Domain Preparation and Configuration
In local development, a domain is not mandatory, but as the starting point of your project, I still recommend completing this step first.
Purchase a Domain
There are many domain purchasing platforms, and I recommend the following:
| Platform | Advantages |
|---|---|
| Namesilo | Reasonable pricing, free WHOIS privacy protection |
| Porkbun | Affordable pricing, free WHOIS privacy protection |
| Cloudflare | Competitive pricing, seamless integration with other CloudFlare features |
| Namecheap | Budget-friendly pricing |
You can also use the following platforms to compare prices and check domain availability:
Configure Domain Resolution
After purchasing a domain from any platform, you can proceed with domain resolution configuration.
Domain resolution is strongly recommended to be configured through CloudFlare. CloudFlare has a global DNS network, so when users access your website, they get content from the nearest server, reducing latency, speeding up load times, and improving user experience. Additionally, CloudFlare's free plan provides essential features like automatic SSL certificate configuration.
Let me walk you through the steps to add and configure your domain in CloudFlare.
Add Domain to CloudFlare
- Log in to CloudFlare website, click "Add a Domain"
- Enter your domain name, click "Continue"
- Select the "Free" plan
- The next step will show instructions to change your domain's nameserver
For example, with my domain purchased from Namesilo, I need to change the domain nameserver in the Namesilo backend
- Then you can see the domain status on CloudFlare's DNS page. When it shows "Active", the addition is successful
You don't need to modify DNS records yet. The documentation will provide instructions wherever DNS records need to be added in the following steps.
Configure Domain Email
Having a dedicated domain email is crucial for demonstrating business professionalism. Compared to generic personal email addresses, domain emails effectively build user trust.
Fortunately, Cloudflare's free plan includes email routing functionality, making this easy to achieve. This feature can automatically forward emails sent to your domain email (e.g., [email protected]) to your designated existing email (e.g., [email protected]).
Configuration steps:
Log in to CloudFlare website, click "Email", and follow the guided steps on the page
When the displayed status shows success, you can test it by sending an email from any email address to your domain email, to verify if your designated email receives it.
Conclusion
With this, our domain preparation and resolution configuration is complete.
In the next article, we'll begin integrating other platforms.