Why is my website not working using 'www.'?
If your website is loading using your base domain, eg 'example.co.nz', but not when using 'www.example.co.nz' there could be two issues:
- You are likely missing the 'www' alias in your website settings
- The DNS Zone is missing the 'www' A or CNAME record
Adding the 'www' alias to your Website
To add an alias allowing your website to be accessed using 'www.yourdomain.co.nz' please do the following:
Log into the SiteHost Control Panel.
Select the "Websites" module from the menu on the left.
Select the Website you want to add the alias for.
Under the "Aliases" section click the "Add" button
Enter the full domain of the alias you want to use. For example 'www.yourdomain.co.nz' would be entered - not just 'www'.
Click Add alias.
NOTE: The alias will normally be created immediately, however in some cases there can be a delay of a few seconds or minutes.
Adding an A Record or CNAME record to the Domains DNS Zone
In order for a website to be accessible using 'www.yourdomain.co.nz' the 'www' subdomain needs to be enabled in the Zone file. To verify if it is present, or to add it:
Log into the SiteHost Control Panel.
Select the "DNS Zones" module on the left.
Select the domain you want to edit.
Verify that the 'www' record does not already exist
Assuming the Template Name is "Manual DNS Settings" you can scroll to the bottom of the list of records and click the "Add" button to add 1 DNS record
Put in 'www' in the first column, select "A" from the second column, and enter the server IP in the third column.
Press Update records
The changes will need to propagate which can take anywhere from a few seconds to many hours.