Domains

Buy a new domain

1. In Settings > Website & Socials, press Connect domain.
2. Type the name you want in Buy a domain and press Search. Names that are Taken belong to someone else.
3. Press Buy beside an available name.
4. Check the business's ABN and contact details, and fill in anything it asks for. .au domains need an ABN.
5. Tick Use for website, Use for email, or both.
6. Read the terms, tick I agree to these terms and the Terms of Service, and press Buy. If the business has no card or bank account saved for centralOS, a payment page opens first.

centralOS registers the domain and sets it up, so there are no DNS records to add. The price is shown per year including GST and is charged each year.

Connect a domain you already own

For a domain bought somewhere else, such as GoDaddy, Crazy Domains or VentraIP:

1. Open Settings > Website & Socials (for the website) or Settings > Email (for email) and press Connect domain.
2. Type the domain under BYO website domain or BYO email domain, such as acmeplumbing.com.au. A website domain works with www in front too, such as www.acmeplumbing.com.au.
3. Press Connect. The domain appears in the list as Awaiting DNS.
4. Click the domain to see what to change where it was bought. There are two ways:
   • I bought this domain for centralOS: if nothing else uses the domain yet, change its nameservers to the four shown. This is the easiest way, and centralOS looks after everything from then on. The dialog links to the registrar's own guide when it knows where the domain was bought.
   • I use this domain for email or web already: if it already has a website or email somewhere else, add the DNS records shown instead. Each record has a type, a name and a value, with copy buttons.
5. If someone else looks after your domain, such as a web designer or IT person, press Email DNS records. The records are emailed to the business's owner to forward on.
6. centralOS keeps checking. Press Check status to check now. Once it works, the domain shows Securely connected with a green shield.

Email on your own domain

• DNS records for sending let centralOS send email as name@yourdomain.
• DNS records for receiving send all email for that domain to centralOS. If you already get email for that domain somewhere else, such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, you should leave these out, or that email will start arriving in centralOS instead.

Once the domain is connected, each person's email addresses are set in Settings > Email.

Fix a domain that won't connect

• Awaiting DNS means the changes haven't been found yet. Check the records or nameservers match exactly, using the copy buttons, then press Check status.
• Failed means centralOS stopped waiting. Fix the records or nameservers, then press Try again.
• If the domain uses DNSSEC, the dialog says to turn it off where the domain was bought before changing nameservers.

More than one website domain

A website can have more than one domain connected, such as both a .au and a .com.au, or a subdomain such as shop.acmeplumbing.com.au. Every connected domain shows the same website. If acmeplumbing.com.au's nameservers point to centralOS, shop.acmeplumbing.com.au needs no DNS records. The one marked Active in the list is the website's main address: it's the one centralOS shares, and search engines are told to list the pages under it. To switch, wait until the other domain shows Securely connected, open it and press Make active.

To give a domain a website of its own, such as docs.acmeplumbing.com.au:

1. Open Website, press the arrow beside the website's address and pick the domain.
2. Press Unlink, then Unlink again. The domain gets a new, empty website, which opens in the builder.
3. Build it and press Publish. Until then the domain keeps showing the main website.

Pick a domain from the same list to switch between websites. Removing a domain that has its own website deletes that website.

Renewals and removing a domain

• A domain bought through centralOS has Renew every year in its dialog. Turning it off lets the domain lapse at the end of the year it's paid for.
• To use the domain somewhere else, open it and press Remove. Removing the website's active domain makes its oldest securely connected domain active, or sends the website back to its centralOS address if none is connected yet. A domain still being set up isn't made active; press Make active on it once it's securely connected. Removing a website domain that isn't active leaves the website as it is. Email goes back to the centralOS address. If the domain's nameservers point to centralOS, they need to be moved back first.

Things to know

• Connecting or buying a domain needs a plan that includes it. If yours doesn't, the Connect domain dialog shows the plans that do.
• A domain bought through centralOS, or one whose nameservers were changed to centralOS, shows Managed by centralOS. If another service, such as Google, asks you to add a TXT record to prove you own the domain, open it and press Add TXT record.
• Domains are paid a year in advance and aren't refunded. If the centralOS plan ends, the domain stops renewing and the website and email on it stop working. To move a domain to another registrar, contact support@centralsoftware.au for a transfer code.
• Only the business's Owners can connect, buy, unlink or remove domains.