# The Domains guide

Set up Dbrij Domains step by step: what you need, what to press, and how you know each step worked.

Canonical page: https://dbrij.com/products/domains/guide

## Set up Domains, step by step

By the end your names live in one place, renew themselves, and carry email for your team.

Before you start, have these ready

- Your registrant contact details.

1. ### Add contact details

  Registries need them for every domain. On **My domains**, press **Contact details** and fill in the name, address, email and phone the registry keeps on file.
  [Contact details](https://dbrij.com/domains)
2. ### Find or connect a domain

  Buy one, connect one, or transfer one in. Type a name under **Find a domain** and press **Buy**; for a name you already own elsewhere, press **Connect a domain** on My domains.
  [Find a domain](https://dbrij.com/domains/search)
  You will know it worked when the domain appears under My domains and shows Active, usually within a few minutes.
3. ### Turn on email

  We write the records; you add mailboxes. On **Email**, press **Enable email** next to a domain bought on Dbrij. A domain from somewhere else joins through **Add outside domain**, and its page lists the records to add where it lives.
  [Open Email](https://dbrij.com/domains/email)
  You will know it worked when the domain shows Active on the Email page.
4. ### Give people addresses

  Assign or make team inboxes. Pick a domain on Addresses to create one, then use the menu on a row to add readers or switch it off.
  [Open addresses](https://dbrij.com/domains/addresses)
5. ### Keep auto renew on

  It renews itself 5 days before expiry, and we email you from 30 days out. Renewal by hand opens 60 days before the expiry date.

  You will know it worked when the domain page reads auto renew on under its name.

## Point a domain at your website

Skip this if you only want email for now. The domain works for email without a website.

1. ### Pick where your website runs

  A site on Dbrij Hosting is one press; a site with another company needs the record they give you.

  My website is on Dbrij Hosting: Your site already runs on Dbrij.

  1. Press Attach on the domain

  On **My domains**, press **Attach** on the domain and choose the service your website runs on. We write the records and set up HTTPS for you.
  [Open My domains](https://dbrij.com/domains)
  You will know it worked when the domain opens your website with a padlock in the address bar.

  My website is somewhere else: It runs with another company.

  1. Add their record under DNS records

  Open the domain, switch on **Edit records**, press **Add record** and enter the record your website company gives you, usually an A record or a CNAME. Their own help pages name it.
  [Open My domains](https://dbrij.com/domains)
  You will know it worked when the domain opens your website.

## Connect a domain you bought somewhere else

Keep the domain where it is and point it at a site on Dbrij Hosting.

1. ### Press Connect a domain

  On **My domains**, press **Connect a domain** and type the domain.
  [Open My domains](https://dbrij.com/domains)
2. ### Add the one record it shows

  Sign in wherever the domain is managed, open its DNS settings and add the record Dbrij shows. Never used a DNS screen? The Mail guide walks through one step by step.
  [The DNS step, slowly](https://dbrij.com/guides/mail#connect-domain)
3. ### Let it check itself

  Dbrij checks the record on its own and issues HTTPS once it passes.

  You will know it worked when the domain shows Active under My domains.

## Move a domain to another company

Leaving is free and instant.

1. ### Press Transfer away

  Open the domain and its **Settings**, then press **Transfer away** to get its authorization code. Give the code to the company you are moving to.
  [Open My domains](https://dbrij.com/domains)

## Questions people ask

### What is a domain?

Your name on the internet, like yourcompany.com. It is what people type to reach your website, and the part after the @ in your email address.

### What is the difference between buying and connecting?

A domain bought on Dbrij is looked after by Dbrij, so every record can be written for you in one click. A connected domain stays where you bought it, and you add records there yourself.

### Why does my new domain say Pending?

Registration takes a few minutes after payment. It turns Active by itself.

### Can one domain carry my website and my email?

Yes. The website records and the email records sit side by side and never clash.

### What happens if I forget to renew?

With auto renew on, it renews itself. If it is off, the domain lapses on its expiry date, and the website and email on it stop. We email you before that happens.

## How each part works

### [What Domains is](#what-domains-is)

Domains registers names (including the .ng family), connects outside ones, transfers them in, and runs DNS. Email on your domains is set up in one click, and every address is managed in one list.

A domain bought elsewhere works too. Connect it, and you add a record or two where it lives; Dbrij checks them on its own.

### [Good to know](#good-to-know)

- WHOIS privacy is free where the registry allows it.
- A transfer adds a year to the expiry.
- Connected domains stay at your registrar.

- Each domain has its own page with DNS records, Subdomains, Email and Settings, so everything about one name is in one place.
- Prices are shown per year in naira before you pay.
- Transfer away hands you the authorization code straight away. Leaving costs nothing.