Instance Domains

The Domains section lists the addresses that serve your instance. Every instance has a system domain that always works. A production instance can also have domains you own, such as acme.com. One domain is the default: the address the Console links to and shares. Staging instances are served from their system domain only, so you cannot connect a domain to a staging instance.

From the Domains section you can connect a domain, see whether each part of it is working, make a domain the default, and remove a domain. Production instances also show the Email Senders card below the domains. See Email Senders.

Opening the Domains Section

1. Navigate to Instances from the main menu.
2. Select the instance to open it.
3. Go to the Domains section.

If a domain needs your attention, the Domains tab shows a count of the domains with a problem. A domain counts when its records are missing or when it failed. A domain that is still connecting, waiting, or has email notifications turned off does not count.

Who Can Do What

Reading the Domain List

Each row shows one domain. The address opens the site in a new tab.

• Default marks the default domain. System marks the system domain.
• Also serves shows www for a root domain. When you connect acme.com, Insites connects www.acme.com with it. A subdomain, such as shop.acme.com, has no www address.
• A tag shows who manages the DNS: Insites, or your DNS provider by name.

Each domain you connect has three parts, and the row shows the status of each one:

Each part shows one of these statuses:

Some states replace the three statuses with one:

• Connecting…: Insites is connecting the domain. You do not need to do anything.
• Couldn’t connect: the connection failed. The row offers Try again, or View details when trying again cannot help.
• Waiting for your nameserver change: Insites hosts the DNS for this domain, and the nameservers at your registrar do not point to Insites yet.

A row can show one button. Check records opens the domain and checks its records. Check nameservers opens the domain and checks its nameservers. View details opens the domain page. Try again connects the domain again.

Open the row menu for more actions: Visit site, View details, Make default and Remove domain. The system domain has Visit site only.

If the default domain stops reaching your instance, a red banner appears at the top of the instance on every tab. It tells you the instance still works at its system domain, and what to do next.

Connecting a Domain

Before you start, you need access to where the domain’s DNS is managed, or the person who has it. The wizard shows you exactly what to change, and you can email the steps to someone else. Some changes take up to 48 hours to take effect. You do not need to wait on the page.

1. Open a production instance and go to the Domains section.
2. Select Connect domain. The Connect Domain wizard opens.
3. Follow the steps below.

A root domain, such as acme.com, has four steps. A subdomain, such as shop.acme.com, has three: it skips step 3, because a subdomain is always connected by adding records where its DNS is managed.

Note: Nothing is saved until you select the last button. If you close the wizard before that, it asks you to confirm with Leave setup, or to stay with Not now.

Step 1: Enter Your Domain

1. Type the domain in the Domain field. Leave out https:// and www.
2. Wait for the check. It runs while you type. The field shows Found at and the name of your DNS provider when the domain is ready to connect.
3. Select Next.

The field tells you if the domain cannot be connected:

• The domain is already connected to this instance.
• The domain is connected to another Insites instance. Remove it there first. If you do not manage that instance, contact support.
• The address is an Insites address, or a domain ending such as .com on its own.
• The address is not a valid domain, or it is too long.

If the check cannot find the domain, or cannot read its DNS, you can still continue. This is normal for a domain you just bought. You can also select Try again.

Step 2: What We Found

This step shows how the domain is set up today and what connecting adds. Nothing changes yet.

• Who Manages the Domain Today: the DNS provider and the nameservers.
• What Stays the Same: where the domain’s email arrives today. Connecting does not change where you receive email.
• What Connecting Sets Up: the instance address, the SSL certificate and email notifications.

The cards can show notes about the domain. For example, DNSSEC may be turned on, a CAA record may stop the SSL certificate, or the domain may have more than one SPF or DMARC record. If part of the check could not run, the card says so and offers Try again. Select Next to continue.

Step 3: Choose Who Manages the DNS Records

This step is for root domains only. Connecting needs DNS records for the instance address, the SSL certificate and email notifications. Choose one card:

Insites hosting is offered only when the wizard could read all of the domain’s DNS settings, so that every record can be copied safely. If it could not, the card says what it could not read, and you can select Try again.

Step 4: Check the Records We’ll Copy

You see this step when you chose Let Insites host your DNS. Once your nameservers point to Insites, Insites answers for the whole domain. Any record that is not copied stops working.

