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How to Point Your Domain

chris 3 min read

How to Point Your Domain in SGEN

This procedure points the production domain for an SGEN site so the live environment can become publicly reachable once propagation and certificate provisioning complete.

Before you start

You need:

A site already created in SGEN.
The final production domain for that site.
Access to the DNS provider that controls the domain.
Important: SGEN expects the production domain here. SGEN currently requires the domain to be pointed by an A record. The A record should point to 34.144.203.31.

Where to go

Start from Site Manager:

Dashboard Path
Open the site card

Log in to SG-Dashboard, open Site Manager, find the relevant site card, then click Point your domain.

Important Context
DNS is completed outside SGEN

You will complete the DNS work in your DNS provider portal, not inside SGEN.

Steps

Follow the domain-pointing process in this order.

1
Copy the target A record value

Use 34.144.203.31 as the required destination value.

→
2
Open your DNS provider portal

Go to the DNS management area for the production domain you are using.

→
3
Add or update the A record

Configure the relevant A record so it points to 34.144.203.31, then save the change in the provider portal.

→
4
Return to SGEN and wait for live readiness

Keep the site card available for follow-up checks. Use Visit Live Site only after DNS propagation and certificate provisioning have had time to finish.

While live is still settling, use View Staging Site or Login to Stage as the reliable working path.

What success looks like

The domain step is moving correctly when:

The A record at the DNS provider has been updated to 34.144.203.31.
The live environment begins resolving correctly after propagation.
Certificate provisioning completes.
Visit Live Site opens the correct public site without an error page.

What to expect

Do not treat DNS as instant. The live environment can take time to behave normally after the record is changed.

Staging remains the reliable environment

Until propagation and certificate provisioning complete, staging remains the safest place to continue working.

Live may not yet behave like a finished production site

The live environment can exist without yet being ready for normal public use.

The live tab may lag behind the final ready state

Do not assume a temporary live issue means the domain step failed immediately.

What to do if it does not work

Use the correct response for the state you are in.

Live is still not ready after you updated DNS

Confirm the A record value is exactly 34.144.203.31. Confirm you changed the correct record for the correct domain. Then allow time for propagation and certificate provisioning.

The domain is not the final production domain

Use the intended production domain for site creation and pointing. Subdomains may be possible in some cases, but they are not the default documented path. Use support if a subdomain arrangement is required.

Next step

Once the domain step is complete or underway, move to How to Access Staging and Live in SGEN.

How to Access Staging and Live in SGEN
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