Pointing Your Domain to Your OMINS Website/ Information Site

You have two options for setting up a domain name for use with OMINS sites:

Snipesoft Setup and Hosting

If you don’t know how or don’t want to deal with it yourself we can manage setup and host the domain for $50+GST per year. This is for any .nz domain or .com / .net / .info /.biz domain (it’s likely that we can do other domains- just ask us!).

E-mail us and tell us your desired domain and we will register it under your name and set it up for you. We can also configure MX records, set up sub domains, etc. as requested (i.e. where you email goes- for instance you could use G-mail for e-mail).

If you already have your desired domain with some another host and want us to manage it, you need to ask them for the ‘UDAI’ number and e-mail us with the domain name and number. When the domain expires we will make sure it is renewed and there will be a $50 charge added to your OMINS bill.

Self Setup and Hosting

If you have your domain with a domain registrar and are confident enough, you can set up your domain yourself. You have two options: use the Snipesoft name servers or set up a CNAME as the A Record.

Using Snipesoft’s name servers is the easiest way to point your domain to your OMINS website or information site. It also means that there is one less point of failure (i.e. if the Snipesoft server is up, your DNS will be working). However, using the name servers means you can’t make sub domains or use e-mail on your domain.

Set your name servers as:

  • ns1.snipesoft.net.nz
  • ns2.snipesoft.net.nz
  • ns3.snipesoft.net.nz

If you need IP addresses for these, you can ping them using the command line or http://centralops.net/asp/co/Ping.vbs.asp.

Setting up a CNAME as the A record means you will have full control of your domain. You will be able to setup and control your own MX records and sub domains. However, this is also another point of failure (i.e. if the DNS of the registrar is down, your customers won’t be able to access your site). Additionally, this can be very difficult if you are inexperienced. Take note that some domain registrars do not support this- check with your registrar before choosing this step.

Set the “A record” of www.yoursite.co.nz to cname.snipesoft.net.nz.

Once you have set either your name servers or A record as indicated above you may have to wait a few hours (sometimes up to 24) for the DNS to propagate. This is working when you visit your domain and end up at www.snipesoft.net.nz.

When your DNS has propagated, you will need to log in to your system and tell OMINS that this domain belongs to a particular promo group and site:

  1. From the menu, choose ‘settings’->’promo groups’.

Select promo groups from the settings menu

  2. Choose the promo group you want to use for the domain.

  3. Click on the ‘urls’ tab

  4. Enter in the domain you have and choose if it should be the web store or information site. You can have two different domains if desired- one for your information site and one for your webstore. You can also choose to have this domain be a flat site (a site with no products listed).

Select the URLs tab and enter in your domain address and preferences

  5. Your domain should now direct to your appropriate promo group OMINS site.

This post is also available in: Chinese (Simplified)