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Troubleshoot custom domains

Troubleshoot custom domains

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. Please use a subdomain eg: design.example.com.

We do not support custom domains with a folder e.g. www.example.com/design. We only support subdomains or root domains without a folder path e.g. design.example.com.

Created an A record instead of a CNAME record

Using an A record for your custom domain can create an error for 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

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.

Own SSL certificate 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. We would advise sending this to us a few days before it’s due to expire.

Change a custom domain

If you need to change your custom domain, please create a new CNAME record following these steps then contact us. We will delete the current custom domain for your styleguide and then set up the new custom domain.

Remove 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