Mapping Your Domain to Cadenza
If you have an existing website and own a domain name, or if you are planning to purchase a new domain name, then you can"map" your domain name to your Cadenza website. Mapping just means that visitors will just use your own domain name to access your Cadenza website.
In order to map your domain to Cadenza you must have access to your domain's DNS records. DNS records are like a phonebook for the internet. Your DNS record will tell all requests where your website lives. The DNS record is managed by a Domain Registrar. You most likely purchased your domain through a domain registrar such as GoDaddy, Bluehost, or Cloudflare.
IMPORTANT - Updating your DNS Records alone, is not enough to map your domain to your Cadenza website. We'll need to update some internal settings on our end to connect the dots, so timing and communication is very important. When you are ready to map your domain to your Cadenza website, please contact support@cadenza.works so we can assist you with your updates and monitor the process.
Quick Answer - DNS settings to map your domain to your Cadenza web site.
*** You will not make any changes to your Name Servers, only the CNAME or A Records for your domain.
If your registrar permits, map your CNAME Record to: nexusarts.wpengine.com
Otherwise, you will map your A Records for your domain name AND the www Record to the following IP address: 34.29.223.197
Need help? We are happy to update your DNS settings for you. if you need assistance, simply contact support@cadenza.works with your domain registrar login credentials.
TLDR - DNS Records explained
There are a number of different types of DNS records. If your registrar permits, your domain will be mapped to Cadenza using an CNAME record. The CNAME record will consist of two values. The first value is the subdomain and the second value is the mapped url. For example:
www maps to nexusarts.wpengine.com
www is the url's subdomain. All requests from your domain including www will now map to the Cadenza website. For example:
www.coolbandwebsite.com will display the coolbandwebsite.cadenza.works site.
Certain DNS providers allow you to place a * or @ for a CNAME record. This indicates any subdomain request will map to Cadenza.
If your registrar does not permit CNAME records, then your domain will be mapped to Cadenza using the IP address: 34.29.223.197
Creating domain redirect for non-www request
Certain DNS providers do not have "naked" domain mapping options, meaning a website without the www.
For example:
https://coolbandwebsite.com vs http://www.coolbandwebsite.com
https://coolbandwebsite.com is considered a "naked" domain. In order to properly map domains to Cadenza you will need to set up a redirect for all non-www request to www request. Each registrar handles redirects differently. For example GoDaddy has a special section called "Domain Forwarding". Video showing how to set up non-www redirect on GoDaddy.
If you are having trouble, reach out to your registrar for help setting up a non-www redirect.