Introduction to Domains

A Custom Domain is the web address you host your website on, purchased through a domain registrar. When you host your websites through CloudCannon, you connect your Custom Domain to your Organization and choose which Subdomain and subpath each Site is served on. You can manage all the Custom Domains connected to your Organization through the Domains Browser, from the Custom Domains link in the App Sidebar.

Articles in this section are for developers and anyone responsible for the domains, DNS, and SSL Certificates of an Organization. Testing Domains, routing, and external hosting are covered in the Hosting section of our Developer documentation. Hosting your Site through CloudCannon is optional. If another provider hosts your Site, you set up its domain and SSL Certificate with that provider, but you can still manage your domain's DNS records with CloudCannon DNS.

In the Domains section of our Developer documentation, we cover:

• How hosting works — Learn how visitors reach your Site, from your domain registrar to the Site CloudCannon serves
• Custom Domains — Learn how to connect a Custom Domain to your Organization and add it to your Sites
• Subdomains — Learn how to manage the Subdomains, redirects, and Fallback Redirect on your Custom Domain
• DNS — Learn how to configure CloudCannon DNS or external DNS
• SSL — Learn how to add an auto-generated or Custom SSL Certificate, and resolve SSL Certificate errors

Let's briefly introduce these topics.

How hosting works#

When a visitor enters your web address in their internet browser, the nameservers and DNS records for your domain send them to CloudCannon, which serves the Site on that address. Each address uses one of three hosting options: CloudCannon Hosting, Cloudflare Proxy, or Single Origin.

For a more in-depth explanation of how visitors reach your Site, please read our documentation:

• How does hosting work on CloudCannon?

Custom Domains#

To manage your Custom Domains through CloudCannon, you must connect each one to your Organization, choose CloudCannon DNS or external DNS, and add the Subdomain and path you want to host on to a Site. For each Custom Domain you connect, CloudCannon creates a Domain page in the Domains Browser, where you can see whether the domain is set up correctly and manage its Subdomains, DNS, and settings.

For a more in-depth explanation of Custom Domains, please read our documentation:

• What is a Custom Domain?
• Connect a Custom Domain to your Organization
• What is the Domain page?
• Disconnect a Custom Domain from your Organization
• Add a Custom Domain to your Site
• Remove a Custom Domain from your Site

Subdomains#

A subdomain is a name in front of your Base Domain (e.g., www.example.com or docs.example.com). Every address on a Custom Domain is a Subdomain in CloudCannon, including the Base Domain itself (e.g., example.com). After you connect a Custom Domain to your Organization, you choose whether each Subdomain serves one or more Sites, each at its own path, or redirects visitors to another domain. Your Fallback Redirect decides where CloudCannon sends visitors to a subdomain you haven't set up.

For a more in-depth explanation of Subdomains, please read our documentation:

• What is a subdomain?
• Add a subdomain to your Custom Domain
• Manage the Sites on a Subdomain
• Manage your Redirect Subdomains
• Configure a Subdomain's hosting, HTTPS, and DNS
• Update the Fallback Redirect for your Custom Domain

DNS#

The Domain Name System (DNS) translates a domain name into the address of the server that hosts it. When you connect a Custom Domain, you choose its DNS Provider. With CloudCannon DNS, you set CloudCannon's nameservers at your domain registrar, and CloudCannon adds the records your Subdomains need. With external DNS, you keep your current DNS Provider and add the records CloudCannon lists for each Subdomain.

For a more in-depth explanation of DNS, including how to configure CloudCannon or external DNS, please read our documentation:

• What is DNS?
• Configure CloudCannon DNS
• Configure external DNS

SSL#

An SSL Certificate lets browsers load your Site over HTTPS. CloudCannon issues and renews an SSL Certificate for each Subdomain on your Custom Domain, or you can upload your own. You can also set the minimum TLS version that browsers must use for every Subdomain on your Custom Domain that uses CloudCannon Hosting or Cloudflare Proxy.

For a more in-depth explanation of SSL Certificates, please read our documentation:

• What is an SSL Certificate?
• Add an auto-generated SSL Certificate
• Add a Custom SSL Certificate
• Increase the minimum TLS version for your domains
• Resolve SSL Certificate errors