Having 100 % control of your domain names is something quite crucial and to be able to access and edit the DNS records for each of them is one of the things you need to look for when you search for a registration or a shared web hosting provider. You might have heard of the so-called “name servers” that show where a domain is hosted, but below them there's a whole set of records, for example the A record, which is the IP address of the server hosting the site, and the MX records, which show the server that deals with the e-mails for a particular domain. These records are employed if you wish to have your site with one provider and the e-mails with another, for instance. You can also use a domain for a non-website service or direct the traffic to it using special records. Some companies ask for an extra payment to give access to edit specific DNS records other than the name servers.