SOLVED: Cloudron Waiting for DNS propagation

Where necessary, you may need to have access to a VPS server so you can follow how to implement the steps in this article. You can get a cheaper VPS Server from Contabo with 4vCPU cores, 8GM RAM, and 32TB Bandwidth for less than $5.50 per month. Get this deal here now

UPDATED: 10 months ago | Elijah Were

$5.50 Monthly

4 vCPU Cores | 8GB RAM

$15.50 Monthly

6 vCPU Cores | 16GB RAM

$17.50 Monthly

8 vCPU Cores | 24GB RAM

The main cause of the “Waiting for DNS propagation” error in Cloudron is related to the DNS setup of your domain or subdomain and your VPS server on which Cloudron is installed.

There is the likelihood that you’re managing your DNS settings from another provider so, you need to make sure everything is set up correctly with the appropriate records as recommended by Cloudron

Which DNS records does Cloudron require?

As a prerequisite, when setting up Cloudron on your server, you’re supposed to add a domain name and this means that you will have to create the required DNS records. Let’s break down them for you to understand;

my.domain.com

This is a subdomain that Cloudron requires you to set up and you’re going to use it to access the admin side of your Cloudron instance through the browser. Let’s say your primary domain is ugacomp.com, then the Cloudron admin subdomain will be my.ugacomp.com

This subdomain is created as an A record, meaning that you’re going to point it to the IP address of your VPS server on which Cloudron is installed.

Assuming that your server’s IP address is 195.145.123.117, the my.domain.com record will be set up as seen below;

Type	Name	Value
A	my.domain.com	195.145.123.117

This is an example setup, but you’re going to use your own subdomain associated with the main domain you purchased from a certain vendor. Also, you will need to use your own IP address associated with your VPS server.

www redirection

It’s important to note that Cloudron doesn’t automatically create the www subdomain redirection to your primary domain.
What does this mean?

It means that if you added your domain as ugacomp.com, and your site visitors use www.ugacomp.com, Cloudron is going to show them this error in the browser: “You are seeing this page because the DNS record of ……….is set to this server’s IP but Cloudron has no app configured for this domain”

To fix this issue, you will need to set up the www redirection, which is done under the location settings of your Cloudron app

You will also need to make sure that the www subdomain record is either created as an A or CNAME record in your DNS settings
To learn how to configure the www redirections in Cloudron, here is the step-by-step guide on how to do it.

Adding extra domains

The free Cloudron subscription allows you to deploy only two apps. This means that you can add more than one domain to your Cloudron. You need to make sure that every domain you add has the appropriate DNS records configured as explained earlier in this article.

Nameserver settings

For the DNS propagation to complete, you need to ensure that you assign the appropriate Nameservers. So, what is DNS propagation and what are nameservers?

Well, DNS propagation refers to the time it takes for changes to DNS records (such as adding, modifying, or removing records) to be distributed and recognized across the entire DNS network. The DNS (Domain Name System) is a decentralized system that translates human-readable domain names (like www.example.com) into IP addresses, allowing computers to locate and connect to each other over the Internet.

When you make changes to your DNS records, such as updating the IP address associated with a domain or creating new records, these changes need to be propagated to DNS servers worldwide. DNS propagation is essentially the process of these changes spreading or being replicated across various DNS servers across the internet.

Nameservers, on the other hand, are servers that store DNS records and provide the authoritative information about a domain. They play a crucial role in the DNS resolution process. When a user enters a domain name in a web browser, the browser queries DNS servers to find the corresponding IP address. The nameservers associated with the domain are responsible for providing this information.

How to configure the nameservers

When you purchase a domain name let’s say from domain vendors like Namecheap, you’ll be allowed to set up your custom nameservers.

This means that if you bought your VPS server from another provider other than Namecheap, let’s say you bought your VPS server from Contabo, you can set up the domain name using their DNS management settings. In most cases, your VPS provider will have the DNS settings so you can add your domain name to your server.

Once you add the domain, the VPS provider will likely give you their nameservers and these are what you need to configure with the custom nameserver settings from where you purchased the domain name.

To further simplify this, let’s say you have a Namecheap domain and you have a Contabo VPS server, you will have to add the Namecheap domain to Contabo using their DNS settings as seen below;

You will have to add your domain using the provided DNS management interface in Contabo as seen below;

Once, everything is set up correctly, Contabo will automatically provide you with the Nameservers you’re going to use in Namecheap where your domain was purchased.

These are the nameservers you’re going to use in your domain account’s custom DNS settings.

What happens if you can’t access the Nameservers from your VPS provider?

There are various reasons to explain why you’re not able to see the nameservers associated with your VPS provider and these include:

Your VPS provider doesn’t offer DNS management settings

For you to be able to point your domain name to your VPS server IP address, you must have access to the DNS management settings that allow you to set up the appropriate DNS records. If your VPS provider doesn’t have these settings, it means that they don’t have a DNS server to manage the client’s DNS records.

Your VPS provider adds clients’ domains manually

There is the possibility that your VPS provider will add the domain manually, pointing it to your server’s IP address. What you need is to reach out to them by submitting the support ticket so they can help you with this.

You’re not allowed to access the DNS setting

Some VPS providers can charge you an extra fee to use certain features on their platform, and maybe your VPS provider offers DNS management as a paid service. You will have to read their terms of use or even reach out to them for further details.

Using third-party DNS servers

If your VPS provider doesn’t offer DNS management settings, you can simply look for third-party options like using Cloudflare DNS.

This means that you will have to create a Cloudflare account to add your domain and then create all the necessary records.
We’ve already written a full guide on how to use Cloudflare DNS to add your domain. Here is the link to get started

Hire us to handle what you want

Hire us through our Fiverr Profile and leave all the complicated & technical stuff to us. Here are some of the things we can do for you:

Website migration, troubleshooting, and maintenance.
Server & application deployment, scaling, troubleshooting, and maintenance
Deployment of Kubernetes, Docker, Cloudron, Ant Media, Apache, Nginx, OpenVPN, cPanel, WHMCS, WordPress, and more
Everything you need on AWS, IBM Cloud, GCP, Azure, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Linode, Contabo, DigitalOcean, Ionos, Vultr, GoDaddy, HostGator, Namecheap, DreamHost, and more.

We will design, configure, deploy, or troubleshoot anything you want. Starting from $10, we will get your job done in the shortest time possible. Your payment is safe with Fiverr as we will only be paid once your project is completed.