Windows Server Instructions
If you manage your own DNS and need to make changes to your host records to point the www record to your website hosted on our server, follow these instructions.
1. Go to the Start Button / Programs / Administrative Tools / DNS.
2. Expand the Server Name out to expose the folders underneath it then click on Forward Lookup Zones.
3. Find the domain you want to make changes for. We will use birddogsw.com for this example, click on it. This will expose all of its records on the right hand side.
4. In the list of records on the right hand side, locate the server name you are wanting to change. In this example, we will be changing the www record to point to the birddog server named web1.birddogsw.com. So, locate the record named www and delete it
4a. If your website will be using a SSL Certificate, please go straight to Step 10 from here!!
5. Now, in the list of domains on the left side, right click on the domain we are working on (birddogsw.com) and choose "New Alias (CNAME)".
6. For Alias name, enter "www".
7. Make sure the proper URL for your website is now automatically displayed in the "Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)" field.
8. Now, enter the full server name that BirdDog Software supplied you with in the "Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for target host:" field. In this example, we are entering the FQDN of our web server "web1.birddogsw.com". Make sure you use the proper FQDN supplied to you from BirdDog Software. We run multiple web servers and only 1 will work for your website.
9. Click OK and wait 24 to 48 hours for the changes to take effect. Your newly hosted website on our servers should now be live.
ONLY FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW IF YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE A SSL CERTIFICATE INSTALLED
10. Right click the domain in the list of Forward Lookup Zones on the left hand side and choose "New Host (A)...".
11. Enter "www" in the "Name (uses parent domain if blank):".
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12. Make sure the proper URL is being automatically populated into the "Fully qualified domain name (FQDN):" field.
13. Enter the IP address supplied to you by BirdDog Software into the "IP Address:" field.
14. Click OK and wait 24 to 48 hours for the changes to take effect.