1. Check the Email Receiving card. It lists your MX records, which deliver your mail. They are copied exactly as they are.
2. Check Every Record We Found against the records at your current DNS provider. The wizard finds common records only, so make sure nothing is missing. The A, AAAA and CNAME records at the root, and every record at www, are marked Replaced by your instance, because the instance’s own records replace them.
3. Select Copy records and connect.

The domain page then opens. It shows the two new nameservers to set at your registrar as soon as the domain is connected. See Changing Your Nameservers below.

Step 4: Add These Records

You see this step when you chose to keep your DNS provider, and for every subdomain.

1. Choose whether to turn on Email notifications. When the switch is on, the list includes the email records. When it is off, email notifications send from no-reply@insites.site, and you can turn them on later from the domain page.
2. Add every record in the Records to Add list at your DNS provider. Each record shows its host, type, value and TTL, with copy buttons. Some values show Value to follow from Insites: Insites issues them after you finish, and they appear on the domain page.
3. To copy every record at once, select Copy all records. To send the records to the person who manages your DNS, select Email these to someone, enter their address and an optional note, and select Send records.
4. Select Finish.

The list does not include MX records. Nothing here changes where you receive email.

After you select the last button, the domain page opens and shows that Insites is connecting the domain. If the connection fails at once, the wizard stays open and shows a message. Select the button again to try again.

The Domain Page

To open a domain’s page, select View details in its row menu. Select All domains to go back. The system domain has no page.

The top of the page shows the address, the Default mark, the www address it also serves, who manages the DNS, and when it was connected. The Domain actions menu holds Make default, Copy all records, Email records to someone and Remove domain. Email records to someone is for domains on your own DNS provider, because Insites publishes the records of a domain it hosts.

A banner tells you where the domain stands and what to do next, for example:

• Connecting acme.com…: there is nothing you need to do. The page updates on its own.
• acme.com isn’t connected yet, acme.com is connected somewhere else or acme.com couldn’t be connected: the banner gives the reason. Select Try again, or contact support@insites.io. If the domain is connected to another instance, remove it there first. When trying again cannot help, the banner offers Remove domain instead.
• Waiting for your DNS records: add the records at your DNS provider. Each part starts working as soon as its records are found.
• Email records are missing, 2 days left: add the email records again before the days run out.
• Email notifications now send from the platform address: the email records were missing for three daily checks. Add the records again to send from the domain again. If the domain has a strict DMARC policy, this happens at the first missed check.

When every part is live, the page shows a message that the domain is live.

DNS Records

The DNS Records card groups the records by part: Instance address, SSL certificate and Email notifications. On your own DNS provider, each record shows Found or Not found. Insites checks the records every day, and more often while a part is still being set up. To check now, select Check now. Changes at your DNS provider can take up to an hour to show.

If email notifications are off, the Email notifications group shows Turn on email notifications. Select it, then add the email records it lists at your DNS provider.

When Insites hosts your DNS, Insites publishes the records and keeps them current, so there is nothing to check.

If the domain receives email, the Email Receiving card shows your MX records and who manages your inbox. Connecting does not change it.

Changing Your Nameservers

When Insites hosts your DNS, the domain page shows Your New Nameservers.

1. Copy the two nameservers.
2. At your registrar, replace the nameservers for the domain with these two, and remove any others. Some registrars call this setting custom DNS.
3. Select I’ve changed my nameservers. Insites checks for about a minute. You can leave the page.

The change can take up to 48 hours. Insites keeps checking until the domain is live. Email keeps arriving as normal, because your MX records were copied.

Note: If DNSSEC is turned on for the domain, turn it off at your registrar before you change the nameservers, or the domain stops working.

Making a Domain the Default

The default domain is the address the Console links to and shares. Only a domain whose instance address is live can be the default.

1. Open the row menu of the domain, or the Domain actions menu on its page.
2. Select Make default.

A message confirms that the default domain changed.

Removing a Domain

1. Open the row menu of the domain, or the Domain actions menu on its page.
2. Select Remove domain.
3. Read what stops working, and type the domain name to confirm.
4. If the domain is the default, choose the New default domain.
5. Select Remove domain, or Change default and remove for the default domain.

The domain and its www address stop serving the instance. Records at your own DNS provider stay until you delete them. To change a domain’s name, remove it and connect the new one.

Note: A connected domain whose DNS Insites hosts cannot be removed yet. The dialog tells you so.