Site Designer Guide
domain dns cname https s-drive custom-domain

Setting up a custom domain

Whether you’re hosting on S-Drive or your own FTP host, you can point a domain name you own to your site. This article covers both scenarios.

Pointing a domain to S-Drive

S-Drive uses a CNAME record to link your domain to your S-Drive site.

  1. Log in to your domain registrar

    Go to the DNS management panel at the registrar where you bought your domain (Namecheap, GoDaddy, Cloudflare, etc.).

  2. Add a CNAME record

    Add a new DNS record:

    FieldValue
    TypeCNAME
    Name / Hostwww (for www.yourdomain.com)
    Value / Targetyourproject.s-drive.io
    TTL3600 (1 hour) or your registrar’s default

    If you want the root domain (yourdomain.com without www) to work, many registrars support an ALIAS or ANAME record that works like a CNAME for root domains. Check your registrar’s documentation.

  3. Add your domain in Site Designer

    In Site Designer, go to Settings → Publish → Custom Domain. Enter your domain (e.g., www.yourdomain.com) and click Save.

  4. Verify the connection

    Click Verify. Site Designer checks whether the CNAME record resolves correctly. If DNS hasn’t propagated yet, verification will fail — wait and try again.

HTTPS on S-Drive

HTTPS is automatic on S-Drive. Once your custom domain is verified, CoffeeCup provisions a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate for your domain. This usually takes a few minutes after DNS verification succeeds.

Pointing a domain to your FTP host

When publishing via FTP, your domain’s DNS is managed by your hosting provider or your registrar. The method varies by host.

Most shared hosting providers give you their own nameservers. Changing your domain’s nameservers at your registrar delegates all DNS control to your host:

  1. Log in to your domain registrar.
  2. Find Nameservers settings and replace them with your host’s nameservers (e.g., ns1.yourhostingcompany.com, ns2.yourhostingcompany.com).
  3. Your host’s control panel (cPanel, Plesk, etc.) now manages all DNS records for your domain.

Option 2: Point an A record to your host’s IP

If you want to keep DNS at your registrar:

  1. Find your host’s server IP address in your hosting control panel.
  2. Add an A record at your registrar: yourdomain.com → 123.456.789.0 (your host’s IP).
  3. Add another A record for www: www.yourdomain.com → same IP.

Testing DNS propagation

Use these tools to verify your DNS records are live:

  • dig (macOS/Linux terminal): dig www.yourdomain.com CNAME or dig yourdomain.com A
  • nslookup (Windows): nslookup www.yourdomain.com
  • Online tool: dnschecker.org shows propagation status across multiple locations worldwide

Avoid hardcoded domain references in your project

Before publishing to a custom domain, search your project for any hardcoded references to the old URL (e.g., absolute links to yourproject.s-drive.io). Replace them with relative paths or update them to your new domain. Hardcoded absolute URLs will point to the wrong location after a domain change.

In Site Designer, check:

  • Internal links in navigation menus (prefer relative paths like /about over absolute https://example.com/about).
  • Social share links that include your site URL.
  • Open Graph and meta tags in Page Settings → SEO that include a full URL.