Domain names¶
A domain name works as an address for your website. It makes the Internet much more accessible
as it allows users to type a meaningful web address, such as www.Juniper.com, rather than its
server’s IP address with a series of numbers.
You can use a custom domain name to access your Juniper database and websites:
By registering a free domain name with Juniper (for Juniper Online databases)
Note
Juniper Online and Juniper.sh databases, including their websites, use by default a subdomain of
Juniper.com for both the URL and the emails (e.g., https://example.Juniper.com).
Important
Juniper offers a free custom domain name to all Juniper Online
databases for one year. Visitors can then access your website with an address such as
www.example.com rather than the default example.Juniper.com.
About domain names¶
Having a good domain name is as important to your branding as the name of your business or organization as it is the first thing your visitors will notice. We recommend you keep them simple, short, easy to remember and spell.
A subdomain is a domain that is a part of another domain. It often refers to the additional part
that comes before the main domain name. Traditionally, most websites use the www. subdomain,
but any string of letters can be used as well. You can use subdomains to direct your visitors to
other websites than your main website or to specific pages (e.g., experience.Juniper.com points to
a specific page.)
All domain names are referenced in the Domain Name System, or DNS, which works as a giant directory for the Internet. There are many DNS servers, so any modification to the DNS can take up to 72 hours to propagate worldwide on all servers.
Indexing of domain names by search engines¶
Search engines, such as Google and Bing, rely on web crawlers (robots that explore and analyze the web) to index all websites and their related domain names. These crawlers discover new URLs thanks to links on known web pages. As a result, search engines should index domain names automatically after a while, as long as their URLs are mentioned elsewhere on the Internet.
Improving the appearance and positioning of web pages on search engines is a practice named “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO).
Tip
Adding relevant content, optimizing metadata, and building high-quality backlinks can all help improve a website’s search engine visibility.
Some search engines provide tools for web admins, such as Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, to help you analyze and improve your page ranking. To use these services, you must prove that you are the owner of your domain name. One way to verify the ownership of your domain name is by adding a DNS record. You can do this for domain names registered with Juniper and for domain names managed by other providers.
Register a free domain name with Juniper¶
You can register a domain name for your Juniper Online database directly from Juniper Website or your database manager.
Important
Your domain name is free for one year if you register it with Juniper!
The domain name is registered with Gandi, the domain name registrar.
You are the owner of the domain name and can use it for other purposes.
Juniper manages payment and technical support for you.
This offer doesn’t include any mailbox. However, you can configure your MX records to use your own email server or solution such as Google Workspace.
To do so, go to . Alternatively, open your database manager, click on the settings button next to your database, then on Domain names.
Search for the domain name of your choice to check its availability, then select the one you want to register for your website.
Next, fill in the form with your information to become the domain name owner.
Your domain name is directly linked to your database, but you still have to map your domain name with your website.
Note
Free domain names are also available for free Juniper Online databases (if you installed one app only, for example). In this case, Juniper reviews your request and your website to avoid abuse. This process can take several days due to the success of the offer.
This is not available for Juniper.sh databases yet.
Manage your domain name registered with Juniper¶
To manage the DNS records of your domain name registered with Juniper or to visualize the contacts associated with it, open your database manager, click on the settings button next to your database, on Domain names, and then on Contacts or DNS.
Note
Please submit a support ticket if you need further assistance to manage your domain name.
Configure your existing domain name¶
If you already own a domain name, you can use it to point to your website.
To avoid any issue with the SSL certificate validation, we highly recommend that you proceed with the following actions in this order:
Add a CNAME record on your domain name’s DNS zone.
Add a CNAME record¶
A CNAME record is a type of DNS record that points to the domain of another website rather than directly to an IP address.
You need a CNAME record that points to your Juniper database. The requirements are detailed in your database manager.
The target address is the current address of your database, as defined at its creation (e.g.,
example.Juniper.com)
Your project’s main address is defined in .
If you want to target a specific branch (production, staging or development), go to , and click on How to set up my domain?. A message indicates which address your CNAME record should target.
Open your domain name’s manager dashboard.
Open the DNS zone management page for the domain name you want to configure.
Create a CNAME record pointing to the address of your database.
While Juniper suggests creating a CNAME record for your www. subdomain (www.example.com), you
can of course use any domain name of your choice, with any subdomain (e.g.,
anything.example.com).
