How to Get the IP Address for Your DNS

If you're on the Hotcakes Cloud, you'll need to update the DNS settings for your domain in order to begin using your new site location.  

What is DNS?

DNS is an acronym for Domain Name System.  This is a term that describes the technology that helps to route human-friendly names to physical server locations.   

Why do I need to update the DNS?

Your website is hosted with us, but it used to be hosted somewhere else.  Each hosting location has a separate "address" known as an IP address.  This is the unique physical location of your server, similar to having a unique address for your home.  This address allows web requests to know how to find your site, just like your home address allows mail, family, and friends to know how to find you.  

How do I get the IP address?

Your IP address is allocated to you at the time that your site is provisioned.  Follow the steps below to determine what your specific IP address is.  It will only take a minute.

First, open a command prompt on any computer.  This can be done by pressing <Windows>+<R>, typing <C>, <M>, <D> and then hitting enter on a Windows computer, or pressing the <Windows> key and typing <C>, <M>, <D> and then selecting the command prompt.  

Either way, you should now see the command prompt window.

Now, type "ping" a space and your domain name like shown below.  Then, hit <Enter>.  

After you hit <Enter>, you'll see a listing of 4 "pings" to your domain name, with the name translated to the IP address.  

This is the IP address that you'll want to use as the new address for your DNS settings.