Gandi will soon be ending its historical DNS infrastructure, known as Classic DNS, which relies on the following nameservers:
a.dns.gandi.net
b.dns.gandi.net
c.dns.gandi.net
Domain names that still use these servers will be progressively migrated to LiveDNS, Gandi’s current DNS infrastructure.
For the vast majority of the domains concerned, this migration will be performed automatically and will not require any action on your part.
What is changing?
The records in your DNS zone will be copied to LiveDNS, and the Classic DNS nameservers associated with your domain will then be replaced by LiveDNS nameservers.
This operation will not change the destination of your website, your email addresses, or your other online services. The Classic DNS servers will remain available for as long as necessary while the change propagates.
The migration is designed to be transparent, and no service interruption is expected.
It will be carried out progressively. Some domains with a specific configuration, or domains under an extension that requires a specific procedure, will be handled separately by Gandi’s teams.
If any action is required on your part, we will contact you directly.
Why is Gandi making this change?
DNS plays an essential role in the operation of every online service. Opening a website, receiving an email, or connecting to an application all depend on DNS servers being able to respond quickly, reliably, and securely.
Classic DNS is Gandi’s historical DNS infrastructure. It has been maintained in parallel with LiveDNS for several years in order to ensure a gradual transition.
LiveDNS is now Gandi’s standard DNS platform. It has been used in production since 2016 and is based on a geographically distributed Anycast infrastructure designed to provide better response times, improved resilience, and increased capacity to absorb traffic peaks.
By migrating the last domains still associated with Classic DNS, Gandi will allow them to benefit from this more recent, actively maintained infrastructure, with features that were not available, or not available in an equivalent way, on Classic DNS: DNSSEC, Premium DNS, zone snapshots, management through the API, and Linked Zones.
This change will allow the last domains still using Classic DNS to benefit from the DNS infrastructure that is now standard at Gandi.
LiveDNS is based on an Anycast infrastructure distributed around the world. When a user accesses a website or another online service, their DNS query is automatically routed to one of the nearest Gandi points of presence. This architecture makes it possible to:
→ reduce response times, regardless of the user’s geographical location,
→ better distribute queries across the different components of the infrastructure,
→ maintain high availability if an incident affects a server or a site,
→ better absorb large volumes of traffic, particularly during distributed denial-of-service attacks.
The performance of this infrastructure has notably been recognized by DNSPerf, which ranked Gandi’s DNS among the world’s top ten best-performing DNS services in December 2023 and still places it in the top 15 today.
LiveDNS also makes it possible to distribute changes made to a DNS zone very quickly across Gandi’s infrastructure. Authoritative servers therefore receive the new information quickly, even though the usual DNS cache delays naturally continue to apply across the Internet.
Finally, LiveDNS provides access to features that were not available, or not available in an equivalent way, on Classic DNS:
→ activation of DNSSEC on compatible extensions, to strengthen the authentication of DNS responses
→ compatibility with the Premium DNS offer
→ creation and restoration of zone snapshots
→ management of records through Gandi’s public API
→ use of Linked Zones to manage the same configuration across multiple domains
The migration to LiveDNS and the use of the standard DNS service are free of charge.
What do you need to do?
You can let Gandi perform the migration
In most cases, no action is required.
Gandi will automatically copy the records from your DNS zone to LiveDNS and proceed with the nameserver change.
We will contact you directly if your domain requires a specific operation.
You can migrate now
You can also switch to LiveDNS without waiting for the automatic migration:
- log in to your Gandi account
- go to the domain name management page
- select the domain concerned
- open the Nameservers section
- click Change, then choose the Gandi LiveDNS nameservers
The existing DNS records will be preserved during this operation.
This migration is free of charge, and no service interruption is expected.
Frequently asked questions
Will the migration interrupt my website or email services?
No. The existing DNS records will be copied to LiveDNS before the nameserver change.
The Classic DNS servers will also remain available for the time required for the change to propagate. Your website, your email addresses, and your other services will therefore continue to use the same destinations.
Will my DNS records be modified?
The functional information in your DNS zone will be preserved.
Some technical records related to the operation of the zone, in particular the NS and SOA records, will be adapted to the LiveDNS infrastructure. This will not affect the services associated with your domain.
What will happen if my zone contains wildcard records?
Wildcard records, which use the * character (asterisk), will be migrated automatically.
In some configurations, Gandi may create additional records in order to reproduce the behavior of the Classic DNS zone on LiveDNS. This mechanism does not require any action on your part.
Will DNSSEC be activated automatically?
No. The migration to LiveDNS will not change the DNSSEC status of your domain.
Once your domain has been migrated, you will be able to activate DNSSEC separately if the extension supports this feature.
Do I need to update my scripts or automation tools?
No change is required if you manage your DNS zone only through the Gandi interface.
However, we recommend checking your configuration if you use scripts or tools that:
→ explicitly refer to a.dns.gandi.net, b.dns.gandi.net, or c.dns.gandi.net;
→ directly query the IP addresses of the Classic DNS servers.
After the migration, LiveDNS records can be managed through our public API.
What will happen if several of my domains currently use the same Classic DNS zone?
On Classic DNS, the same zone could be shared by several domain names.
During the migration, this zone will be copied into a separate LiveDNS zone for each of the domains concerned. The records and the operation of the domains will remain identical, but changes made later to the zone of one domain will not be automatically applied to the others.
After the migration, you will be able to use the Linked Zones feature to apply and maintain the same LiveDNS configuration across several domains.
Please consult our documentation for more information.
What will happen if the automatic migration of my domain is not possible?
Some extensions or specific configurations may require an additional operation by Gandi.
These domains will be identified and handled separately. They will not be disconnected from Classic DNS until their migration to LiveDNS has been completed.
We will contact you directly if any action is required on your part.
Is the migration paid?
No. The migration to LiveDNS is entirely free of charge.
The use of the standard LiveDNS service also remains included with the domain names concerned.
Learn more
To discover the LiveDNS infrastructure and its features, please visit our page dedicated to Gandi DNS services, or consult our documentation.
You can also contact our support team if you need any additional information.
