Subdomain set up in Netlify DNS not completing as expected

Support
, , ,
#1

Under my account I have two websites.
The master website is https://gallerygallery.space (Netlify sitename gallery-gallery).
DNS is set up on Netlify DNS.

Now I have created a second website top-84-ways.netlify.app.
I want to add this site as a subdomain to the “master” site’s apex domain.

Following the instructions here I have set up a CNAME record with name top-84-ways and value top-84-ways.netlify.app.

This has been more than 24hrs ago.

Now, when I ping to top-84-ways.gallerygallery.space, I do get this:
ping top-84-ways.gallerygallery.space
PING top-84-ways.netlify.app (142.93.108.123): 56 data bytes
But when I load top-84-ways.gallerygallery.space in the browser, I get a “Not Found” message.

Going directly to top-84-ways.netlify.app does load the page.

What is missing?

#2

You’d need to apply that hostname to a site. Think of it like this:

DNS record tells the browser who to ask to serve your site (netlify - it is correctly configured in DNS).
But then the browser shows up at our very large apartment building, and says "I want to leave a message for top-84-ways". Our doorman looks it up and says “nobody by that name told us to receive their messages”.

Applying the hostname to a site, here: https://app.netlify.com/sites/top-84-ways/settings/domain#custom-domains - will let us know to connect the browser to that specific site.

#3

Yes, that was the missing step :frowning:
Thank you!

1 Like
#4

Hi I have the same problem but I don’t understand how to “apply that hostname to a site”?

I have a site damato.design using Netlify DNS.
This is using www-damato-design.netlify.app under the hood.
I have a totally different site at system-damato-design.netlify.app.
This should be set as system.damato.design from the damato.design Netlify DNS.

  • Going to www-damato-design.netlify.app works; no problem
  • Going to damato.design works; no problem
  • Going to system-damato-design.netlify.app works; no problem
  • Going to system.damato.design does not work. I have no idea what the problem is?

Leaving the addresses out in the image below, but could you explain what needs to be changed? To be specific NONE of the subdomains in this image work. They are all setup similarly.

1294×990 68.5 KB

#5

Ok the answer is here: Netlify DNS working for Apex but CNAME subdomain returns not found - #7 by hrishikesh

The idea is that I go into the site for system-damato-design.netlify.app and add the custom domain of system.damato.design. Then everything works. I wish this was more clear in the documentation.

#6

Hi, @ddamato. This is explained in the Assign a domain to a site section of the custom domain documentation. Quoting that section:

To assign a custom domain or domain alias to a site, go to Site settings › Domain management .

The Custom domains panel lists all the domains linked to your site. By default, the only domain listed is the Netlify subdomain assigned to your site based on the site’s name.

Tip
You can change a site’s default Netlify subdomain by selecting the Options button next to the subdomain in the Custom domains panel, then selecting Edit site name in the menu.

To add a custom domain, select Add custom domain at the bottom of the Custom domains panel, and enter your domain name. Select Verify . Your next option depends on whether the domain has been registered.

If you think that could be clearer, what do you think would improve that documentation? Do you think this should be covered somewhere else? If so, where would be better?