So you are going to host with us? Freak’n Awesome!
TL;DR: We need access to your DNS records or someone who either gives access or makes the changes we require to bring your site live on our servers.
Domain Ownership
I will assume you own your domain or plan to buy it. We don’t own domains on behalf our clients so if you don’t own it, you are going to have to make sure you have access to the registrar account and the DNS records.
What we are after here is the DNS records.
DNS Records
DNS records are the internet rules that are associated with your domain name, for example:
Send an email to Microsoft 360
Send the VPN to my office
Send web traffic to FatLab’s servers
DNS Access
We need access to these records. Oftentimes (but not always), these are held at the registrar you paid for your domain at. For example, if you registered (bought) your domain at GoDaddy, then there is a good chance GoDaddy is your DNS provider. We need access to this or someone who has access to it.
OK, this is getting a little complicated… we can usually tell you where your DNS records are based on public records, so ask if we can point you in the right direction.
Now that we have found your DNS records, we need access to them or someone with access. You can share access to your account or provide delegate access if you are using GoDaddy.
What We Will Do Next
We will determine whether we should host your DNS records on your behalf or if they should be left in place. If we decide to take over your DNS, then access to the registrar is all we need. If we decide to leave DNS in place and make record changes, then we definitely need access to those records.
Actually, Pointing Your Site to FatLab
Now that we have access to your DNS records, we are going to do the following:
Create/Replace an A Record
Create/replace a root or “apex” host record so that all traffic going to your domain without the www arrives at our servers. This will be an IP address, the IP address of our firewall. We will provide this to you.
Create/Replace a CNAME Record
Create/replace a WWW host record so that all traffic going to your domain with the WWWs arrives at our servers. This will be a domain/URL, the domain/URL of our firewall. We will provide this to you.
Create/Replace a CNAME Record (CDN)
Create/replace a CDN host record so that we can utilize our global CDN to speed up your website.
Your Site is Now Pointing at FatLab
We can take it from here. We’ll take your site live, issue all SSL certificates, activate the CDN, and ensure all other optimizations are in place.
We’ll also set up monitoring, reporting, and backups now.
