New DNS
When you create a site , by default the new site will have a subdomain url like sitename.raaspi.com and will be ready in a few hours for access by visitors and also be ssl ready ie can be accessed as https:// sitename.raaspi.com which is recommended as all the data will pass through internet as encrypted.
However, in many cases, the requirement will be to have your own site name like mysite.com or mysite.org etc. and is called custom domain name. This certainly can be done but needs some extra steps and cost.
Step1.The site name needs to be registered and involves initial and yearly renewal cost. You can contact a company of your choice like namecheap.com or contact a consultant or a reseller of your choice.
At this point, we suggest you open create site page in another tab and refer to this blog here.
Step2a. Once the site name is registered, and if this name was not already used as a subdomain, then you simply need to manually change Website URL value from say mysite.raaspi.com to mysite.com or say mysite.org and continue with the new site registration.
Or Step2b. Once the site name is registered, and if this name was already used as a subdomain, then you skip the site create step and later continue to use the site's existing data but access directly ie not as a subdomain.
To use the custom domain name, you or your reseller/consultant need to make the following changes to the name server where your domain is registered.
The following two entries are needed and are done using advanced DNS (Substitute your domain name for 'raaspi') and use http:// instead of https:// if ssl is not used
| Type |
Host |
Value |
TTL |
| CNAME Record |
www |
genapp-raaspi.b9ad.pro-us-east-1.openshiftapps.com |
Automatic |
| URL Redirect Record |
@ |
https://www.raaspi.com |
Unmasked |
The above example is from vendor namecheap.com but since URL redirect is really not a dns function
some vendors like hostpapa provides a separate Add Redirect , the redirect url result should show something like
| Domain |
Directory |
Redirect Url |
Type |
Match www |
Wild Card |
| 3rcomputer.com |
/ |
http://www.3rcomputer.com/home.wflow |
permanent |
Yes |
|
For both hostpapa or godaddy, the dns zone editor will have one CNAME entry like
| Name |
TTL |
Class |
Type |
Record |
| www.3rcomputer.com. |
14400 |
IN |
CNAME |
genapp-raaspi.b9ad.pro-us-east-1.openshiftapps.com |
godaddy has both domain forward and redirect and either, if available, can be used to redirect the domain mysite.com to subdomain www.mysite.com
Step3 . First time a site is created, you will get email notification when its ready for access after the support team makes routing configuration changes.
If a subdomain exists and you are changing to a custom domain please submit a request
Step4. If SSL (https) is needed extra steps are involved, see ssl blog
Step5. Although a domain registration cost covers both xxx.com and www.xxx.com, they are two domain names and ssl certificates need to cover both. The name server also needs to be set up to cover both.
Step6. If you use custom domain, most likely you would like to use an email address like [email protected] .
If you already have an email account like that , then continue to use that. Otherwise you have options like
A. Free business email GMail from Google or zoho mail from zoho.com . RAASPI has built in support to set up GMail smtp server. Go to menu Setups
and look for configure Google Mail Server integration.
B. Your domain registrar most likely offers email hosting for about $15.00 per year.
You can put your [email protected] type id as contact email address in your site and will use the email client provided by the email host to send or receive emails. You can forward these emails to another email address you own. See example
In addition, you can send transaction emails like order confirmation, sales promotion etc from the site itself. We use email relaying using our email hosting server, so the
outgoing email will say from mysite (ie your site name), if some one checks details then will say mysite ([email protected]). This avoids being treated as spam.
Thats about it, there are other blogs you may want to read.
DNS provider change.
There can be many reasons when you may want to change your DNS provider or registrar.
Same DNS Registrant but Hosting change
Remember that if you change the domain registrant or provider you may have to pay even though there is unused period. It is possible to keep the current provider but use their Advanced DNS tool to change the cname record to point to the new url where the site will be hosted. Then change the registrant using thr following steps.
Domain Registrant change or transfer
Exact steps may differ but in general it will involve
1. Verify domain is eligible for transfer
- The domain is more than 60 days old;
- The domain was not transferred between registrars within the last 60 days;
- The domain is "Unlocked" for transfer ("Registrar Lock" is disabled).
In the dns manage section look for the transfer out or Domain unlock option and unlock it.
2. submit a transfer request with your new registrar and follow their steps.
Shortly afterwards, the transfer will be initiated at the Registry level and the domain will acquire "pendingTransfer" status.
previous registrar should release the domain within up to 5-7 calendar days.
Please note that after the transfer you will need to update the DNS cname to point to where it will be hosted.