Quick navigation
- Creating a CNAME record
- Checking if the CNAME record is already propagated
- Setting up own domain in LiveAgent panel
- Adding SSL certificate
- How to generate a temporary free SSL certificate (separate article)
- Possible problems (separate article)
Each hosted LiveAgent account uses a standardized domain, e.g., mycompany.ladesk.com. However, as this isn't very appealing when you'd like to use the customer portal and knowledgebase, it is a good idea to park your custom domain to your LiveAgent account to make it look more professional. Therefore instead of https://mycompany.ladesk.com, you could be using something like https://support.mycompany.com.
To park your custom domain to your LiveAgent account, it is also required to have an SSL certificate for your custom domain. If the SSL certificate requirement should be a deal-breaker for you, feel free to check our guide on how to generate a temporary free SSL certificate to test the domain parking feature.
Creating a CNAME DNS record
To set up your custom domain, it is needed to create a CNAME DNS record in your domain management panel. The CNAME record has to point FROM your custom domain which you wish to use (e.g., support.mycompany.com) TO your LiveAgent account's domain (e.g., mycompany.ladesk.com). If you don't know how to set up a CNAME record, please consult it with your hosting provider or server admin and ask them to set it up for you, as every domain management panel is different. The goal is to point it from the custom domain to the LiveAgent domain.
In the following image below, there are two wrong examples and one correct - the last one. Note that the record type must be CNAME, the domain to which the SUPPORT subdomain (support.mycompany.com) is pointing is the default LiveAgent domain (mycompany.ladesk.com), and the record is not proxied.
Checking if the CNAME record is already propagated
Once the CNAME record is set, you should ensure that it is already applied and propagated worldwide. It can take up to 24 hours to propagate, and you can check it with online services like whatsmydns.net. When you see your LiveAgent account URL noted at all locations, you can proceed with the next step.
Setting up own domain in LiveAgent panel
After your CNAME record is propagated, navigate to Configuration > System > Domain settings, and insert your custom domain without any protocol (http:// or https://) to the Custom domain field.
Adding SSL certificate
To successfully park your custom domain to your LiveAgent account you must also enter an SSL certificate for your custom domain. You can use a certificate created directly for the specific subdomain, e.g., support.mycompany.com, or a top domain wildcard certificate, e.g., *.mycompany.com.
You need to place the content of your certificate key file into the SSL key field and the content of your actual certificate and any other intermediate certificates into the SSL certificate field.
If your certificate consists of a longer certificate chain containing end-user, intermediate, and root certificates, you need to add them all one after another in the exact given order. Otherwise, you'll receive an error. Such an all-in-one certificate chain file is commonly called a "CA bundle".
The SSL certificate gets applied within several minutes after saving. After the settings are saved, your LiveAgent account will be available also from your custom domain.