A domain name and a hosting plan are two separate things, often bought in two different places. The hosting is the house, the domain is the address written on the letterbox. Until someone writes the right address, the house exists but cannot be found.
This article covers the case where the domain is managed somewhere other than here: at Cloudflare, OVH, Gandi, Namecheap or any other provider.
Why is the DNS zone in the client area not enough?
If your domain uses your provider's name servers, their zone is authoritative, not ours. A banner tells you so in the DNS Zone tab: your records are kept here, but they are not read.
You therefore have two options:
| Option | Where you work | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Delegate the domain to us | you change the name servers at your registrar, then manage everything from the client area | simplest in the long run |
| Keep your current DNS | you create the records at your provider | you already have email, a CDN or other services in place |
What follows describes the second option. For the first, see the article on name servers.
Where do I find the IP address of my web hosting?
Open your web hosting service in the client area. The service page shows an IP addresses line: that is the address to use, and it is authoritative.
On our shared plans the displayed value is usually 155.117.100.5. A hosting plan with a dedicated IP will show its own: in that case use that one, not the generic value.
Which records should I create at my domain provider?
Log in to your provider's DNS interface and open your domain's zone.
The domain root
Create an A record:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | A |
| Name | @ (or the bare domain, depending on the interface) |
| Value | the IP address noted in step 1 |
| TTL | 300 to 3600 seconds |
Do not use a CNAME at the root. This is not a matter of style: a CNAME at the root masks your name servers and your mail records, which stops your email from arriving. Most providers refuse the combination anyway.
The www subdomain
Create a CNAME record:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | CNAME |
| Name | www |
| Value | web.by-hoster.net |
An A record to the same IP address also works. The CNAME has the advantage of automatically following any address change on our side.
Before saving: make room
A CNAME cannot coexist with any other record of the same name. First delete existing entries for @ and www that point to an old host, otherwise your provider will refuse the record or keep serving the old site.
Leave the MX records and the verification TXT records alone: they concern your email and third-party services, not your website.
How do I point a domain managed by Cloudflare?
Cloudflare adds a subtlety: each record carries an orange cloud (traffic relayed by Cloudflare) or a grey one (DNS resolution only).
Set your website records to grey cloud, DNS only, at least at first. With the orange cloud:
- issuing the Let's Encrypt certificate from your panel may fail, as validation does not reach your hosting;
- your site logs only see Cloudflare addresses instead of your visitors'.
You can switch the orange cloud back on once the site is live and the certificate issued, as a deliberate choice.
Cloudflare does accept a CNAME at the root thanks to its flattening mechanism. That works, but the A record stays simpler and more portable if you ever change provider.
How do I check that the domain points to my hosting?
Do not trust your browser, which keeps caches of its own. Query DNS directly:
dig +short yourdomain.com A
dig +short www.yourdomain.com CNAMEOn Windows:
nslookup yourdomain.comThe answer must be the address noted in step 1. Until it is, there is no point going further.
How long does propagation take?
The delay depends on the TTL of the old records, not on how fast your provider is. A one-hour TTL means resolvers that already looked your domain up will keep the old answer for up to an hour.
Expect a few minutes at best, and up to a few hours if the old TTL was long. A tip for a future migration: lower the TTL to 300 seconds the day before the change.
How can I publish a site without a domain name yet?
That is not a blocker. Every web hosting plan includes a free subdomain, chosen when ordering, in one of these zones:
yoursite.byh.fryoursite.by-h.fryoursite.by-h.cloud
It is configured automatically and works straight away: no DNS record to create. You can attach a real domain name later without rebuilding your site.
What should I do once the domain is pointed?
Once the domain resolves to your hosting, issue your SSL certificate to move the site to HTTPS. That is the immediate next step, and it requires the domain to already point correctly.
If after several hours the domain still does not point to the expected address, open a ticket attaching the dig output and a screenshot of your zone at your provider.