Going Live Guide
Point your IONOS domain at your site
IONOS hides the DNS screen behind a small three-dots menu, which is the only genuinely confusing part.
🔑 Your IONOS login
⏱ About five minutes
📍 Page: Domains & SSL
← Back to the main guide
You do not transfer anything. Your domain stays with IONOS, in your name, with nothing unlocked or moved. You are adding two settings, and your email is not affected by either of them.
Both records are type A, and both point to the same place:
| Type | Host name | Points to |
|---|
| A | @ (IONOS uses @ for the address itself) | 88.208.226.236 |
| A | www | 88.208.226.236 |
1Open your DNS screen
- Sign in to IONOS and open the Domains & SSL page.
- Find your domain, then select the three-dots menu in the Actions column.
- Choose DNS.
2Add the first record
- Select Add Record, then select the row for A records.
- In Host name type
@ for the address itself.
- In Points to paste
88.208.226.236.
- Leave TTL alone unless you have a reason to change it.
- Select Save.
3Add the second record
- Select Add Record again, choose A.
- This time put
www in Host name, with the same Points to value.
- Select Save.
Things IONOS does differently
If a record already exists
Edit rather than duplicate. Select the existing A record, choose the pencil icon under Actions, then Edit record, and change Points to to 88.208.226.236.
How long it takes
IONOS applies the change immediately at their end. It can still take up to an hour to be visible everywhere else, which is normal and nothing to fix.
If you already have a website at this address
Add the records at a quiet time of day. While the change spreads, some visitors reach your old site and some reach the new one, and both work. There is also a short window while your security certificate is issued when the address may not load properly, which is why the evening beats mid-morning. Your dashboard tells you when it is finished.
When you are done
That is your part finished. We watch for the change and handle the rest: the secure padlock, making sure search engines see the right address, and email from your own domain.
Your dashboard shows the progress and tells you the moment it is complete. You do not need to keep the page open, and you do not need to check anything at IONOS again.