Use your own domain name

Every hosted site has an address we give it, such as harmony.cmcms.org. On the Starter and Premium plans you can also have it answer at a domain your choir owns, such as www.yourchoir.org. This page is for the account holder, and for whoever looks after the choir's domain. It covers the usual case: a name with www in front. Starter and Premium plans

For a domain with nothing in front (yourchoir.org), or for connecting both, read this page first and then Bare domains, two domains and the main address.

Two words to know

A domain is a name you rent by the year from a company called a registrar, such as yourchoir.org. A DNS record is one line in that domain's settings that tells the internet where a name leads. Connecting your domain means adding one such line, at the company that manages your domain's DNS. That is often the registrar you bought it from.

You do not need to move your domain to us, and your email at that domain is not affected by adding the record described here.

Before you start

• Your site must be on the Starter or Premium plan. On Free, the section reads "Use a domain you already own, such as yourchoir.org, on the Starter and Premium plans. A domain connected to a site is disconnected if the site goes back to the Free plan." See Move to a paid plan.
• You need to be able to sign in where your domain's DNS is managed, or to have someone who can.

If you do not have a domain yet

The page gives this advice: "No domain yet? We recommend buying one from Cloudflare: it sells them at cost, and a bare domain (yourchoir.org) works there without extra steps." You can buy a domain from any registrar; the steps below work with all of them.

Step 1: tell us the domain

1. Sign in to your account. In the Hosted site card, find Your own domain. It begins "Already own a domain? Connect it and your site answers there, with a security certificate we look after."

2. In Domain, type the name with www in front: www.yourchoir.org. You can paste a full address; https:// at the start and a / at the end are removed for you.

3. Press Connect this domain.

The page reloads with "Nearly there. Add the DNS records shown below, and your domain is connected as soon as we can see them."

Step 2: add the DNS record

The section now shows your domain in a box that says it "is waiting for one DNS record", with the record to add.

The record looks like the one below. Copy the Value from your own account page: this one is only an example.

Type	CNAME
Name	www.yourchoir.org
Value	sites.example.net

A CNAME record says "this name is another name for that one". Here it says that www.yourchoir.org leads to us.

1. In another tab, sign in where your domain's DNS is managed and find its DNS records. The page may be called "DNS", "DNS management", "Zone editor" or "Advanced DNS".
2. Add a record with the Type, Name and Value shown on your account page.
3. Save it.

Three things trip people up, and the page mentions each:

Hint	What it means
"Some providers ask only for the part in front (www) as the name."	Many providers add your domain to the end of the name for you. If yours shows .yourchoir.org beside the Name box, type only www.
"If there is already a record for this name, replace it."	A www record often exists already, pointing at your old website. Change it, or delete it and add the new one. There cannot be two.
"If your DNS is with Cloudflare, set the record to "DNS only"."	In Cloudflare's own DNS, each record has a "Proxy status" switch. Turn it off, so that the cloud is grey and it reads "DNS only", as the page asks.

If your DNS provider can import records from a file, you can use download this record as a file instead of typing it in. See Bare domains, two domains and the main address.

Step 3: check, and wait

Under the record is a status notice and a Check now button. Press Check now after adding the record. We also look again each time you open your account page. We look at most once every 30 seconds for a domain, so pressing the button repeatedly does not hurry it.

The notice goes through these in turn:

Notice	What it means
"We have not looked for the records yet."	You have only just connected the domain. Add the record, then press Check now.
"We cannot see the DNS records yet. DNS changes can take a while to show up: anything from a minute to a few hours."	The record is not visible to us yet. If you have just added it, wait. If it has been some hours, check the record against the page.
"Your DNS is in place. The security certificate for your domain is being issued, which usually takes a few minutes."	The record is right. Nothing more for you to do but wait.
"Your site is live at www.yourchoir.org."	Finished.

When it is live

• Your site answers at https://www.yourchoir.org, with a security certificate that we obtain and renew for you. There is nothing to buy or install.
• The first domain to go live becomes your site's main address: the one its own links and emails use, and the one Open its admin panel leads to. The page says so: "This is your site's main address: the one its own links and emails use."
• The .cmcms.org address keeps working. Nobody's bookmark breaks, and you can always reach your site and its admin panel there.

Log in to the admin panel at the new address once. A login at one address does not carry over to the other, so you and your members will be asked to log in again the first time you use the new one.

Next, you may want to connect the bare domain too, so that people who type yourchoir.org without www arrive as well: see Bare domains, two domains and the main address.

Getting help with the DNS

Under the form the page offers: "Stuck with the DNS settings? Book a 30-minute call and we will set it up with you." (The link may instead read Ask us for a 30-minute call, which opens an email to support.) Follow it, and have the sign-in for your DNS provider to hand for the call.

If you bought the setup and migration package, connecting your domain is part of it.

If something goes wrong

Every message the form can give, and what to do when a domain will not connect, is in Domain problems.