Setting up a custom domain with Namecheap and Azure Websites
There are a ton of domain name registrars and hosts out there. Finding specific instructions to match the two together is something a bit of a challenge. To make things tougher, instructions aren’t always updated when user interfaces and processes are changed in the tools provided by these services. Hopefully, this article will provide simple instructions.
- Log in to your Azure account and go to the management portal.
- Your website must be set to “Shared”, “Basic” or “Standard” tiers in order to use custom domains.
- If you want to eventually setup SSL on your custom domain, you will need to set the website to “Basic” or “Standard” tier.
- Read more on pricing.
- Navigate to the dashboard of the Azure Website you are working with.
- In the bottom toolbar, click “Manage Domains”.
- Make note of the IP address listed at the bottom of the popup.
- Log in to your Namecheap account.
- Under “account information”, click to view your domains.
- On the left sidebar, click “Your Domains”.
- Click the domain you want to connect with Azure from the middle section.
- On the left sidebar, click “All Host Records”.
- Copy the IP address from step 4 to the IP Address / URL of the root host name “@”. Change that record type to “A Record”.
- Copy the “xxx.azurewebsites.net” domain name to the IP Address / URL of the host name “www” where “xxx” is your website name. Change that record type to “CNAME”.
- Under the subdomains section, add “awverify” and “awverify.www” subdomains. Set both IP Address / URL to awverify.xxx.azurewebsites.net where “xxx” is your website name. Change those record types to “CNAME”.
- Save your changes. Wait until the DNS records propogate. Sometimes this takes awhile (over 24 hours). In my case, it took about an hour.
- Go back to your Azure dashboard, add the domain and any subdomains to the popup from step 4. For example, “xxx.com” and “www.xxx.com” where “xxx” is your domain name.