Use CNAME instead of delegating to WordPress.com Name Servers
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My domain is delegated to the Name Servers of my DNS registrar and uses a CNAME record which has the name of my current web hoster’s web server.
I want to purchase the “Domain Mapping” upgrade and then change things so that I use my WordPress.com blog as my new website. However, I don’t want to delegate to WordPress.com’s name servers, I just want to change the CNAME record from my current web hoster to the web server(s) of WordPress.com.
Does someone know what the name of the WordPress.com web server(s) would be for the CNAME record(s)?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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These are the only domain mapping options available.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/See: http://support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/map-existing-domain/
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The mentioned links mention the ability to add a CNAME for a subdomain which makes me wonder whether doing something like the following would work:
http://www.domainname.com CNAME delights2life.wordpress.com
Is there someone who knows DNS and WordPress.com who can advise on this? Thanks
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Apologies, correction, the CNAME should have read as follows but without the quotes that I have added below (my above post shouldn’t have added http to the CNAME line):
“www.domainname.com” CNAME delights2life.wordpress.com
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That really wouldn’t work. Traffic to http://www.example.com would go to your blog, but traffic to example.com would just go nowhere.
If you want domain mapping to work, you’ll need to follow this guide and direct your name servers to us: http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/
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No, that is not the case. My DNS registrar’s servers redirect watkin.info to http://www.watkin.info so that wouldn’t be an issue.
If you access my existing website using URL watkin.info with the current arrangement you will notice that the URL gets modified to include a www,watkin.info before the web page is presented to the web browser.
Please see the existing DNS records below. The only DNS record I would need to change would be the CNAME, which, instead of pointing to geriatrix.webvault.com.au would point to the WordPress webserver.
Please advise what the name of the WordPress server for delights2life.wordpress.com would be if I purchase the domain mapping option and changed the CNAME as discussed in this thread?
watkin.info A 1 minute 174.129.88.121 (Seattle, WA, US)
watkin.info MX 30 minutes 5 aspmx.l.google.com
watkin.info MX 30 minutes 10 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
watkin.info MX 30 minutes 15 aspmx3.googlemail.com
watkin.info MX 30 minutes 15 aspmx2.googlemail.com
watkin.info NS 1 day ns3.no-ip.com
watkin.info NS 1 day ns5.no-ip.com
watkin.info NS 1 day static-1.no-ip.com
watkin.info NS 1 day ns4.no-ip.com
watkin.info NS 1 day ns1.no-ip.com
watkin.info NS 1 day ns2.no-ip.com
watkin.info NS 1 day static-2.no-ip.com
watkin.info NS 1 day static-3.no-ip.com
watkin.info SOA 1 minute static-1.no-ip.com. hostmaster.no-ip.com. 2010061715 90 120 604800 60
mail.watkin.info CNAME 1 minute ghs.google.com
http://www.watkin.info CNAME 1 minute geriatrix.webvault.com.auThe blog I need help with is delights2life.wordpress.com.
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Apologies, forgot to include the DNS registrar’s information page about “Web Redirect” using the DNS registrar’s name servers:
http://www.noip.com/support/knowledgebase/how-to-configure-your-no-ip-hostname/
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No, that is not the case. My DNS registrar’s servers redirect watkin.info to http://www.watkin.info so that wouldn’t be an issue.
It might work then, but you would be in an unsupported configuration. Possible issues that I can see are:
- WordPress.com normally redirects http://www.something.com to something.com. If they changed the configuration so that this took precidence over the mapping (assuming it worked in the first place) then you would lose your site.
- Sites are increasingly redirecting from http://www.something.com to something.com rather than the other way round, which now seems old-fashioned. If your registrar changed to this method of working you would also lose your site.
Personally I wouldn’t risk it – i’d just map the DNS server to WordPress.com. Why are you reluctant to do that?
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Why are you reluctant to do that?
Well, there are some very good reasons.
1. My DNS registrar also happens to be a dynamic DNS provider. Many people like using DNS registrars that are dynamic DNS providers.
This is potentially very useful e.g. for creating subdomains using BitNami/Wordpress.org WordPress in a SOHO environment which doesn’t have access to a static IP address! In this scanario WordPress.com might be used for the website/blog and BitNami/WordPress.org WordPress might also be used for an internal intranet but using plugins with different functionality and purpose, for example. In other words it is about flexibility.
2. Creating tiers by separating DNS records, email hosting, and web hosting in the way I have done for watkin.info makes sense and also provides greater flexibility and freedom. The only real worry I might have is if WordPress.com renamed the web server to something else, but then it would be pretty obvious very quickly if there was a problem.
3. I have already prepaid 3 years for my DNS registrar’s services and because they have specialise in DNS they have useful benefits which many web hosters offering name server delegation simply don’t provide such as the web redirect feature, 11 points of presence (http://www.noip.com/company/2012/04/11/11-points-of-presence-across-the-globe-giveaway-results/) etc etc. Also, I am in Australia so this sort of thing is important.
Could you please advise the name of the webserver that would be used for delights2life.wordpress.com?
Regards.
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Like I said you can give it a go, but it will be an unsupported configuration even if it works. I would guess you would map “www” exactly the same as a subdomain. Note that the page says:
WordPress.com automatically removes the “www” from all URLs. Mapping the “www” subdomain is not supported.so it possibly won’t work anyway.
Note that you cannot use a CNAME for a root domain name (without a subdomain) because the RFC says “If a CNAME RR is present at a node, no other data should be
present”. This means that you couldn’t have an A record with an IP address -
BTW, the reason that you cannot set an A record in another host to use WordPress is that WordPress.com itself uses dynamic DNS, and your blog may run on different servers as capacity is needed, scheduled outages are required, and so on.
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We can really only support mapping to us via name servers: http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/
I noticed that really the only other element in your DNS is your Google Apps email, which you can add here after mapping your domain following this guide: http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/add-email/add-email-through-google-apps/
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WordPress.com automatically removes the “www” from all URLs.
Why do you do that?
Google Apps email
I added the Google Apps MX DNS records etc through my DNS registrar as I manage my DNS records through my DNS registrar. Why would I need to do google-site-verification again when my existing watkin.info domain already has its DNS records managed at my DNS registrar? Or, is it the case that if I delegate to wordpress.com’s name servers that I have to manage and recreate all my DNS records via a DNS record management facility with wordpress.com? If that is the case, one of the features I have through managing my DNS records at my DNS registrar is that if you do a whois on my domain details you will notice that they provide contact details of my DNS registrar and not my personal details. This prevents me from getting unwanted phone spam etc. Does wordpress.com’s DNS management facility provide a similar capability?
It sounds like you are saying that name servers have to be delegated to wordpress.com and because of that DNS records would have to be managed via wordpress.com so it wouldn’t be possible to use one’s existing DNS registrar’s DNS management facilities?
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If you transfer the nameservers tp WordPress the whois will still show your existing registration details, without personal details if you have a private listing. You can check my whois listing to see, only the namserver shows as WordPress.com.
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http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/add-email/add-email-through-google-apps/
If I delegated to WordPress.com’s name servers would I still need to do the google-site verification again, having already done that once before for my watkin.info domain?
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It sounds like you are saying that name servers have to be delegated to wordpress.com and because of that DNS records would have to be managed via wordpress.com so it wouldn’t be possible to use one’s existing DNS registrar’s DNS management facilities?
Correct, not at WordPress.com.
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