Configure external DNS for a custom domain
If you’ve assigned an externally registered domain to your site, and you don’t want to use Netlify DNS, you need to configure your external DNS provider to point your domain to Netlify.
To access customized details about the DNS records you need to configure, go to
and select Awaiting External DNS next to the custom domain.
The next steps vary depending on the type of domain or subdomain.
- For a subdomain of a domain you own, such as
blog.petsofnetlify.comorwww.petsofnetlify.com, follow the directions below for subdomain configuration. - For an apex domain with no subdomain, such as
petsofnetlify.com, make sure to read our advice about using apex domains, then follow the directions below for apex domain configuration.
Special handling for apex and www
If you assign an apex domain or a www subdomain to your site, Netlify will automatically add both the apex domain and the www subdomain. This means you should follow directions for both configuring a subdomain and configuring an apex domain. For more information, visit the section on apex domains and www subdomains.
Need to delegate just a subdomain?
You can delegate a subdomain to Netlify DNS without the apex domain. Learn more in this doc.
# Configure a subdomain
To point a subdomain such as blog.petsofnetlify.com or www.petsofnetlify.com to your site on Netlify, you must first add the domain to your site on Netlify and then create a CNAME record with your DNS provider.
For example, if your site’s domain is blog.petsofnetlify.com and your Netlify subdomain is brave-curie-12345.netlify.app:
- Follow the instructions to add the domain
blog.petsofnetlify.comto thebrave-curie-12345.netlify.appsite on Netlify. At the end of the process, Netlify provides a CNAME record to add to your DNS provider. - Find your DNS provider’s DNS record settings for your apex domain,
petsofnetlify.com. - On your DNS provider’s site, add the CNAME record with your subdomain,
blog, as the host. - Point the record to your Netlify subdomain,
brave-curie-12345.netlify.app.High-Performance Edge uses a different subdomain
If your site is on the High-Performance Edge, point the record to the dedicated subdomain in your High-Performance Edge onboarding PDF.
- Save your settings. It may take a full day for the settings to propagate across the global Domain Name System.
If your site uses the www subdomain, as in www.petsofnetlify.com, you will use the same procedure described above. Once you configure the www subdomain, an apex domain will also be added automatically to your site. You’ll need to follow the steps in the section below to configure the apex domain too. Learn more about our special handling for www subdomains.
# Configure an apex domain
Unlike subdomains, apex domains don’t support CNAME records. You must configure your apex domain with an ALIAS, ANAME, flattened CNAME, or A record. Different DNS providers support different record types. Depending on what your DNS provider supports, use either the recommended configuration or the fallback option below.
If your DNS provider supports ALIAS, ANAME, or flattened CNAME records, use this recommended configuration, which is more resilient than the fallback option.
- Find your DNS provider’s DNS record settings for your apex domain, such as
petsofnetlify.com. - Add an ALIAS, ANAME, or flattened CNAME record. Depending on your provider, leave the host field empty or enter
@. - Point the record to Netlify’s load balancer at:
apex-loadbalancer.netlify.com.High-Performance Edge uses a different load balancer
If your site is on the High-Performance Edge, point the record to the High-Performance Edge load balancer noted in the Awaiting External DNS modal’s customized details.
- Save your settings. It may take a full day for the settings to propagate across the global Domain Name System.
If your DNS provider does not support ALIAS, ANAME, or flattened CNAME records, use this fallback option.
- Find your DNS provider’s DNS record settings for your apex domain, such as
petsofnetlify.com. - Add an A record. Depending on your provider, leave the host field empty or enter
@. - Point the record to Netlify’s load balancer IP address:
75.2.60.5.High-Performance Edge uses a different load balancer
If your site is on the High-Performance Edge, point the record to the High-Performance Edge load balancer IP address noted in the Awaiting External DNS modal’s customized details.
- Save your settings. It may take a full day for the settings to propagate across the global Domain Name System.
In both cases, the apex domain eventually resolves to our load balancer IP address. This means the apex domain can’t take advantage of direct DNS routing on a global CDN like Netlify’s. Because of this, we recommend using a subdomain for your primary domain when using external DNS.
Special handling for apex domains
If you assign an apex domain to your site, Netlify will automatically add a www subdomain for the domain as well, which requires the subdomain configuration as described above. To find out how this affects your site configuration, visit the section on apex domains and www subdomains.
# DNS record propagation
Depending on your DNS provider, changes to DNS records can take several hours to propagate and take effect for the entire internet.
If more than 24 hours have passed since you configured your DNS records, and your site is still not accessible at your custom domain, try our DNS troubleshooting tips.
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