I apologize if my description of the problem is unclear. I am working for an online CMS that allows external domains to be used similar to Tumblr or Flavors.me. I noticed both of these services simply require you to add an A record to your domain's DNS.

When trying this, I added an A record for a blank name and "www" both leading to my webserver's IP. While this successfully routes to my server, it doesn't retain the used domain. This leaves me without any idea of what account they're attempting to reach at the application layer. I'm using nginx as my webserver.

I have changed all the nameservers for a domain before, and that works properly, however that causes complications with other issues such as mail and isn't feasible on a scaled solution.

What should I be doing here? Is the A record the correct method of accomplishing this? How are sites like Tumblr and Flavors.me determining which account is being referenced by the domain?