The Nxeon Blog
Guides for people who run their own servers.
Straight-talking tutorials and comparisons on VPS hosting, game servers, Linux and security. No fluff, just what actually works. 346 guides from the team that runs the servers.
Search results
10 guides for “dns” in Networking · Clear search
How to Diagnose DNS Problems with dig and nslookup
When a domain won't resolve, dig and nslookup tell you exactly why. A practical, example-driven guide to reading their output and finding the real problem.
How to Point a Subdomain to a Different App or Port
Run several apps on one VPS, each on its own subdomain — api.yourdomain.com, app.yourdomain.com — using a reverse proxy. DNS plus the Nginx and Caddy configs.
How to Self-Host Pi-hole for Network-Wide Ad Blocking
Block ads and trackers for every device on your network at the DNS level. Install Pi-hole on a VPS with Docker and point your router at it.
How to Add a Custom Domain to a Minecraft Server
Give players a memorable address like play.yourserver.com instead of a raw IP. Here's how to point a domain at a Minecraft server.
MX records and email deliverability: SPF, DKIM and DMARC
Getting email to the inbox is about DNS, not luck. Here's how MX records route your mail and how SPF, DKIM and DMARC keep it out of the spam folder.
How to point a domain at your VPS
Bought a domain and spun up a server? The last step is connecting them. Here's exactly how to point a domain at your VPS with A records — and verify it worked.
Common ports every developer should know (22, 80, 443, 3306…)
You don't need to memorise all 65,535 ports — just the ones that come up daily. Here's the working developer's reference to the ports you'll actually use.
DNS records explained: A, AAAA, MX, TXT, CNAME, NS
DNS is the internet's address book. Here's a plain-English guide to the record types you'll actually use — A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT and NS — and when to reach for each.
How to check if a port is open (and what to do if it's not)
A service only works if its port is reachable. Learn how to test whether a port is open from your machine and from the internet, and how to fix a closed one.
What is a WHOIS lookup and how to read the results
WHOIS tells you who owns a domain, when it expires, and where it's registered. Here's what every field means and how to read a WHOIS record like a pro.
Deploy your first server in under a minute.
Creating an account is free and takes no card details. Every guide here runs on a Nxeon VPS or game server.