This article walks through the steps to point a custom domain to PhotoShelter in Network Solutions. For a general overview of setting up custom domains, head over to this article.
1. Log into your Network Solutions account.
2. On the account homepage, select “My Domain Names.”
3. Select the domain that you would like to use with your PhotoShelter site.
4. Scroll down and open the “Advanced Tools” section. Next to “Advanced DNS records," click “Manage.”
5. On the Manage Advanced DNS Records page, click the pencil icon next to the records for “*” and “www” and delete them.
6. Click the pencil icon next to the record for “@“ and edit the IP address to: 205.178.189.129.
7. You may need to wait a few minutes for this change to propagate before you can continue onto the next step. Refresh the page and when you see the A record changes in effect, continue on to step 8.
8. Click "+Add Record" and create a new record with the following info:
- Type: CNAME
- Refers to: www
- Alias to: custom.photoshelter.com (exactly as written)
- TTL: 1 hour
9. Once you’ve saved your changes, it may take some time for the changes to propagate (anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours). You can check if the changes have propagated in the next step.
10. Log into PhotoShelter and navigate to the General Settings page by clicking “Website” > “General Settings.”
11. In the “Custom Domain (CNAME) field,” enter in your custom domain name, including “www.” For example, if your custom domain is “myname.com,” you’d want to enter in “www.myname.com.”
12. Click the “Save Settings” button. If you get an error message, it may be that you need to wait a bit longer for your CNAME record to propagate. If the “SSL status” shows as “in process,” that means the CNAME record was set up properly. It generally takes 5-20 minutes for the SSL certificate to generate (this is what ensures your domain is loaded over a secure connection). Once it’s active, your custom domain should successfully load to your PhotoShelter site.