Roadmap › Networking & Hosting — How a Website Works, End to End › Module: Putting a Site Live
Lessons in this course (12)
11. Domains, DNS setup and SSL certificates in practice
Intermediate★ Must knowLesson 11 of 12
- Buy a domain from a registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare Registrar, Google Domains successor Squarespace). You rent it yearly.
- Choose DNS hosting — the registrar's DNS, Cloudflare, or Azure DNS; set NS records accordingly.
- Point the domain —
Arecord for the root to the server IP (or ALIAS),CNAME wwwto the platform hostname (shop.azurewebsites.net); add TXT records the platform asks for to prove ownership. - Certificate — free managed certificates (App Service managed certificate, Cloudflare, Let's Encrypt with Certbot/win-acme for IIS) or buy one; bind it to the site on 443.
- Redirect HTTP → HTTPS and add HSTS (
UseHttpsRedirection,UseHsts, or an IIS URL Rewrite rule). - Email records — MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC so your mail isn't marked as spam.
- Verify —
nslookup, SSL Labs test, browser padlock, checkwwwand root both work.
Common mistakes: certificate for www only but users type the root domain; forgetting renewals (automate them); CNAME at the root (not allowed — use ALIAS/A); long TTLs during migration.