Addresses & Nameservers
VPS vs dedicated servers — The difference you will actually feel is in the address records
You are specifying a serious workload against a budget somebody will interrogate, and the specification sheet says nothing about the IP addresses you get, who controls their reverse DNS, or whether you can run nameservers under your own name.
The short answer
Run a VPS until sustained load and I/O behaviour genuinely argue for metal, and a dedicated box priced the way ours are brings that crossover point forward compared with cloud pricing — but decide the address question first, because that is the part that reaches into your zone.
Below: which records change when the machine does, why reverse DNS decides whether your mail is delivered, and what glue records are for.
By the Hosting & Domains team · Reviewed 24 August 2026
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This page is for operators specifying a serious workload against a budget somebody will ask them to justify. The usual comparison stops at cores, clock speed and disk. This one carries on into the zone, because that is where a server change is visible to the outside world.
Virtualisation overhead is modest but never nil. Anything I/O-intensive or latency-sensitive notices those few per cent, which is why a database is almost always the first workload anybody moves onto bare metal — and why the A record pointing at it is the first thing to plan.
The part of this decision that is written in DNS
Both options give you an address and a root login. What differs is how permanent the address is and how much of the surrounding namespace you control.
A VPS resizes in minutes and normally keeps the same address while it does, so the A records never move. A physical machine changes inside a maintenance window, and if the change involves new addresses then every A record, every AAAA record and anything with an address baked into it has to be edited in step.
That is an argument for planning rather than an argument against metal. Write the record list before the order goes in and the migration becomes clerical.
Reverse DNS is the record that decides your mail
Forward DNS tells the world where your name lives. Reverse DNS tells the world which name an address claims to be, and most serious receiving systems check that the two agree before they accept a message.
On a shared plan somebody has already set this correctly and you never think about it. On your own machine it is a setting, and an unset one is the single commonest reason a technically perfect new server cannot get an invoice into an inbox.
The rule is short: the PTR for the sending address should resolve to a hostname that resolves back to that address, and the hostname the server introduces itself with should match. Get those three lined up before you move any mail.
Private nameservers, and who creates the glue
Reseller and VPS accounts can run private nameservers such as ns1.yourbrand.com, supported by glue records at the registrar. For one website that is decoration; for anybody serving names other than their own it repays the setup within a month.
The mechanism catches people out because it is circular. Your nameserver's own name is inside the zone it serves, so the registry has to hold its address directly — that is the glue record, and it is created at the registrar rather than in the zone file.
Change the machine's address later and the glue has to be updated at the registrar too. Forget it and the nameservers answer for everybody except the people who asked the registry first.
Where we would send you, honestly
Running a VPS until sustained load and I/O behaviour genuinely argue for metal, and a dedicated box priced the way ours are brings that crossover point forward compared with cloud pricing.
In concrete terms that is our Xeon Dedicated option: one flat rate carrying the essentials (SSL, migration, copies, mail) this market prefers to bill separately, with in-place upgrades ready when the work picks up.
Hosted somewhere else already? We move the whole site at no charge, usually within 24 hours, and it goes on answering visitors throughout.
Four questions worth asking any supplier. Do I control reverse DNS on my addresses? Can I create private nameservers and will you set the glue? What is the renewal figure in writing? How fast is an auth code issued if I leave? A supplier that answers all four plainly has told you most of what you need.
Ours is Azaanex Inc., federally incorporated in Canada, and on the public register. Read the filing rather than the testimonial.
Then let real use decide. Two working weeks inside the money-back window beats every review roundup ever written, and trying us costs the minute it takes to file a migration request.
A supplier's argument, labelled as one
We sell the servers and we register the names, so treat this as advocacy with the numbers left checkable. What it is not is a ranking table funded by referral fees pretending to be journalism.
Mailboxes at your own name are part of the plan — mail is included, not sold back to you at the checkout.
- Reverse DNS under your control on your own machine
- Glue records set for private nameservers
- Renewal figures published, not footnoted
- Refund terms with no small print
Why Hosting & Domains
Standard on every plan
Nameservers under your own name
ns1 and ns2 at a domain you hold, with the glue records created at the registrar rather than left to you to chase.
NVMe and LiteSpeed as standard
The hardware other hosts keep behind premium tiers is simply the baseline build here.
The verdict, turned into an order
The Xeon Dedicated plan is this page's conclusion in product form — one rate, essentials inside, upgradeable in place.
The essentials inside, not added on
SSL, the migration, backups and mail come with every plan rather than appearing as checkout extras.
Addresses and reverse DNS you can set
PTR records under your control, which is the difference between a server that sends mail and one that only appears to.
One rate, published in the open
What you order at is what you renew at — the only comparison that counts is one we win by default.
Quick Start
Order placed to site online
- 1
Write the record list before the order
Every A record, every AAAA record, every hostname with an address behind it. This list is the migration plan, and it takes ten minutes.
- 2
Line up the PTR, the hostname and the banner
Reverse DNS resolving to a name that resolves back, and a server introducing itself as that name. Do it before any mail moves, not after the first bounce.
- 3
Decide about private nameservers early
If ns1.yourbrand.com is the plan, register the name and set the glue at the outset. Retrofitting it means repointing every zone you had already delegated.
Built In
Fitted to every plan
- Reverse DNS you can set on your own addresses
- Private nameservers supported, with glue at the registrar
- PHP versions set per site from the control panel
- Spam and virus screening on every mailbox by default
- LiteSpeed caching in the server itself rather than bolted on by plugin
- NVMe SSD storage on every tier, not only the dear ones
- DDoS filtering absorbed at the network edge
- 99.9% uptime as the target, watched around the clock
- Your existing site brought across by our engineers, at no charge
- Softaculous included for one-click application installs
Frequently Asked
Questions we field again and again
Will my IP address change when I move to a dedicated machine?
Assume it will and plan the records accordingly. Write out every A and AAAA record first, lower their TTLs the day before, cut over, then verify from a network outside your own. Treated that way the address change is a five-minute edit rather than an incident.
Do I need private nameservers at all?
Only if names other than your own delegate to you. For a single site they are cosmetic. For a reseller or an agency they matter, because clients see ns1.yourbrand.com rather than a supplier's hostname in their own settings.
Who sets the PTR record for my server?
The holder of the address block does, which means the provider — and on your own machine here that control is passed to you. It is not something you can set from the zone file, which is why it is the record people forget.
Is a dedicated machine harder to keep running than a VPS?
Day to day, hardly different, since root is root either way. The difference is that physical hardware now concerns you: RAID arrays, a failed disk, booking remote hands. The routine administration is the same work at the same keyboard.
Keep reading
Dedicated Servers
Bare metal with a control panel included, reverse DNS you can set, and pricing stated up front.
WordPress Hosting
WordPress looked after for you, with the certificate and the zone handled alongside it.
Changing provider? Work through this checklist beforehand.
A straightforward running order for a migration your visitors never spot: which files travel first, how to bring the mail across without dropping a single message, the right moment to repoint DNS, and the two errors that sit behind almost every outage we get called in to fix.
Take the machine. Keep the namespace.
Bare metal with reverse DNS in your hands, private nameservers supported, and the renewal figure printed on the order.
View Dedicated Servers plans