The custom domains are a core part of SaaS Custom Domains. This is why you signed up!
In short, a custom domain receives requests that are then forwarded to the upstream you chose. Upstream is just a word for where your application lives. To learn about upstreams, read our Upstream 101.
Creating a custom domain
Once you've created an upstream, click the New Custom Domain button in the upstream dashboard. The pop-up will appear:
The most important part of a custom domain is its Host. This is the domain where your user wants to access your upstream / application.
There are additional custom domain options
Challenge Type — choose how you want to verify domain ownership.
The default is HTTP-01. Please read our Challenge Types Guide to learn which challenge type will work best for you.
💡 Tip: The DNS-01 challenge allows you to enable SaaS Custom Domains Shield, a super-powerful feature that lets you use Cloudflare to secure and speed up your custom domains. Read the SaaS Custom Domains Shield Guide to get started!
Instructions Email Recipient — email address where we'll send detailed instructions explaining how to set up the DNS records.
💡 Tip: Save time by enabling Automated DNS Instructions Emails. When setting up a custom domain for a user, let us send them detailed instructions on how to set up their DNS records. Saves you a lot of hassle.
Let's fill in the host and Instructions Email Recipient and click the Create Custom Domain button. Your domain will be created and you'll see the following screen:
If you filled in the Instructions Email Recipient, you should receive an email there looking like this:
Let's get back to our custom domains view for a moment. Notice how the Proxy DNS Record status badge is red and says Not Found. Our TLS/SSL Certificate status is also greyed out saying Not Issued. Let's fix that.
Click the red Proxy DNS Record status badge. The DNS instructions pop-up will appear:
Once you've followed the instructions and added the required DNS records, the status badge will turn green. Then, once the first request reaches the
custom domain, the TLS certificate will be issued.
Your dashboard will look like this:
That's it! Your custom domain is ready to go!
Until next time, keep building!
Need more help? Reach out via the Intercom chat widget and we'll be right with you!