How to access Handshake domains

A walkthrough for resolving Handshake domains with NextDNS.io

johnnywu/

For other ways of resolving Handshake names, visit the Namebase Learning Center here: https://learn.namebase.io/starting-from-zero/how-to-access-handshake-sites.

When you use Handshake DNS, you are changing your DNS "switchboard" operator from your ISP to Handshake's DNS network. 

In most cases, the IP addresses used by your ISP's domain name servers are automatically set by your ISP via the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). To use Handshake DNS, you need to explicitly change the DNS settings in your operating system or router to point to Handshake. There are multiple ways to do this — you can run a Handshake fullnode, use the Handshake light client, or use an existing DNS resolver that supports Handshake. In this tutorial, we'll show you how to use Handshake DNS using HDNS and NextDNS, an existing DNS resolver that's one of Firefox's Trusted Resolvers. 

The procedure for changing your DNS settings varies according to operating system and version or the device. We give general procedures here; if you have difficulty getting set up, ask the Namer Community for help.

HDNS

1. Replace your device's DNS server addresses with 103.196.38.38 and 103.196.38.39.

2. Try visiting our welcome page at: http://welcome.nb/.

For more detailed device-specific instructions, visit the HDNS.io landing page.

NextDNS

Estimated setup time: 2-3 minutes

1. Visit https://nextdns.io/ and click "Try it now"

2. Scroll down to the Setup Guide and pick any one of the given options (e.g. Private DNS, App, Ipv4) for your device, and follow the relevant guide provided by NextDNS. The easiest is usually to go with the NextDNS app.

3. Once your device is connected to NextDNS (confirm with green button at top of the setup page), visit the "Settings" tab on the NextDNS website and turn on "Resolve Handshake domains"

4. Try visiting our welcome page at: http://welcome.nb/. If it doesn't work, you may need to click the refresh button by “Currently linked IP” in the Setup tab.

johnnywu/

Namer Community manager | @namerjohnnywu

Johnny manages the Namer Community at Namebase. If he's not chatting about Handshake, sustainability, or startup ideas, then he's probably spending his free time playing basketball, piano, or video games!