SSL issue with External DNS in GoDaddy

[tiaanayurvedic]

Netlify site name: https://sharp-mccarthy-6bdce8.netlify.app
Custom domain: https://tiaanstore.com

My Domain is registered with GoDaddy, and my DNS server is also in GoDaddy.

I don’t want to use Netlify DNS currently. I followed the steps for configuring external DNS with Netlify and added the A record for Netlify Load balancer in GoDaddy DNS.

However, the SSL certificate is not working in Netlify. It is failing to provision SSL certificate.

My question is -
Can Netlify automatically provision Lets Encrypt SSL Certificate for my site, if I use external DNS , or do I have to migrate to Netlify DNS for using automatic SSL certificate.

[gregraven]

@tiaanayurvedic Welcome to the Netlify community.

Have you tried setting the CNAME for your www subdomain to your Netlify subdomain, as recommended by the docs?

Configure external DNS for a custom domain

[tiaanayurvedic]

@gregraven Hi, I am trying to setup my site using the Apex domain option mentioned in the doc. I am able to use this site in Firebase in same way, and I am trying to migrate the site to Netlify now. When attempting to setup Apex domain to point to my Netlify site, I have setup the A record for tiaanstore.com to point to Netlify Load Balancer 104.198.14.52.

[gregraven]

If you don’t use the recommended settings, you may get unexpected results, and it makes it more difficult for others to help you.

[tiaanayurvedic]

@gregraven I waited for some time and the certificate got created by Netlify. I did not use CNAME, as that is for subname. Thank your for responding.

I wanted to follow the Apex domain approach mentioned in documentation, using A name record for Netlify Load Balancer. I was following the documentation link you sent, and it worked with the Apex domain method.

[luke]

Hi, @tiaanayurvedic. You have made the apex domain the primary custom domain for the site. This means all global traffic for this site is going to San Francisco and your site does not use our CDN nodes around the world.

If you want to use the external DNS method, please do not make the apex domain primary (which is how this is configured currently). We strong recommend that you change this and make the www subdomain the primary custom domain for the site.

[tiaanayurvedic]

Hi @luke
Thank you very much for the clear explanation. I do want to use the apex domain https://tiaanstore.com as my primary website as that is an existing advertised domain for the company.

If I migrate to Netlify DNS, can I get benefit of CDN and also preserve my apex domain ?

[luke]

Hi, @tiaanayurvedic. Yes, if you use Netlify DNS the full CDN is used even for the apex domain.

If you are considering moving an existing DNS zone to Netlify DNS, please read these two support guides first:

[Support Guide] Minimal downtime for a live site DNS migration

The trick with migrating a live site is all in DNS timing. Specifically, we can't get a new SSL certificate for your site until the Time To Live (TTL) value has expired from your old DNS values. The new DNS values for Netlify must first be in place and correct, and then issuing the certificate is a breeze! Below are the steps to follow for a successful migration with minimal downtime. There are quite a few steps in this process, not gonna lie. But no worries, you got this. Take a read throug…

[Support Guide] How do I migrate a domain to Netlify Managed DNS with zero downtime?

What is this topic about? This topic covers copying your existing DNS records from your current DNS service to Netlify. Netlify offers a Managed DNS service which allows you to manage DNS records for domains using our web UI (even for domains registered elsewhere). IMPORTANT: You must copy any/all required DNS records to the Managed DNS service before changing the domain’s name servers to the Managed DNS server to avoid possible interruption of services. For this reason, we recommend you chec…

It might seem that both support guides are about the same topic. However, they each cover something slightly different. The first is about reducing TTL (time to live) values to make changes happen more quickly. The second is about copying all the existing DNS records before activating DNS at Netlify.

If there are other questions, please let us know.