A://RUN13Domain & DNS
The records
everything depends on.
Sourcing, registering, and managing your domain names, along with the DNS records that decide whether your website loads and your email is delivered. It is for organisations whose domain is registered to someone who left, or to an agency nobody can reach.
THE PROBLEM
DNS is a handful of records nobody thinks about until the day the entire business is offline because of one of them.
The cost of leaving this alone is rarely one visible failure. It is the slow accumulation: the workaround that became the process, the thing only one person knows, the renewal nobody questioned.
Our starting point is always the same: establish what is actually true today, then decide what to change. Work scoped against an assumption tends to solve a problem you do not have.
- 01Nobody knows who holds the domainIt is registered to a former employee, a web designer, or an account nobody can access.
- 02Only your exact domain is registeredEvery near miss is available to anyone who wants to send invoices that look like yours.
- 03Renewal is a single calendar reminderHeld by one person, on one inbox, for the thing your entire online presence depends on.
WHAT YOU GET
What the engagement covers
Scoped before it starts, so you know what is included and what is not.
- 01
Sourcing and registration
We buy and hold domains on your behalf across the extensions that matter to you, including .co.nz, .nz, .com, .com.au, .org.nz, and the newer industry extensions. Registered in your organisation’s name, not ours.
- 02
Defensive registration
We advise when it is worth registering additional domains to protect your name. Close variants and common misspellings are what impersonation and invoice fraud are built on, and they cost far less to hold than to recover.
- 03
Record management
Changes made properly, with a record of what changed, when, and why, so a website move does not take the email down with it.
- 04
Email authentication and renewals
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configured so your mail is trusted and your domain cannot be spoofed, with renewals tracked so no domain is ever recovered expensively after the fact.
HOW WE WORK
Assess, deploy, operate, review
Four stages with a written output at each one. You always know which stage you are in and what comes next.
- 01Week 1
Assess
We document what exists today and what it needs to do, so the work is scoped against reality rather than assumption.
- 02Weeks 2 – 4
Deploy
Changes are made in a planned sequence, outside working hours where disruption would otherwise land on your staff.
- 03Ongoing
Operate
It is monitored and maintained as part of your agreement. Problems are ours to notice, not yours to report.
- 04Quarterly
Review
What it is costing, whether it still fits, and what should change before the next renewal.
WHAT CHANGES
What you should expect
- Someone other than you owns it, with that written down.
- The current state is documented and stays documented.
- Cost is planned ahead rather than discovered at renewal.
- Decisions are made against evidence rather than assumption.
FAQ
Questions we get asked
01What is domain & DNS?
Sourcing, registering, and managing your domain names, along with the DNS records that decide whether your website loads and your email is delivered. It is for organisations whose domain is registered to someone who left, or to an agency nobody can reach.
02What is a domain name, and what is DNS?
A domain name is the address people type, such as yourbusiness.co.nz. DNS is the phone book that turns that address into the numeric locations of the actual servers. Separate records handle different services, so one record points at your website, another directs your email, and others verify your identity to receiving mail servers. They are independent, which is why a website can be moved and the email can stop, or the reverse.
03Can you help us buy a domain name, and which extensions should we register?
Yes, we source and register domains on your behalf. For a New Zealand business, .co.nz is the primary, and .nz is worth holding alongside it. If you trade across the Tasman or want to look international, .com.au and .com are the next ones to take. We would rather register four sensible domains now than watch you buy one back later at auction.
04Why would we register domains we are not going to use?
To stop someone else using them against you. Invoice fraud generally works by registering a domain one character away from yours, then emailing your customers with changed bank details from an address that passes a casual glance. Holding the obvious variants closes that off for the price of a few registrations a year, which is a rounding error against a single successful fraud.
05What are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and do we need all three?
They are three DNS records that together let a receiving mail server verify that a message claiming to come from your domain actually did. SPF lists who may send on your behalf. DKIM signs your messages cryptographically. DMARC tells receivers what to do when the first two fail, and reports it back to you. Without them your legitimate mail is more likely to land in junk and anyone can send email that appears to be from you. Gmail and Microsoft now enforce this for bulk senders, so the answer is yes to all three.
06Who should own our domain name?
Your organisation, in its legal name, with billing to an account the business controls. Domains registered to an individual employee or to a web agency become a genuine problem the day that relationship ends. If yours sits in the wrong place we can move it, and it is the first thing we check.
07What happens if a domain expires?
Your website and your email stop, usually within hours. New Zealand domains then enter a grace period during which you can recover them, followed by a window where recovery becomes expensive, followed by public availability. Domains that lapse on a valuable name are picked up within minutes by people who monitor exactly that, and getting one back after that point is a negotiation rather than a renewal.
08How much does domain & DNS cost in New Zealand?
We quote after scoping rather than before. Anyone pricing this work without looking at your environment is guessing, and the guess is rarely in your favour. Scoping itself is quick, and we tell you what it costs before we start it.
09How long does it take to get started with domain & DNS?
A first conversation takes about half an hour and costs nothing. Scoping is usually a week or two of our time depending on the size of the environment, and we agree the delivery dates with you before anything is booked in.
10Can you deliver domain & DNS alongside our existing IT team or provider?
Yes, and it is common. We are happy to work as an extra pair of hands under your internal team, or alongside an incumbent provider on a defined piece of work. We will set out in writing where the responsibilities split, so nothing falls between us.
11Do we have to move all of our IT to Atlas to get this?
No. This can be delivered as a standalone piece of work for an organisation we have never worked with before, or folded into a managed agreement if you already have one with us. Plenty of clients use us for one thing and keep everything else where it is.
12Do you only work with Auckland businesses?
Our team is based in Auckland and we attend sites across the wider region. Most of this work is delivered remotely, so we support organisations throughout New Zealand, and we will say up front where being on site genuinely matters.
13Who will we actually be dealing with day to day?
Named people, not a queue. You get a lead who knows your environment and stays with it, which is the difference between explaining your business once and explaining it every time you make contact.
14What happens if we want to leave?
You keep the documentation regardless, and anything registered in your name stays in your name. Whether we stay involved is your call. Some clients take it in house from there, others move it onto an ongoing agreement with us. We would rather you left cleanly than stayed because leaving was difficult.
Start with a conversation.
Tell us what you are dealing with and we will tell you whether this is the right service for it, and what it would take.
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