WordPress.com

1. emptybookshelf
   Member
   Mar 29, 2012, 12:23 AM

   I'm working with a non-profit to convert their website from a limited feature "make a website today!" type service to WordPress.Com. I've finished all of the pages, and it's just about ready for the WordPress.Com site to be turned on and have their domain point to WordPress.com with the domain mapping upgrade. The current hosting service is also the domain registrar. There are some slightly more complicated details which I want to have a plan for beforehand, so I don't end up testing on a live site.

   I've studied the WordPress.com mapped domain documents and I see that they include some notes that changing the nameservers will ignore all other DNS records at the current registrar, but you can apply custom DNS records thru the WordPress dashboard once you've enabled domain mapping (but not A records). The problem here is that I don't have much experience with DNS beyond just setting a nameserver.

   The organization owns two domains; one is, let's say, "fullname.org", the other is an abbreviation, let's say "fn.org".

   The full name is the "real" domain they prefer. The preferred behavior is browsing to the abbreviated domain immediately transfers the user to the full name domain. (thru DNS, I think) How can I do this after using changing the fullname.org nameservers to the WordPress.com nameservers? A custom "A Record" in the domain setup in the WordPress dashboard (but I think the WordPress support docs say this isn't possible?)? Abbreviated domain should simply go to fullname.org domain without the user seeing anything other than the URL changing immediately after typing the abbreviated name. I guess I would update the fullname.org nameservers to the WordPress.Com nameservers, then change something else in a custom DNS record on the abbreviated domain (keeping the same, non-wordpress.com, nameservers, but I don't know specifically what I would change.

   They also have email accounts hosted at the current provider. Based on the mapping a domain documents for WordPress.com, I think I can simply add the current MX records to the WordPress domain options after I purchase the Domain Mapping upgrade. Is this accurate? Also, the current setup captures emails sent to both fullname.org and (abbreviated) fn.org by silently redirecting emails sent @fullname.org to @fn.org (the opposite of how the website redirection works).

   Summary:

   1. About to turn-on mapped domains upgrade, but don't want to change the nameservers until I have a plan for all details. Can't pay for the Domain Mapping until I change the nameservers, so I'm unfortunately not a WordPress.com paying customer yet.
   2. Domain registrar is not WordPress.Com
   3. Need two different domains to go to the same WordPress blog. (willing to pay for this feature --as in, pay to map two domains to the same blog on WordPress.com, then choose one as "primary"-- but WordPress documents don't show if a feature like this is available). Do this via a custom DNS record at the current registrar? What would that custom DNS record be?
   4. Need email sent to either domain to continue functioning. (details above) I have the MX records from the registrar saved, but I don't see how it handles the case where there is redirection from fullname.org domain to abbreviated name domain.

   Current registrar and hosting service is yola.com.

   Thank you for your time and help (in advance)

   -Dan

   The blog I need help with is thebwfp.wordpress.com.

2. emptybookshelf
   Member
   Mar 29, 2012, 8:20 PM

   friendly bump

   Also, the WordPress.com blog I intend to map is http://thebwfp.wordpress.com.

   The current full name domain is http://www.thebillyweeksfellowshipprogram.org/.

   The abbreviated name is http://www.thebwfp.org.

   Sorry the original post is so long, but I'm not familiar with DNS enough to be able to use the correct terminology, so if I try to shorten the question, I'm afraid I might use the wrong terms and make it more confusing for everyone.

3. macmanx
   Happiness Engineer
   Mar 29, 2012, 10:26 PM

   The full name is the "real" domain they prefer. The preferred behavior is browsing to the abbreviated domain immediately transfers the user to the full name domain. (thru DNS, I think) How can I do this after using changing the fullname.org nameservers to the WordPress.com nameservers?

   In this case, just map both domains and set the desired domain as the primary. The secondary domain will redirect to the primary as you describe: http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/map-existing-domain/

   As for the MX records, you'll need to get the full MX records and add them to your Custom DNS panel: http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/custom-dns/

4. emptybookshelf
   Member
   Mar 30, 2012, 2:16 AM

   Thanks for the reply and help.

   Got it 100% working using the "primary domain" function. As a (now) paying customer, let me recommend that this functionality/feature be included in the support documents instead of only hiding in the forums. (sorry if it's actually in the documents and I missed it...)

   I setup a custom DNS Record for the MX Record which I copied from the original DNS Registrar/Hosting+E-mail Provider. I also copied a CNAME record for a "mail" alias. I included this only because the custom DNS records from the original DNS Registrar/Host included it.

   It turns out the organization never actually used the fullname.org for e-mail at all, and forwarding actually wasn't setup. In some big picture, it'd be a nice if it were enabled (just in case), but it's not necessary.

5. macmanx
   Happiness Engineer
   Mar 30, 2012, 6:41 PM

   You're welcome!

   I'm glad it's working as desired now. :)

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