records more often.