Setting Up a Custom Domain, SSL Certificate, and CNAMES

Learning Experience Team

November 04, 2019 23:40

This process is for new implementations. If you need to change your domain name, see: Changing your Live Domain for more information.

Setting up Your Domain

When setting up your system, you’ll need to buy a domain (i.e., yourcompany.com) through a reputable domain registrar.

Such as:

The domain provider should provide documentation and support for using their portal.

Setting Up a Wildcard SSL Certificate

You can generally buy your SSL certificate through the same provider as your domain. You will need to buy a Wildcard SSL Certificate, as well. A Wildcard SSL certificate allows you to secure unlimited encrypted sub-domains that correspond with your main domain.

DirectScale now offers a free SSL service powered by LetsEncrypt.org.

If you wish to use this service:

Contact your Implementation Consultant to let them know you will be using the service.
Point your Domain Name System (DNS) from your purchased domains to DirectScale’s domains. Learn more about this process in the CNAMES section.
Once Complete, let your Implementation Consultant know you’ve completed the task. DirectScale will then complete the rest of the SSL Certificate setup.

If you want to supply your own SSL Certificate from another service, follow the provider’s documentation and support.

Generally, this is the process:

You generate a certificate request.

You can use a tool such as IIS (Internet Information Services) web server to do this.
Attach the request-file to the certificate vendor’s portal.
The vendor generally provides a ZIP folder.

This folder includes the SSL certificate for the customer’s domain and the vendor’s certificate chain; often, this is a CRT file.

Include both the certificate and the certificate chain in the folder.
Send the ZIP folder and the CRT file’s private key to your DirectScale contact.

If preferred, you can complete the request if made via the IIS and send the PFX file and the corresponding password to DirectScale.

Do not send these files using email. It is not a secure enough method. Share only with support@directscale.com.

Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive are secure tools to share the files.

Once DirectScale downloads the files, delete the files from the tool used, so the shared link no longer exists.

Formatting a Sub-domain

It’s important to format the sub-domain correctly while purchasing a Wildcard SSL certificate. When the domain provider asks for the sub-domain, format it like this:

*.yourcompany.com

The asterisk acts as a placeholder for the sub-domain. This allows the certificate to secure any sub-domain belonging to your main domain (for example, www.yourcompany.com, brandy.yourcompany.com, etc.).

CNAMES

Once you’ve purchased and configured your domains in the domain vendor portal, you must configure the DNS (Domain Name System). The DNS will create a CNAME (Canonical Name Record) for these domains. This is an alias that points to another existing DNS entry. The CNAMES needs to point to DirectScale’s domains.

admin points to <yourcompanyid>.admin.directscale.xyz
admin2 points to <yourcompanyid>.admin2.directscale.xyz
corpadmin points to <yourcompanyid>.corpadmin.directscale.xyz
office points to <yourcompanyid>.office.directscale.xyz
office2 points to <yourcompanyid>.office2.directscale.xyz
share points to <yourcompanyid>.share.directscale.xyz
retailadmin points to <yourcompanyid>.retailadmin.directscale.xyz
shop points to <yourcompanyid>.shop.directscale.xyz

Click here for a guide that walks you through setting up CNAME records with GoDaddy. Other domain registrars follow a similar process. Refer to your domain registrar’s documentation for help with setting up CNAMES.