Key facts
- Registrar, DNS provider, web host and email provider can be four different companies.
- Whoever controls the nameservers can move your website and email without asking you.
- Nominet runs the public whois for .uk domains; ICANN runs one for .com and others.
- An IP lookup usually names the data centre or network, not the host you pay.
- If the site is behind Cloudflare, the MX record often still points at the real host.
- The registrant field on a domain says who legally owns the name.
- dijihost Complete Hosting is £1 a day + VAT, with migration included.
The question underneath the question
Two minutes of looking tells you most of it. A whois search says who your domain is registered with and whose name is on it. A nameserver lookup says who controls where the domain points. An address lookup says whose server the website answers from. Those are three different companies surprisingly often.
When somebody asks where their website is hosted, they usually mean one of these:
- Who do I pay, and whose account is this in?
- Which company can change where my domain points, today, without asking me?
- Whose machine is actually serving the pages?
The middle one matters most in an emergency. Control of DNS is control of your website and your email, and it can sit somewhere separate from both the registrar and the server.
Lookup one: whois
For a .uk domain, Nominet runs a public lookup on its own site. For .com and the rest, ICANN runs one. Type in your domain and look for the registrar, the company the name is registered through, and the expiry date, which is worth putting on a calendar today. On a .uk domain you may also see the registrant, the legal owner. If that is not your company, deal with it now rather than the week you want to move.
Personal details are usually hidden by privacy rules, so a blank contact field is normal. The registrar name is the useful part, because that is who can lift the lock and start a transfer. Our sister site explains how to check who owns your domain.
Lookup two: the nameservers
Nameservers appear in the same whois result, or on Windows open a command prompt and type nslookup -type=ns yourdomain.co.uk. Read the middle of the names that come back. If they look like ns1.somecompany.com, somecompany holds your DNS, and whoever has that login can move your website and email without asking you. If they mention Cloudflare, your records are in a Cloudflare account, which may be yours, your agency's or your old developer's.
This is the most useful lookup on the page. Plenty of businesses discover here that the company they pay every month for hosting cannot change anything about their domain. It is also where people start asking what their host is actually responsible for, which we cover in what your web host should actually do. For background, see what DNS is.
Lookup three: the address the site answers on
The A record is the numeric address your domain points at; nslookup yourdomain.co.uk shows it. Look that number up on a whois service and you get the company that owns the block of addresses. That is usually the data centre or network provider, not the host you buy from, because many hosts rent space from somebody larger. If several unrelated sites answer on the same address, you are on shared hosting.
If Cloudflare is proxying the site, the lookup returns Cloudflare and goes no further: the real server is hidden on purpose. You are not stuck. The MX record (nslookup -type=mx yourdomain.co.uk) usually still points at the real mail server, which often gives away the host. Records mentioning Google or Microsoft mean your mail is on a big platform and separate from your website host. Records pointing at your hosting company mean the two are tied together, which is worth knowing before anybody moves servers. Untangling them is a common reason people ring us, and we can set mail up separately from the website if you ask; our sister site covers email hosting.
When the lookups go quiet, look for fingerprints: try /cpanel or :8443 on your domain to see if a cPanel or Plesk login appears, search bank statements for hosting payments, search the company mailbox for renewal and invoice, and check who issued the SSL certificate.
"It's in my old developer's account"
Somebody built the site years ago, bought the domain on their own card, put the hosting under their own reseller account, and the business has paid them ever since without holding a login. It comes up often. Usually it is not malice, and most developers hand things over when asked. Ask pleasantly for the registrar login or a domain transfer, a copy of the files and database, and the DNS records.
If there is no reply, your route depends on the registrant name. If the domain is registered to your company, the registrar can help you regain access, and for .uk domains Nominet will investigate registrant details it has reason to believe are wrong. Its Dispute Resolution Service is a separate route for arguments over who holds the rights to a name. Both are slow and a last resort. If the domain is in the developer's personal name, you are in a weaker position, which is why the whois check is worth doing today. Whatever happens, take your own copy of the site while you still have any access. See my web developer has disappeared and our abandoned website takeover service.
Write it down, or let us
Once you have the answers, put them on one page the business can find: registrar and login, who holds the DNS, the hosting company and account, where the mail is, the SSL, and every renewal date. We ask for that page whenever somebody moves to us, and it rarely exists. The businesses that have it are the ones who already had one bad week.
Send us the domain and we will run all three lookups and write that page up for you, yours to keep whatever you decide next. If you then bring it all under one roof, dijihost Complete Hosting is £1 a day + VAT on UK servers, with the untangling and migration included (moving more than 5 email accounts may be charged). Get in touch or call 01623 650333.
Frequently asked questions
How can I find out who hosts my website for free?
Look up your domain on a public whois service, then check the nameservers and the numeric address it points to. Whois gives the registrar, the nameservers show who controls your DNS, and looking up the address shows whose network the server sits on. All three are free and take about two minutes.
Is my domain registrar the same as my web host?
Not necessarily. They are separate services that are often bought together and often are not. Your domain can be registered with one company, the DNS controlled by a second, the website served by a third and the email handled by a fourth. That is normal, and it is why it helps to write down which is which.
Why does my website lookup just show Cloudflare?
Because the site is behind Cloudflare's proxy, which answers on behalf of the real server and hides it on purpose. Check the MX records instead, since mail usually still points at the genuine host, or look for a control panel login screen. An old invoice or setup email will normally name the hosting company too.
What if my website is in my old developer's account?
Ask them politely for the registrar login or a domain transfer, a copy of the files and database, and the DNS records. Most hand things over. If they do not reply and the domain is registered to your company, the registrar can help you regain access. For .uk names, Nominet can investigate registrant details believed to be wrong.
Can dijihost check where my website is hosted?
Yes. Send dijihost your domain and we will run the whois, nameserver and address lookups and write up one page showing your registrar, DNS, host, email, SSL and renewal dates. It is yours to keep. If you then move to us, Complete Hosting is £1 a day + VAT with migration included.
Related
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