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DNS Configuration Guide

This guide explains how to configure the DNS records of your domain for two popular registrars: Namecheap and GoDaddy.

Namecheap​

In the following, we outline the steps required to configure the apex of a domain and a subdomain on Namecheap to be used as a custom domain. To illustrate the required configuration, we use the domain ic-domain.live and the subdomain example.ic-domain.live by configuring it to point to the canister with the ID y5jqt-wqaaa-aaaam-abcoq-cai.

  • After purchasing your domain on Namecheap, open the management pane of your domain in the Namecheap dashboard.

  • Open the "Advanced DNS" tab.

  • Apex - To configure the apex of the domain (e.g., ic-domain.live), add the following records by clicking on "Add new record":

    • Create an ALIAS Record for which you set the host field to @ and the target field to icp1.io;

    • Create a CNAME Record for which you set the host field to _acme-challenge and the target field to _acme-challenge.ic-domain.live.icp2.io;

    • Create a TXT Record for which you set the host field to _canister-id and the value field to the canister ID y5jqt-wqaaa-aaaam-abcoq-cai.

      The resulting configuration should look similar to the following screenshot:

      DNS Configuration for `ic-domain.live` on Namecheap

  • Subdomain - To configure a subdomain (e.g., example.ic-domain.live), add the following records by clicking on "Add new record":

    • Create a CNAME Record for which you set the host field to example and the target field to icp1.io;

    • Create a CNAME Record for which you set the host field to _acme-challenge.example and the target field to _acme-challenge.example.ic-domain.live.icp2.io;

    • Create a TXT Record for which you set the host field to _canister-id.example and the value field to the canister ID y5jqt-wqaaa-aaaam-abcoq-cai.

      The resulting configuration should look similar to the following screenshot:

      DNS Configuration for `example.ic-domain.live` on Namecheap

  • Now, you are all set to register your custom domain with the boundary nodes and you can continue with step 2 of the general custom domains instructions.

GoDaddy​

In the following, we explain how you can configure your domain on GoDaddy to be used to point to a canister hosted on the Internet Computer. As an illustration, we configure the domain ic-domain.online and the subdomain example.ic-domain.online to point to the canister with the ID y5jqt-wqaaa-aaaam-abcoq-cai.

  • After purchasing your domain on GoDaddy, open your account and navigate to "My Products".

  • Click on the "DNS" button next to the domain:

    Domain Management Overview

  • Apex - Unfortunately, GoDaddy does not support to configure a CNAME record (or one of its alternatives, ALIAS or ANAME) for the apex of the domain, we need to make use of a workaround.

    There are mainly two approaches:

    1. Directly configuring the IP addresses of the boundary nodes.

    2. Relying on a different DNS provider (e.g., Cloudflare).

      Directly configuring the IP addresses is simpler compared to relying on another DNS provider, but is less resilient and performant.

      Directly configure the IP addresses

    • First, you need to look up the IP addresses of the boundary nodes (icp1.io). To this end, use an online DNS lookup service (e.g., nslookup.io) and take a note of the IPv4- and IPv6-addresses, the A and AAAA records, respectively.

      Resulting `A` and `AAAA` records from querying `icp1.io` on nslookup.io

    • In the "DNS Management" pane in your GoDaddy account, add the following DNS records:

      • Create an A record for each IPv4-address by setting the name field to "@" and the value field to the IPv4-address (e.g., 147.75.108.42);

      • Create an AAAA record for each IPv6-address by setting the name field to "@" and the value field to the IPv6-address (e.g., 2600:c0d:3002:4:5000:3cff:fe6b:8dd2);

      • Create a CNAME record for which you set the name field to _acme-challenge and the value field to _acme-challenge.ic-domain.online.icp2.io;

      • Create a TXT Record for which you set the name field to _canister-id and the value field to the canister ID y5jqt-wqaaa-aaaam-abcoq-cai.

        The resulting configuration should look similar to the following screenshot:

        DNS Configuration for `ic-domain.online` on GoDaddy

      Rely on an alternative DNS provider

      We explain this approach using Cloudflare as DNS provider. It works similar with any other DNS provider that supports CNAME, ALIAS, or ANAME records for the apex of a domain.

      • Create a free account with Cloudflare, click on "Add site" in the top bar of dashboard.

      • Enter your domain (e.g., ic-domain.online) and click "Add site".

      • Choose the free plan and continue.

      • Add the following records to configure your domain:

        • Create a CNAME record for which you set the name field to @ and the target field to icp1.io;
        • Create a CNAME record for which you set the host field to _acme-challenge and the target field to _acme-challenge.ic-domain.online.icp2.io;
        • Create a TXT record for which you set the name field to _canister-id and the content field to the canister ID y5jqt-wqaaa-aaaam-abcoq-cai.

        The resulting configuration should look similar to the following screenshot:

        DNS Configuration for `ic-domain.online` on Cloudflare

      • In the next step, Cloudflare lists two nameservers that you should configure GoDaddy to use. Take note of the two nameservers (e.g., brianna.ns.cloudflare.com and kaiser.ns.cloudflare.com).

      • In the "DNS Management" pane of GoDaddy, click on the "Change" button in the "Nameservers" section.

      • In the dialog that opened, click on "Enter my own nameservers (advanced)" and fill in the nameservers from Cloudflare in the provided fields. To finish, click on "Save".

        GoDaddy's dialog to configure the nameservers

      • Confirm in the dialog that you indeed intend to change the nameservers. The resulting configuration should look similar to the following screenshot:

        Alternative nameserver configuration on GoDaddy

      • Back in the Cloudflare management portal, click on "Done, check nameservers". This step can take several hours and you will be notified by email once it succeeded.

  • Subdomain - To configure a subdomain (e.g., example.ic-domain.live), add the following records by clicking on "Add new record":

    • Create a CNAME Record for which you set the host field to example and the target field to icp1.io;

    • Create a CNAME Record for which you set the host field to _acme-challenge.example and the target field to _acme-challenge.example.ic-domain.online.icp2.io;

    • Create a TXT Record for which you set the host field to _canister-id.example and the value field to the canister ID y5jqt-wqaaa-aaaam-abcoq-cai.

      The resulting configuration should look similar to the following screenshot:

      DNS Configuration for `example.ic-domain.online` on GoDaddy

  • Now, you are all set to register your custom domain with the boundary nodes and you can continue with step 2 of the general custom domains instructions.