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Troubleshoot custom domains

Vinh
Vinh
  • Updated
This feature is available on all paid plans. Want this and other premium features? Update your plan here.

If you’re having issues creating a custom domain, here are some quick tips for troubleshooting your issue.

Domain restrictions

If you'd like to use a subdomain, like www.example.com or design.example.com, your DNS provider doesn't need to support anything special (just normal CNAME records). If you want to use an apex/root custom domain (such as example.com or example.design), your DNS provider will need to support either ALIAS / ANAME or CNAME flattening. 

We do not support redirects to folders on your site e.g., www.example.com/design.

Created an A record instead of a CNAME record

Using an A record for your custom domain can create an error when connecting to your styleguide. zeroheight custom domains should always be a CNAME record.

What are CNAME records?

CNAME records are aliases for domains and are used in place of an A record. The CNAME record points to a root domain (e.g. customdomain.example.com to zeroheight.com). It does not point to an IP address. If an IP address of the root domain changes, only the DNS A record needs to be updated. The CNAME records will follow the updated changes.

What are DNS A records?

DNS A records specify the IP address of a domain (e.g. zeroheight.com). A records allow a person’s device to connect with a website without the need to remember the IP address.

How to identify A records

You can paste your domain into this tool https://www.whatsmydns.net/ to identify whether you created an A record or CNAME record. This tool doesn’t work if your domain is private. For private domains, we recommend having your IT department check them. 

Whatsmydns.net page

 

Adding a TXT record

For enhanced security, we require you to add a TXT record along with the CNAME record. The instructions for this will be emailed to you. 

Example: If you are setting up a custom domain for design.example.com The host for the TXT record will be _zh_ before your requested subdomain, eg: _zh_design. The type of record will be TXT. In the email we sent you is a unique identifier to use for the data/value of this record. This is what your email will look like: preview of email showing TXT record host and value This is what your DNS config could look like: example of adding txt record to a DNS config

Using your own SSL certificates

As part of the setup process, we install the SSL certificates for your custom domain using LetsEncrypt. 

If you would like to install your own SSL certificate, you can provide us with a private key + full-chain certificate pair, which we'll install on our server to protect your custom domain. 

Please send this to us at support@zeroheight.com once you've configured the CNAME record.

Your own SSL certificate is due to expire

Please send us the latest SSL certificate to support@zeroheight.com along with your custom domain name, and we'll get this updated for you. Please try to send this to us at least five working days before your certificate is due to expire.

Change a custom domain

If you need to change your custom domain, please contact us at support@zeroheight.com.

We will delete your current custom domain, then you will be able to set up a new one following the steps in our guide here.

Delete a custom domain

If you need to remove your custom domain, please contact us, and we will remove the custom domain for your styleguide.

Still not working?

Get in touch at support@zeroheight.com. Please provide screenshots of any error messages you're seeing to help our team resolve your issue.

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