Creating engaging content and getting that content to your audience customers is crucial. Domains serve as an address that your customers can use to find your published content. In Content, your content is published to the default content-us#.content-cms.com domain.

You might prefer to publish to a specific custom domain, such as www.mycompany.com. It is easy for visitors and search engines to find your content when published to a custom domain. You can also build your brand awareness and build credibility.

Having a custom domain also makes it easier for you to access your Content subscription. You can access the delivery APIs under your custom domain base URLs. For example, you can access the APIs and resources from your domain, www.mycompany.com.

Note: After you add a custom domain, you cannot use the default content-us#.content-cms.com. For example, old bookmarks with the old URL will no longer work. From that point on, all base URLs of your subscription changes to your new domain.

Add your custom domain name

When you add a custom domain, it is configured and replicated through all the Content CDN servers. Adding one or more custom domains to your subscription is a multi-step process. The Content UI guides you through the process of adding the domains.

To add your custom domain:

1. Go to the Admin > Settings > Domains page.
2. Provide the Fully Qualified Domain Name to be added and click Add. For example, www.mycompany.com.

   Note: You must accept the privacy statement before you can proceed.

3. Provide your domain information to be placed into the SSL certificate. Complete all the required fields in the Certificate, Company, and Contact tabs. This information is required when you add the first domain or modify the SSL certificate information.

   Note: The SSL certificate information is reused for any new custom domain names that you add.

4. Click Activate and submit confirmation to begin the activation process. Content configures and replicates the domain name through all Content CDN servers.

Note: You will not be able to edit any information once the activation process begins.

A progress indicator appears on the form to show the progress of a new domain name activation. The certificate creation process runs in the background and can take up to 1 hour to complete. Refresh the page to see the status update. The new domain name is added to the current domain names section when updates are complete.

Enable SSL support for your custom domain name

You must adjust the DNS configuration for your new domain name. Then the SSL certificate authority can validate your new Content SSL certificate.

1. Map your new domain name and preview domain name to the draft edge hostname from the DNS interface. You can get your draft edge from the Content UI. The preview domain name is derived from your domain name. Add a -preview suffix to the hostname of your domain name. For example, you have added a new custom domain name www.mycompany.com. Now, add the following CNAME mappings in your DNS configuration:
   • www.mycompany.com to certs.dx-wch.ibm.com.edgesuite.net
   • www-preview.mycompany.com to certs.dx-wch.ibm.com.edgesuite.net
2. After you create the CNAME mappings, return to the Admin > Settings > Domains page. Then, click Enable SSL. During the Enable SSL process, Content validates that all CNAME mappings are available. Then validates the certificate in the background. The validation process can take multiple hours to complete. You can click the Refresh link to check for status updates. After successful certificate validation, continue to Activate SSL configuration.

Activate SSL configuration

The new domain name must point to your secured Content production servers. You must adjust the DNS configuration for the new domain name to enable this.

1. From the DNS interface, remap the domain from the draft edge hostname to the secure edge hostname. You can get your secure edge hostname from the Content UI.
   For example, you have added a new custom domain name www.mycompany.com. Now, add the following CNAME mappings in your DNS configuration:
   • www.mycompany.com to 1.xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxx.content-cms.com.edgekey.net
   • www-preview.mycompany.com to 1.xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxx.content-cms.com.edgekey.net
2. After you create the CNAME mappings, return to the Admin > Settings > Domains page. Then, click Activate SSL configuration. Content validates that the updated CNAME mapping is available. The secure mapping from your custom domain to your Content production servers activates. The activation can run for several hours. You can click the Refresh link to check for status updates. After successful activation, your new domains are now operational. All requests to those domains are now routed through the Akamai CDN to Content.

Add more domain names

The Content subscription provides support for multiple custom domain names as an add-on. The process is the same as adding your first domain name. But you need not reenter your SSL information.

Set a default domain name

The Content subscription requires a default domain to be available. The first custom domain is the default for your subscription. You can always change the default domain later when you add more custom domains.

The URLs in the API information modal have the default domain. This default domain is also added as CN (common name) to the certificate for your subscription.

Note: When you change the default domain, the SSL certificate must be regenerated. Your site becomes inaccessible while the certificate validation and activation process are running.

Edit domain names

Editing an existing custom domain deletes the old and adds the updated one. The process is the same as adding a 2nd domain name.

Note: Changes to the default domain name require you to remove the DNS mappings. These changes may take one or more hours to complete. The published content and delivery APIs are not accessible until changes are complete.

Remove domain names

When you want to remove domain names, you first must delete all CNAME mappings for the domains. You cannot remove custom domains mapped to a site. You must first un-map this site from the domain name that you want to remove.

Manage domain name for a site

The associated domain names for a site are visible within the site settings UI. As an admin, you can view, manage - add, or remove - associated domain names. You have control of the custom domain names used for a site.