DNS settings explained: a beginner's guide

When you connect a domain to your Printumo Shop, you are asked to add a few "DNS records" at your domain provider. This article explains what that means, in plain language, so you can do it confidently even if you have never touched DNS before.

A domain is the web address you bought, like yourstore.com. You buy it from a domain provider (also called a registrar) such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, IONOS, or one.com.

Owning a domain on its own does nothing. It is a name with no destination. You still need to tell the internet where to send people who type that name into a browser. That is what DNS records are for.

DNS stands for Domain Name System. Think of it as the address book of the internet.

When someone types yourstore.com into their browser, the browser asks DNS: "Where does this domain live?" DNS looks up the answer and points the browser at the right place. In your case, that place is your Printumo Shop.

The "address book entries" you add at your domain provider are called DNS records.

A DNS record is one row in your domain's address book. It has three main parts:

You only ever need to think about two types when connecting your shop to Printumo: A and CNAME. Everything else can be left alone.

An A record points a name at an IP address. An IP address is a numeric address like 178.105.33.72. Every server on the internet has one.

You use an A record when you want to point your domain itself (the "apex" or "root", like yourstore.com with nothing in front) at Printumo. Most providers do not allow CNAMEs at the apex, so an A record is the standard choice.

A CNAME record points one name at another name. For example, "send anyone asking for www.yourstore.com to wherever ingress.printumo.com lives".

You use a CNAME record for everything that has a prefix, like www.yourstore.com or shop.yourstore.com. Printumo handles the rest.

Printumo tells you exactly which one to use on the Domains page in your dashboard. You do not have to guess.

The Host (sometimes called Name or Hostname) is the part of your domain the record applies to.

Some providers ask you to leave the host blank instead of typing @. Others want the full domain typed in. They all mean the same thing. If you are not sure, leave it blank and your provider will usually fill in the right value.

TTL stands for Time To Live. It controls how long the internet caches the record before checking again for changes. Lower numbers mean faster updates; higher numbers mean slightly faster lookups for visitors.

For setting up a shop, leave TTL at the default (or pick Automatic or 3600, which means one hour). It does not change anything important.

DNS changes are not instant. Once you save a new record, it can take anywhere from a few seconds to 48 hours for the change to be visible to everyone on the internet. This delay is called propagation.

In practice, most changes are visible within a few minutes. Printumo keeps checking your domain in the background, so you can just leave the page open. When your records are visible to us and SSL has been issued, the status turns green automatically.

Many domains already have records that handle email, ownership verification, or technical plumbing. Do not delete:

When Printumo asks you to remove an existing record, it only means existing A records on @ or existing CNAME records on www that point somewhere other than Printumo. Those are the only ones that can conflict.

Printumo sometimes gives you two A records with different IP addresses, both with host @. This is normal. It means there is more than one server handling traffic for your shop, and any of them can answer. Add both rows. If one server is having trouble, the other still works.

SSL is what gives you the padlock icon in the browser. It encrypts the connection between your customers and your shop, so credit card details and passwords cannot be read by anyone in between.

Printumo issues an SSL certificate for your domain automatically, the first time someone visits it after your DNS is set up. You do not buy or install anything. You also do not need to renew it; we handle that for you forever.

If you see a security warning the first minute or two after connecting, give it a few minutes. The certificate is being issued in the background.

The wording is different at every provider, but the steps are similar.

If your provider is not listed, search for "edit DNS records" plus the provider name. The flow is always the same.

DNS changes can knock your website or email offline if you delete the wrong row. Stay safe by following this rule:

Only change the records Printumo asks you to change. Leave every other record exactly as it is.

If you ever feel unsure, take a screenshot of your DNS page before making any changes. That way you can put a row back if something goes wrong.

Email [email protected] with:

We will look at it together and tell you exactly which rows to add or remove.