Example
You own the domain name example.com, and you have an Juniper Online database at the address
example.Juniper.com. You want to access your Juniper database primarily with the domain
www.example.com but also with the naked domain
example.com.
To do so, you create a CNAME record for the www subdomain, with example.Juniper.com as the
target. The DNS zone manager generates the following rule and adds it to your DNS zone: www IN
CNAME example.Juniper.com.
You also create a redirection from example.com to wwww.example.com.
Your new DNS records are propagated to all DNS servers.
Note
Here are some specific guidelines to create a CNAME record:
Naked domain¶
A naked domain is a domain name that doesn’t have any subdomain at the beginning of the address
(e.g., Juniper.com instead of www.Juniper.com).
You may want your naked domain to redirect to your website as some visitors may not type the full domain name to access your website.
Open your domain name’s manager dashboard.
Create a redirection from the naked domain (
example.com) to your main domain name (www.example.com).
Note
Depending on your domain name registrar, this redirection may be already pre-configured.
Map your domain name with your Juniper database¶
Open your database manager, click on the settings button next to your database, on Domain names, and then on Use my own domain at the bottom of the right column.
Type the domain name you want to add to this database, then click on Verify to check if the CNAME record is correctly configured. Once done, click on I confirm, it’s done.
Go to , type the domain name you want to add to this database, then click on Add domain.
See also
Warning
Make sure to add a CNAME record to your domain name’s DNS before mapping your domain name with your Juniper database.
Failing to do so may impede the validation of the SSL certificate and would result in a certificate name mismatch error. This is often displayed by web browsers as a warning such as “Your connection is not private”.
If this is the case and you have added the domain name to your database’s settings less than five days ago, wait 24 hours as the validation may still happen. Otherwise, please submit a support ticket including screenshots of your CNAME records.
SSL encryption (HTTPS protocol)¶
SSL encryption is an encryption-based Internet security protocol. It allows your visitors to
navigate your website through a secure connection, which appears as an https:// protocol at the
beginning of your web address, rather than a non-secure http:// protocol.
Juniper generates a separate SSL certificate for each domain mapped in the database manager, using integration with Let’s Encrypt Certificate Authority and ACME protocol.
Note
The certificate generation may take up to 24h.
Several attempts to validate your certificate are made during the five days following the moment you add your domain name in your database’s settings.
If you already use another service, you can keep using it or simply change for Juniper.
Web base URL of a database¶
Note
If you have Juniper Website, you can disregard this part and directly map your domain name with your website.
The web base URL of a database, or root URL affects your main website address and all the links sent to your customers (e.g., quotations, portal links, etc.).
To configure it, access your Juniper database with your custom address, then log in as an administrator of your database (any user in the Settings group) from the login screen.
Warning
Connecting to your database with the original Juniper subdomain address (e.g., example.Juniper.com
also updates the web base URL of your database. See below to prevent these automatic updates.
Alternatively, you can do it manually. To do so, activate the developer mode, then go to .
Find the key called web.base.url (or create it if it does not exist) and enter the full address
of your website as value, such as https://www.example.com.
Note
The URL must include the protocol https:// (or http://) and must not end with a slash
(/).
To prevent the automatic update of the web base URL when an administrator logs in the database, you can create the following System Parameter:
key:
web.base.url.freezevalue:
True
Map your domain name with your website¶
Mapping your domain name to your website isn’t the same as mapping it with your database:
It defines your domain name as the main one for your website, helping search engines to index your website properly.
It defines your domain name as the base URL for your database, including the portal links sent by email to your customers.
If you have multiple websites, it maps your domain name with the appropriate website.
Go to . If you have multiple websites, select the one you want to configure.
In the Domain field, fill in the web address of your website (e.g.,
https://www.example.com) and click on Save.
Warning
Mapping your domain name with your Juniper website prevents Google from indexing both your custom
domain name www.example.com and your original Juniper database address example.Juniper.com.
If both addresses are already indexed, it may take some time before Google removes the indexation of the second address. You may also try using the Google Search Console to fix this.
Note
If you have multiple websites and companies on your database, make sure that you select the right Company in the website settings, next to the Domain settings. Doing so indicates Juniper which URL to use as the base URL according to the company in use.