Pointing your IONOS domain

This guide is for domains registered at IONOS. Read Pointing your domain first if you want the big picture.

IONOS has its own instructions too: Configuring a CNAME Record for a Subdomain and Forwarding a Domain to a Different Domain.

We will send you the exact values to use. The usual target is sites.guardhouse.host.

IONOS says its own name servers must be in use for these changes to work.

Part 1: Add the www record

1. Log in to IONOS and open Domains & SSL.
2. Next to your domain, click the gear icon under Actions and choose Manage Subdomains.
3. Next to your subdomain, click the gear icon under Actions and choose DNS.
4. Click Add Record and select CNAME.
5. In Hostname, enter www.
6. In Point to, enter sites.guardhouse.host. Leave off http:// or https://.
7. Optionally choose a TTL.
8. Click Save.

IONOS warns that once a CNAME is set on a subdomain, you can no longer make other settings for it, and email and IONOS product connections stop working for that subdomain. That is fine for www. Email uses your main domain, not www.

IONOS says changes apply at IONOS right away and may take up to an hour to spread everywhere.

Part 2: Forward the plain address

This sends yourbusiness.com to https://www.yourbusiness.com.

IONOS says your domain cannot be in use by a service such as webspace or a managed application. If it is, disconnect it first (their page explains how).

1. Log in to IONOS and click the Domain & SSL tile. Select your domain.
2. On the Details tab, select Adjust Destination.
3. Click Domain Forwarding.
4. For type, choose Arbitrary URL.
5. Enter https://www.yourbusiness.com as the destination (use your own domain).
6. For the redirect type, choose HTTP Redirect. IONOS recommends it over a frame redirect.
7. Click Save.

Do not turn on Domain forwarding for the www. Subdomain, since www is the record we are adding in Part 1.

Extra verification records

If we ask for them, add them the same way as Part 1, choosing TXT.

Stuck?

Email us at hello@useguardhouse.com. Or send your IT person the technical reference.