Associate a custom domain

When a new website is created in Fresco, it is provisioned with a platform address of:

<prefix>.site.ox.ac.uk

where <prefix> has the value that was supplied on the Site Request form - Request a site | Fresco CMS.

This address is suitable to be used as a public web address for your site. Using the <prefix>.site.ox.ac.uk domain means the site is automatically covered by the Fresco Platform's main SSL Security Certificate. In this case, there is no need to register another address and you are good-to-go in putting your site live whenever you are ready to do so.

However, in some cases it is desirable to have a web address that is more tailored, e.g.

• As a part of an existing Oxford University domain, i.e. <prefix>.<existingdomain>.ox.ac.uk
• To create a new Oxford University domain, i.e. www.<newdomain>.ox.ac.uk
• An external domain outside of *.ox.ac.uk, e.g. www.<newdomain>.org.uk

If you are replacing a website that already has its own domain name, this address can be set up with Fresco platform security in preparation and then be configured to point to your Fresco site when you are ready to go-live.

When choosing a custom domain for any website that will be published on University web systems then it must comply with University DNS Naming Policy.  This includes local University policy (web pages should be within the web structure of the department responsible whenever possible) and also policies laid down by the appropriate domain registries and domain registrars (i.e. for .com, .org, .net, .uk) and JANET policy (for .ac.uk).

Please follow all advice here: DNS naming policy

Approval for new domains: Please note that new domain names must be approved by the appropriate Head of Department or Head of House. Some requests may have to be referred to other bodies within the University.

Pre-requisite: The domain or subdomain must be registered in the University's DNS - this means externally-registered domains need to be transferred in to the University's DNS

To register a new domain or transfer-in an existing externally registered domain, contact domains@it.ox.ac.uk. Ensure that your request has been appropriately approved before making the request and explain that the site you will use the domain on will be a Fresco site.

If you are transferring-in a domain name from an external registrar, you should supply details of that registrar so that the Domains team can organise the transfer.

To register a new part to an existing domain, contact the local web manager of the existing domain in the first instance. Management of unit sub-domains is often devolved to local IT managers who will be able to deal with your request, liaising with the central Domains team as needed on your behalf. 

See the DNS domain registration page for more information.

Fresco supports HTTPS-only meaning when any custom domain is added to a Fresco site, it must also be added to the Fresco platform SSL Security Certificate. If this is not done, when viewed using the custom domain, the website will display security alerts in web browsers.

To add a custom domain to Fresco's SSL Certificate - whether as part of a site's go-live or at any other time - use the <Link to custom domain SR> form to ask for a domain to be added to the Fresco SSL Certificate.

The Fresco platform SSL Certificate is updated every week. When the request is received, the domain will be added to a list of domains waiting to be added to the Certificate, and added in the subsequent update.

If you want to add your custom domain to the SSL Certificate but you are not sure whether you will be ready to use the domain by the following certificate update period, let us know anyway. We can add it to the certificate in advance, and it won't take effect until the domain is pointed to your site.

The domain needs to be configured to point to the Fresco platform server, so that when a web user follows a link or bookmark containing the domain, they are taken to the Fresco platform.

Once this configuration is done, hits on your domain name will be routed to your Fresco site. You should therefore only request this when you are ready to launch the site – you should allow time to complete the related go-live steps and ensure that the security configuration for the domain has been completed on the Fresco platform.

The configuration of DNS updates is devolved to University units, so requests to point domains to the Fresco platform need to be sent to your local IT Support Staff (ITSS). 

DNS updates are made on the hour, however, with notice, you may be able to ask your local ITSS to queue this work for a specific hour.

If you are adding a fully-qualified domain (see the information about domains in 'Activate platform security') to your Fresco site, you will need to provide your ITSS with a specific request: <Link to custom domain SR>

We recommend against using a bare domain as it may be needed for non-website uses, but if your ITSS team have considered this and still want to use one then we will have discussed this with you during 'Activating platform security' and advised on the best way to configure it.