Domain Names

Your game site hosted with ManaKeep starts off using a .manakeep.com subdomain.  As your game gains popularity you may wish to get your own full domain name, and this guide is here to help you do that =)

Getting Your Own Domain Name

To use your own domain name you must first purchase one from a domain registrar. We recommend NameCheap.com as a great option. They offer affordable domain names with a wide variety of extensions, and have a nice admin panel that is easy to use.

Once you have purchased your domain name, you need to set it up to point to your ManaKeep site:

  • Log into your account at NameCheap
  • Click on Domain List from the left side menu
  • Click Manage next to the domain you wish to use
  • Click on the Advanced DNS tab
  • Click Add New Record
  • In the Add Host Record fields enter A Record for the type, @ for the Host and 45.33.24.73 for the IP Address, then save the record
  • Make sure this is the only A Record for @, if you have another one there with a different IP Address you will need to remove it

This will make your root domain name, such as example.com, point to your ManaKeep site.  But you likely also want www.example.com to point to your site, so you must also add a CNAME record, telling the www subdomain to point to the root.

  • Click Add New Record again
  • In the Add Host Record fields enter CNAME Record for the type, www for the host and example.com for the target, then save the record.

* replace example.com with your own domain name

Configuring ManaKeep For Your Domain

Once your domain name is purchased and setup to point to your ManaKeep site, you need to tell ManaKeep to use this domain name for your game.

To do this simply login to manakeep.com and then go to the Settings tab of your Admin Panel.  From here, enter your new domain name in the Full Domain Name field.

* Note that changes to the DNS for your domain name can take several hours to fully go into effect; if your site is not showing up for your new domain right after the change, you may need to wait a bit longer =)

Enjoy your free SSL Certificate

We secure all domain names on ManaKeep, so once your domain name is setup an SSL Cert will automatically be added to your site to enable serving it securely over HTTPS =)