Connect your domain name

Your site appears at your address when your domain name points to Lovely Render. This article teaches you how to add the DNS records at your registrar. You will also learn to check each record in the DNS panel and fix the one that keeps a cross.

Before you start

• You must be a site administrator. Without this role, the DNS button does not appear on your dashboard. Ask the site administrator for this role, or have them forward the records to enter.
• The records are added at your registrar, the company where you manage your domain name. Your domain stays with it, in your name. You do not have to transfer it to Lovely Render.
• The Lovely Render team helps you with this step.

Open the DNS panel

1. In the dashboard, find your site’s card.
2. At the bottom of the card, click DNS. The DNS records for panel followed by your domain opens on the side.

For each record, the panel gives the host, the value to enter and the value found on your domain. It compares them live. At the end of the line, a check mark says the record is correct, a cross says it is not.

Point your domain

The A records table lists your Production domain. It also lists its static files subdomain when your site has one.

1. At your registrar, open the DNS zone of your domain.
2. For each line of the A records table, create a record of type A. Its host is the one on the line. Its value is the IP address in the Expected column.
3. Delete any old A record on the same host. Left next to the new one, it would send some of your visitors to your previous host.
4. Reopen the panel. The check mark appears when the Found column gives only the address in the Expected column.

As long as nothing is in place, the Found column shows Unresolved.

Authenticate your emails

Three TXT records authenticate your site’s emails: notifications, confirmations and form replies. They help them reach the inbox instead of the spam folder.

Add the DKIM signature

1. In the panel, under DKIM (TXT), note the host. It looks like selector._domainkey.yourdomain.
2. Note the value in the Expected column. It starts with v=DKIM1;.
3. At your registrar, create a record of type TXT on this host with this value. If your registrar accepts a complete zone line, expand Raw DNS record to add and copy it.
4. Reopen the panel. The check mark appears when the published key is exactly the one the server signs with.

Authorize the server with SPF

The panel checks whether your domain already has an SPF record. The Recommended column adapts to what it finds.

1. Under SPF recommendation (TXT), read the Recommended column.
2. With no existing SPF, it gives the complete value. At your registrar, create a record of type TXT with this value.
3. With an existing SPF, it gives the ip4: mechanism to add. Insert it into your current record.
4. Reopen the panel. The check mark appears when the record contains exactly ip4: followed by the server’s address.

Publish a DMARC policy

DMARC sets the policy of your domain. It applies to all emails sent in its name, not only those of the site.

• If an email provider hosts your mailboxes, publish the record it recommends.
• Otherwise, publish the minimal record the panel suggests, v=DMARC1; p=none;. It blocks nothing.
• To receive reports from email providers, add your own address to the record, in the form rua=mailto:….

The check mark appears as soon as a valid DMARC record exists, whatever it is. If your emails are sent from a subdomain, the parent domain’s record counts too.

Fix a cross

1. Compare the value entered at your registrar with the value in the panel. They must match exactly.
2. Correct the record at your registrar if needed.
3. Wait, then reopen the panel. A DNS change takes from a few minutes to a few hours to spread.

On your dashboard, the orange banner … does not point to Lovely Render yet. stays displayed as long as the domain is not connected. Lovely Render rechecks your domain every ten minutes. If the banner stays for more than a day, look in the panel for an old A record still in place.

Switch your site to HTTPS

Once your domain points to the server, Lovely Render issues your HTTPS certificate and renews it. You have nothing to buy or program.

A certificate can take longer when a record had not spread yet. First fix the DNS until the panel shows only check marks, then write to us. We restart the issuance.

Keep your domain connected

Once your domain is connected, the Lovely Render team monitors it. It is rechecked every ten minutes.

It can stop pointing to the server after a changed record, a broken DNS zone or an expired domain. The team is then warned by email after two readings that confirm it. Your site’s card shows the red banner … no longer points to Lovely Render since …

See also

• Read your dashboard
• Set your notifications and emails