Common DNS Issues With A Custom Domain

A custom domain requires some "DNS" settings to be changed usually with the service you used to register your domain. Lets go through the things to check.

I Am Unable To Create A Record

If you are in your DNS service provider and trying to create a record but getting an error try these steps:

Is There Already A Website There?

Many companies that sell domains will automatically point your domain at a placeholder page or their own hosting. Put the domain that you intend to use into your browsers address bar and check that it does not resolve to anything.

You must delete the record which is directing your domain to this placeholder page before you can create a record that points to FediHost.

Are Records Conflicting?

This is essentially the cause of the problem outlined above. You cannot have A, AAAA, ALIAS or CNAME records sharing the same hostname. Enter the domain that you want to use into this tool and check that there is no result.

If there is a result check that it the correct record type and goes to the correct address from the FediHost panel. If it is not correct delete and recreate the record.

Are you using the wrong record type?

Put the domain name that you would like to use in this tool and check that the result.

Subdomains Use CNAME

If you have a subdomain you should see a "CNAME" record type. If you see an ALIAS or A record type for this subdomain you must delete it and replace it with a CNAME record type. You cannot have both a CNAME and an ALIAS pointed to the same location.

A subdomain is a domain like m.consultatron.com where there are two or more dots in the domain name. In this example the letter "m" is the subdomain but it could be anything like "mastodon.consultatron.com" or "mast.to.don.consultatron.com"

Root Domains Use ALIAS or A

If your FediHost service is at a root domain like consultatron.com and you want to use it to host your FediHost service you will need to use an ALIAS or A record type. You can not use a CNAME record type and should remove it and replace it with an ALIAS record type.

A root domain is a domain like consultatron.com where there is only one dot in the domain name.

I Am Unable To See My Service

Wait At Least 12 Hours

If you have done all the steps correctly it is usually a matter of waiting for the DNS record to propagate. Some are almost instant, while others can take two days.

Is The Record Missing?

Put the domain name that you plan to use in this tool and check the result.

If no result is found then you need to create one with your DNS provider. Check there isn't a typo and that the provider listed below is the one that you are using.