What is web hosting?

Web hosting is where, after a successful build, all your files are stored on a web server and made available to the public on the Internet. You can host your Site through CloudCannon or an external service.

Hosting your website requires a Domain Name, which you can purchase from any Domain Registrar.

• Domain Name — The address used to access a website (e.g., cloudcannon.com).
• Domain Registrar — A third-party company that handles the reservation of domain names and assigns IP addresses to domain names. Most CloudCannon users purchase a domain name from a Registrar (e.g., Cloudflare Registrar, NameCheap).

The Domain Name of your website appears in the URL.

CloudCannon automatically assigns a free Domain Name to each Site, which you can use to preview your Site content live and share it with team members. However, most users also have a personal or business Domain Name that they connect to their Site. For more information, please read our documentation on Testing Domains and Custom Domains.

Hosting on CloudCannon#

To set up hosting on CloudCannon, you will need to:

• Connect a Custom Domain.
• Configure a DNS provider (either CloudCannon DNS or external DNS).
• Add an SSL certificate (either an auto-generated SSL certificate or a custom SSL certificate).

Setting up your Custom Domain, DNS, and SSL certificate can be a circular process, requiring you to go back and forth as you configure your settings. To make it easier, here's a quick guide.

Do you want to host on CloudCannon?#

Hosting your Site on CloudCannon might be right for you if you want to keep your hosting settings on the same platform you use to edit your content.

CloudCannon uses a Cloudflare Content Delivery Network (CDN) for all Sites hosted on CloudCannon. A CDN is a globally distributed network of servers that improves your Site's loading time by caching your content. Visitors to your Site can then access a cached copy from a geographically closer server.

Whenever you update your Site, your hosting provider must also update these caches to prevent visitors from seeing out-of-date content. CloudCannon uses cache busting so that every time you update the content on your Site, CloudCannon will refresh all the cached copies as well.

If you don't want to host your Site on CloudCannon, you can use an external provider without interrupting your ability to edit your content in CloudCannon.

Which combination of DNS provider and SSL certificate is right for your Site?#

Unless you are familiar with web hosting, we recommend reading our documentation What is DNS? and What is an SSL certificate? before selecting a DNS provider or SSL certificate type.

DNS and SSL often work hand-in-hand. The correct combination of DNS provider and SSL certificate will depend on your desired Site configuration. Here are a few common examples:

1. CloudCannon DNS and an auto-generated wildcard SSL certificate (recommended) — Manage your domain settings and website security in the same place as your content: CloudCannon! Keep your DNS records up to date and protect all your domains and subdomains with a wildcard certificate.
2. External DNS and an auto-generated wildcard SSL certificate — Manage your domain settings through a trusted third-party service (e.g., Cloudflare) and generate your SSL certificate through CloudCannon. This option is good if you have existing DNS infrastructure.
3. CloudCannon DNS and a custom SSL certificate — Manage your domain settings through CloudCannon and generate your SSL certificate through a trusted third-party service.
4. External DNS and a custom SSL certificate — Manage your domain settings and generate your SSL certificate through a trusted third-party service. This option is good if you have existing DNS infrastructure and security policies that require you to have an SSL certificate from an internally approved authority.

For help setting up web hosting on CloudCannon, please contact our friendly support team.