Custom domains

A custom domain serves a status page at an address your client recognizes, such as status.client.com, instead of octoping.com/status/{slug}. You add the domain to the page, create one DNS record and wait for OctoPing to verify it and install a certificate. This page covers the plan requirement, the DNS records, the statuses a domain moves through and what the domain serves.

Requirements

• A paid plan. A workspace on the free trial can't set a custom domain, and the form says so. Plans are compared on Pricing.
• The Admin or Owner role. Members and Viewers can see the page's settings but not change the domain.
• A published page. A draft page isn't served on its domain.
• A domain or subdomain you control and can edit DNS records for.

Removing a domain is always allowed, including on a plan that no longer includes custom domains.

Set up a domain

1. 1. Enter the hostname

   On the status page's settings, open the Custom Domain card, type the hostname and choose Save. Use a subdomain such as status.example.com. OctoPing then shows the DNS record to create.

2. 2. Create the DNS record

   At your DNS provider, create the CNAME record the card shows. Its name is your hostname and its value is a name that ends in .domains.octoping.com. Copy the value from the card, because it's unique to this page.

3. 3. Verify DNS

   Choose Verify DNS to queue a check right away. The status on the card updates when it completes. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to reach every resolver, so a failed first check often means waiting.

4. 4. Wait for the certificate

   When DNS passes, the status changes to Issuing certificate. OctoPing issues the HTTPS certificate and the status changes to Live. The certificate renews on its own.

Hostname rules

OctoPing refuses a hostname with a message that names the problem when it breaks one of these rules.

• It's a domain name, not an IP address and not a wildcard such as *.example.com.
• It uses ASCII letters, digits and hyphens. For an international name, enter the punycode form that starts with xn--.
• It isn't a name that belongs to OctoPing.

A hostname that is already verified or being issued on another status page is refused as already in use. Two pages can't both hold the same live domain. Several pages can type the same name while it's waiting for DNS, but only the page whose DNS proves ownership gets it.

DNS records

The CNAME record

The default is one CNAME record, and the CNAME is also what proves the domain is yours. Its value is unique to the claim, so pointing a hostname at OctoPing doesn't let anyone else use it for their own page.

Changing the hostname on a page creates a new value, and the old one stops working. On Cloudflare, set the record to DNS only (the grey cloud) and don't proxy it.

A bare domain, or a provider that flattens CNAMEs

A bare domain such as example.com can't hold a CNAME at most providers, and some providers flatten CNAMEs into address records. For those, open the section on the card that begins with Using a bare domain and create these records instead of the CNAME.

• An A record for each IPv4 address the card lists, and an AAAA record for each IPv6 address it lists.
• A TXT record named _octoping.example.com (with your own hostname after the underscore name) with the value octoping-verify=YOUR-CODE.

The TXT route applies only when the hostname has no CNAME at all. A hostname that has a CNAME pointing anywhere other than the value on the card fails the check outright and doesn't fall back to the TXT record.

Statuses

OctoPing re-checks a domain that's waiting for DNS every 10 minutes for 7 days after you save it, so you don't need to keep pressing Verify DNS. After that window, choose Verify DNS yourself when the records are ready. A lookup that times out or returns a server error leaves the status as it was and records the message. Only a definite answer from DNS, such as a missing record, moves a live domain back to Waiting for DNS.

What the domain serves

A custom domain serves the status page and nothing else of OctoPing. These paths work on it.

Every other path, including the OctoPing login, returns 404. A domain whose page is unpublished, deleted or no longer served by the plan also returns 404 and never shows OctoPing's own site. Feeds and email links on a page with an active domain use that domain, so your client's readers never see the OctoPing address.

Health emails

Once a domain is live, OctoPing checks it once a day. The Owner and the Admins of the workspace get an email when DNS no longer points at OctoPing, when the certificate OctoPing serves doesn't verify, and when the certificate has fewer than 21 days left, and again at fewer than 7. Either one means renewal is failing. Each problem is mailed once. The check alerts you and doesn't change the status, so a page whose certificate still works stays up.

If the plan lapses

When a paid subscription ends or a payment fails past its grace period, the domain keeps working for 30 days, the same window that keeps the workspace's history. After that the domain returns 404 until the workspace has a plan again. A workspace whose trial ended never had a domain to keep.

Remove or change a domain

Clear the hostname and save to remove the domain, and the page goes back to its OctoPing address. To change a domain, enter the new hostname and save. The status resets to Waiting for DNS and the page gets a new CNAME value, so update the record before you verify.

Related pages

• Status pages covers the page the domain serves.
• Subscribers and feeds covers the email and feed paths on the domain.