Getting started

Important: To manage domains in our administration interface Robot, you must first order the Domain Registration Robot.

Overview

This tutorial describes the steps involved in registering a new domain via Hetzner Domain Registration Robot.

Basically, this involves the following steps:

Create or configure a nameserver (depending on provider).
Create a contact handle (menu item Handles).
Register domains (menu item Domains).

Create contact

Generate contact handles

First, create the handles for the holder, the administrative contact (Admin-C), the technical contact (Tech-C), the zone administrator (Zone-C), the contact person for abuse issues (Abuse-C), and contact person for general questions (General-C) if these do not yet exist.

You do not need all of these roles for every type of TLD. For example, for .de domains, you only need Abuse-C and General-C, and you DON'T need to define anything for Tech-C, Admin-C, and Zone-C.

You can and should reuse handles which already exist and that you are using in different domains. Important note: You can only use handles for the same top level domain, for example, .de handles will not work with .com domains. You can use the same person for all four functions (Holder, Admin-C, Tech-C and Zone-C). In this case, you only need to create one single handle.

Please note that for .de domains, the Admin/Tech/Zone -C is no longer included in the domain's data. Instead, you have to create a separate handle with the type "request" which you can use for these request roles.

Pay attention to the characters

You can see the approved characters for each field in the reference box to the right, under the menu item Handles -> New Handle.

Wait for "success" email

After generating the handle, Robot will send two emails:

It will send a confirmation email immediately. And then a bit later, it will send a success or error notification (this can take a few minutes).

Create a DNS entry

Case A: Using Hetzner nameservers

To manage DNS entries for Robot nameservers, use the DNS Console.

Case B: Own nameservers

Using your own nameservers has the advantage of letting you change entries in the zones on a more flexible basis. Plus it is free of charge. However, you need to already have basic knowledge on how to administer your own nameserver.

Important: Most registrars require you to have at least two nameservers, and in some cases, their IP addresses need to be in different subnets. If you only have one dedicated root server, you can use the "Secondary" option on our DNS Console.

You can find a useful configuration example of a zone file on the Hetzner Docs article on how to set up a DNS zone file.

You can test the nameserver configuration by using tools such as dig or nslookup in Windows. If you accidentally made a mistake while you were configuring the zone, the Registry check will fail.

Do I need to register my nameserver?

If you want to use your own nameservers for .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, and .eu domains, you need to first register the nameservers via Robot (menu item Domains -> Registered nameservers).

Domain registration

Domain information

Select appropriate handles for the top level domains. (For example, .de handles do not work with .com domains).

Add nameservers

If you want to use primary and/or secondary Hetzner nameservers, it is not necessary to change the corresponding server entries.

If you want to use your own nameservers, you need to add the hostnames (not just the IP addresses) of the servers concerned.

Glue records (only .de/.at domains)

If the hostnames of the nameservers are located within the new domain, you need to add the glue records in the input fields for the nameservers.

Example: You should enter the nameservers for the domain yourserver.de as ns1.yourserver.de and ns2.yourserver.de (IP addresses 213.133.101.1 and 213.133.105.1).

In the input fields for the nameservers, you need to add Hostname of the nameserver + space + IP Address for the nameserver.

ns1.yourserver.de 213.133.101.1
ns2.yourserver.de 213.133.105.1

If you wish to set an IPv6 as well as an IPv4 glue record, you need to add the following:

ns1.yourserver.de 213.133.101.1 12ab:23cd:34ef:0:0:0:0:1
ns2.yourserver.de 213.133.105.1 12ab:23cd:34ea:0:0:0:0:1

Wait for "success" email (again)

Once more, Robot will send two emails: