# DNS Quickstart

Adding a domain you own to your DigitalOcean account lets you manage the domain’s DNS records with the control panel and API. Domains you manage on DigitalOcean integrate with DigitalOcean Load Balancers and Spaces to streamline automatic SSL certificate management.

## Set Up a Domain

To set up a domain with DigitalOcean, you need to add it and any of its existing DNS records to the control panel, then [delegate the domain by updating your registrar to use DigitalOcean’s name servers](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/networking/dns/getting-started/dns-registrars/index.html.md).}).

**Note**: If the domain is actively in use, recreate the domain’s records on DigitalOcean before delegating the domain to avoid downtime.

1. From the [control panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com), click **Create** in the top right, then click **Domains/DNS**.
2. Click **Add a domain**
3. In the **Add a domain** window, enter the domain name.

   This is typically the apex domain, such as `example.com`. To [add subdomains](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/networking/dns/how-to/add-subdomain/index.html.md), like `www.example.com` or `images.example.com`, create DNS records for them after you add the apex domain.
4. Click **Add Domain**. This takes you to the **Domain records** page and adds NS records for the domain on DigitalOcean’s name servers.
5. On the **Domain records** page, [add any DNS records](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/networking/dns/how-to/manage-records/index.html.md) for the domain. For each record click **Create a record**, select the record type, fill in the necessary data, and click **Create Record**.
6. [Delegate your domain to DigitalOcean’s name servers](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-point-to-digitalocean-nameservers-from-common-domain-registrars) through your registrar.