When you connect a custom domain, you may experience minor errors. Here are some troubleshooting tips!
Using DNS checker
DNS checker (https://dnschecker.org/) is a free tool which you can use to check your domain status. Oftentimes, domain errors occur due to incorrect DNS settings. You need A and CNAME records to connect your external domain to your Durable website, so we will check those two records as a main focus.
Here's how you can check where your domain is pointing to:
We need to remember the values associated with our domain. The A record uses the Name "@," and The CNAME uses the Name "www," which means that our A record is pointed directly to the domain (domain.com) and the CNAME to www.domain.com.
Check A record
Access the DNS checker and input your domain name.
Select the A record category from the dropdown menu.
Click search.
Check if the records are propagating. You should see a checkmark (not a crossed red sign) and only one of Durable's IPs available (162.159.140.42 or 172.66.0.42, whichever appears on your external domain management page.)
When you connect a domain's A record correctly:
Only one of Durable's A records is shown, and you can see green checks on the map.
When your domain has errors:
A record not propagated to all regions (could be in the loading process: please allow 24 to 48 hours for the process to be completed)
Domain with missing A record
Domain with more than one A record (It can only point to one A record)
If you see any of the above errors, please log into your domain provider's dashboard and change the DNS settings.
Check CNAME
Input your domain name: this time, add "www." at the beginning of the domain (For example, www.durable.co).
Select the CNAME record category from the dropdown menu.
Click search.
Check if the records are propagating. You should see a checkmark (not a crossed red sign) and Durable's alias: websites.durable.co (old version) or websites.mydurable.com (new version).
Note: You should not substitute your domain for your CNAME. Please input the value of CNAME to your domain provider exactly as websites.mydurable.com.
For instance:
Bad: myflowershop.mydurable.com
Good: websites.mydurable.com
When the CNAME is set correctly:
Other DNS records that may be related to your domain issues
CAA records
CAA records limit the certification authority (CA) from issuing SSL and may be hindering SSL generation from Durable's CA.
To check if there are CAA records attached to your domain via DNS checker, you can go to DNS Lookup and search for CAA.
If your domain has CAA records, please remove them from the DNS records.
NS records
NS records can point to parking pages. This takes priority over records pointing to your Durable website. Remove these records same as CAA.
Setting Domain as primary
In order to use the custom domain, it needs to be set as "Primary" as the website's primary domain.
When your website was offline due to a cancelled subscription and you re-subscribed to a plan to reactivate it, your custom domain may be inactive. If this happens, you can flip the primary back to the mydurable.com subdomain and back to your custom domain. This refreshes the domain connection and can help to solve the domain issue.
If your custom domain is primary, you should see the "Primary" tag next to your domain.
If it was not set as primary, please follow the steps below:
Go to Website > Domain.
Click "Manage" next to the domain you would like to set as primary.
Click "Set as primary."
Confirm the primary domain change by clicking "Set as primary."
It may take up to a few minutes for the domain to be primary.
Checking which DNS records are on your DNS dashboard
If you are not sure which record to type to input in the DNS record, please refer to the domain dashboard.
How to navigate
Go to Website > Domain.
Click "Manage" next to the custom domain.
Please check the A record and CNAME value. If the domain is not working, please make sure that you have the same value in the Durable dashboard and your domain DNS settings. Durable has 2 A records, and you can use either one (but not both at the same time!)
Example: A record: 162.159.120.42
Example: A record: 172.66.0.42
