Private Nameservers During a Reseller Migration

Many resellers run branded private nameservers — ns1.yourbrand.com and ns2.yourbrand.com — so customers point their domains at your brand, not the underlying host. Keeping those working through a migration takes one extra step: updating the IPs behind them. This guide explains it.

How private nameservers work

Private nameservers are hostnames on your own domain that resolve to your server’s IP via special ‘glue records’ at your domain’s registrar. Your customers set their domains to use ns1/ns2.yourbrand.com, which currently point at your old server. The names stay the same after migrating — only the IPs they point to change.

The migration step that matters

1. Migrate your reseller accounts to iWebVault as normal
2. Get your new iWebVault server IPs for the nameservers
3. At your brand domain’s registrar, update the glue records for ns1/ns2 to the new iWebVault IPs
4. Update the matching A records for those nameserver hostnames
5. Wait for propagation — your customers’ domains now resolve via iWebVault, under your brand

Why this is great for resellers

Because the nameserver names never change, the migration is invisible to your customers at the DNS level. There’s no mass email asking everyone to update nameservers — you update the glue and A records once, and every customer domain follows automatically. Your white-label branding stays intact throughout.

Coordinating the IP change

Timing matters: update the glue records around your cutover so domains resolve to iWebVault once accounts are in place there. We’ll give you the exact IPs to use and can advise on sequencing so there’s no window where the nameservers point at a server without the accounts.

Why resellers use private nameservers

Private (or ‘vanity’) nameservers let your customers point their domains at ns1.yourbrand.com rather than at the underlying host’s nameservers. It reinforces your brand and hides which host you actually use. The trade-off is that when you change host, you must update the IPs those branded names resolve to — but crucially, your customers never have to change anything.

Glue records, explained

A nameserver hostname on your own domain needs a ‘glue record’ at your domain’s registrar — a record that tells the wider DNS system which IP ns1.yourbrand.com lives at. Without glue, there’s a chicken-and-egg problem (you can’t look up a nameserver that’s defined by the nameserver itself). Migrating means updating that glue to your new iWebVault IP.

The migration steps

1. Migrate your reseller accounts to iWebVault
2. Obtain your new iWebVault nameserver IPs
3. Update the glue records for ns1/ns2 at your brand domain’s registrar
4. Update the matching A records for those hostnames
5. Let propagation complete — customer domains now resolve via iWebVault

Timing the glue update

Sequence matters: you want the branded nameservers to resolve to iWebVault once the accounts are actually there. Update the glue around your cutover, not before the accounts exist on iWebVault, to avoid a window where the nameservers point at a server without the sites. We’ll give you the exact IPs and advise on timing.

The big reseller advantage

This is one of the cleanest things about migrating a branded reseller business: because the nameserver names are constant, there’s no mass-email asking hundreds of customers to change their DNS. You update glue and A records once, and every customer domain follows automatically — your white-label brand intact, your customers none the wiser.

What’s next

• Bulk-Migrating a Reseller’s Accounts
• Telling Your Customers About a Reseller Migration
• Pointing Your Domain to iWebVault

Still stuck? Our team can run or finish the migration for you — open a support ticket and we’ll take it from there.

Key takeaways

Branded nameservers (ns1/ns2.yourbrand.com) keep your white-label intact through a migration — your customers never change anything. You update the glue records and A records for those nameserver hostnames at your brand domain’s registrar to point at your new iWebVault IPs, timed around cutover. The names stay the same; only the IPs behind them change.

Will my customers have to update their nameservers?

No — that’s the whole advantage. They keep pointing at ns1/ns2.yourbrand.com. You repoint those names to iWebVault behind the scenes by updating glue and A records once, and every customer domain follows automatically with no action on their part.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Updating glue records before the accounts exist on iWebVault
• Forgetting the A records for the nameserver hostnames, not just the glue
• Looking for glue records in cPanel instead of the brand domain’s registrar
• Telling customers to change nameservers when they don’t need to

Private nameservers are a reseller’s best friend during a migration precisely because they make the move invisible to customers. The one thing to get right is the timing and completeness of the glue and A-record update at your brand domain’s registrar — do that around cutover and every customer domain follows you to iWebVault automatically.

When to let us handle it

Because the glue-record update happens at your brand domain’s registrar and the timing matters, it’s worth coordinating the nameserver switch with us. We’ll give you the exact iWebVault IPs for your branded nameservers and advise on when to update the glue and A records so they resolve to iWebVault just as your accounts arrive here. If you’re unsure how to find the glue-record section at your registrar, a quick ticket gets you step-by-step guidance — and because your customers never change anything, getting this one update right is all it takes to move your whole branded fleet.