Documentation
Domains
A domain is the public name through which your hosted sites and published services are reached. Before using it, the platform must make sure it belongs to you, know which DNS plan to apply, then attach that name to a site or a service: this is web activation. This page describes these three moments — verifying ownership, setting the DNS plan, activating the domain — and how they fit together with hosted sites and publications.
Verifying ownership of a domain
The first step is proving that the domain really is yours. Until this verification has succeeded, the platform does not serve it: this is the guarantee that no one publishes under a name they do not control. Verification relies on a proof that only the domain holder can set, typically a dedicated DNS record.
- 1Declare the domainYou indicate the name you want to use. The platform puts it in a pending-verification state, without serving it yet.
- 2Set the proof of ownershipYou add the requested record at your registrar or your DNS provider. Only the domain holder can do this, which counts as proof.
- 3Let the platform confirmOnce the proof is publicly visible, verification succeeds and the domain becomes usable for an activation.
DNS plan
Once ownership is established, the DNS plan describes the records to put in place so that the domain points to the platform. It is the concrete translation, at the DNS level, of what you want to serve under that name: the root, a subdomain, or several. The platform indicates the expected records; you enter them at your DNS provider.
| Notion | Role | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Verification record | Prove ownership of the domain | Prerequisite to any activation; can be kept in place |
| Pointing record | Direct the name to the platform | Root and subdomains may differ |
| Propagation | Delay before a change is visible | Count minutes to hours depending on caches |
Web activation: attaching a domain to a site or a service
Verifying ownership and setting the DNS plan is not enough: you still have to say what the domain should serve. Web activation attaches a verified domain to a target — a hosted site or a published service — and triggers the issuance of the TLS certificate for that name. From then on, reaching the domain means reaching the chosen target.
To a hosted site
The domain serves the site's active deployment. Creating, deploying and activating sites are described in /en/docs/plateforme-sites.
To a published service
The domain serves an HTTP publication, with reverse-proxy and automatic certificate. The publication mechanism is detailed in /en/docs/plateforme-publications.
One name, one target
Activation explicitly binds a domain to what it serves. It is this attachment, and it alone, that makes the name functional online.