Host mapping - Changing the URL of your help center

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<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">Host mapping lets you change your help center URL to a subdomain of your own domain, like support.mycompany.com. This involves getting a domain, setting up a CNAME record, and configuring SSL for secure communication. You can manage SSL certificates, review their status, and extend HSTS to enhance security. This feature enhances brand consistency and security for your help center.</p>
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<div class="body">
<div class="note fastpath">
<span class="fastpathtitle">Location: </span>
<span class="ph">Admin Center &gt; Account &gt; Appearance &gt; Branding</span>
</div>
<p class="p">By default, the address of your help center is a Zendesk subdomain, such as "mycompany"
in mycompany.zendesk.com. However, you can map a subdomain of your own domain (such as
support.mycompany.com) to your default Zendesk address. This feature is called host
mapping (see <a class="xref" href="#topic_qqd_ccc_fsb">About host mapping</a>).</p>
<p class="p">The workflow for changing the address consists of the following steps:</p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_fkl_sjk_j4b__ol_vwk_bpk_j4b">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_n1l_3pk_j4b">Getting a domain name and
subdomain</a> (if you don't already have one)</li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_kbc_npk_j4b">Making the subdomain an alias of your
default address</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_bbf_xpk_j4b">Specifying the new address</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_dyr_bqk_j4b">Setting up a hosted SSL</a></li>
</ol>
<p class="p">After setting up a host-mapped, SSL-enabled domain, you can perform any of the following
management tasks:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_fkl_sjk_j4b__ul_f4y_fpk_j4b">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_phk_xqk_j4b">Reviewing the SSL status of a
certificate</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_tmg_zqk_j4b">Replacing a certificate</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_mjb_2sk_j4b">Extending HTTP Strict Transport
Security (HSTS) to one year</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_qqd_ccc_fsb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About host mapping</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">By default, the address of your help center is a Zendesk subdomain, such as
"mycompany" in mycompany.zendesk.com. However, you can map a subdomain of your own
domain (such as support.mycompany.com) to your default Zendesk address. This feature
is called host mapping.</p>
<p class="p">A host-mapped help center address looks as follows:</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_qqd_ccc_fsb__image_smt_dcc_fsb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/hostmap_url_parts.png"></p>
<p class="p">For example, suppose your company is called Mondo Cameras, and the address of your
main website is <strong class="ph b">mondocam.com</strong>. After the company signs up for Zendesk Support,
the initial address of your help center might be something like
<strong class="ph b">mondocam.zendesk.com/hc</strong>. You can change the help center's address to a
subdomain of your company's domain, such as <strong class="ph b">support.mondocam.com/hc</strong>. You
can't modify your support address to direct to a specific page within your
subdomain, such as <strong class="ph b">mondocam.com/community/hc</strong>.</p>
<p class="p">Keep in mind that host mapping only changes the external-facing URL of your help
center, and it doesn't affect the URL of the Zendesk sign-in page, nor does it
change the URL of the agent interface. In the example, your agents will continue to
see the default Zendesk URL <strong class="ph b">mondocam.zendesk.com</strong> in the agent interface. If
an agent tries to use the host-mapped URL in the agent interface (such as to get to
a ticket page like <strong class="ph b">support.mondocam.com/agent/tickets/52</strong>), the agent will be
redirected to the default URL such as
<strong class="ph b">mondocam.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/52</strong>.</p>
<p class="p">You can use host mapping for subdomains such as the "support" subdomain in
support.mondocam.com. You cannot use host mapping for so-called "second level"
domains, such as mondocam.com or mondocam.co.uk. In particular, you cannot use the
name if it contains a DNS SOA (start of authority) record. To determine whether an
SOA record exists, visit <a class="xref" href="http://www.zoneedit.com/lookup.html" target="_blank">http://www.zoneedit.com/lookup.html</a>. In
the "DNS Lookup" box, enter the name and select the SOA record type. You can also
use a command-line tool such as "dig" on Linux.</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Host mapping can only be done to subdomains. Mapping to a subdirectory of an
external site isn't supported.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_n1l_3pk_j4b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Getting a domain name and subdomain</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">If not already done, register a domain name and add a support-related subdomain to
it. Consult your system administrator, if you have one, before proceeding.</p>
<p class="p">Here are the steps:</p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_n1l_3pk_j4b__ol_sqx_lpk_j4b">
<li class="li">Purchase and register a domain name with a domain registrar. <p class="p">For example, if
your company is called Mondo Cameras, you might register a domain name
called mondocam.com. You can purchase and register a domain name from any
domain registrar, including GoDaddy, Yahoo! Domains, Namecheap, 1&amp;1,
Netregistry, or Register.com. For instructions, see the Help section on the
registrar's website. For more information, see <a class="xref" href="http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/registerdomain.shtml" target="_blank">How to Register Your Own Domain
Name</a> by Christopher Heng on thesitewizard.com.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">After registering the domain name, use the registrar's tools to add a
support-related subdomain such as "support" or "help" or something along those
lines, for example, support.mondocam.com. You'll make the subdomain an alias of
your default Zendesk address in the next section. <p class="p">See the Help section on the
registrar's website for instructions on adding a subdomain.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_kbc_npk_j4b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Making the subdomain an alias of your default address</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The next step is to make your subdomain an alias of your default Zendesk address. An
alias is simply an alternate address for a website. For example, you can make the
addresses "support.mondocam.com" and "mondocam.zendesk.com" interchangeable as far
as web browsers are concerned.</p>
<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> You must create a CNAME record on your domain registrar's website to create the
alias. If you have any concerns, consult your system administrator, if you have one,
before proceeding.</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To make your subdomain an alias of your default Zendesk address:</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_kbc_npk_j4b__ol_qjr_qpk_j4b">
<li class="li">Sign in to your domain registrar's control panel. <p class="p">Use the login name and
password that you created when you registered the domain name. If you don't
have a domain name and a subdomain yet, see <a class="xref" href="#topic_n1l_3pk_j4b">Getting a domain name and a subdomain</a>.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Look for the option to change DNS records. <p class="p">The option might be called
something such as DNS Management, Name Server Management, or Advanced
Settings.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Locate the <strong class="ph b">CNAME</strong> records for your domain. <p class="p">A CNAME record, or Canonical
Name record, is a type of alias used by the Domain Name System (DNS). Among
other things, you can use a CNAME record to make a subdomain an alias of an
external website (see <a class="xref" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNAME_record" target="_blank">CNAME records</a> on Wikipedia).</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Do one of the following: <ul class="ul" id="topic_kbc_npk_j4b__ul_tzm_rpk_j4b">
<li class="li">If you don't have a CNAME record for your subdomain yet, look for an
option to <strong class="ph b">add a new record</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">If you already have a CNAME record for your subdomain, look for an
option to <strong class="ph b">edit the record</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">Point the CNAME record from your subdomain (shown in the <strong class="ph b">Host Record</strong>
field in the example below) to your Zendesk subdomain (shown in the <strong class="ph b">Points
To</strong> field). <p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_kbc_npk_j4b__image_xgg_5pk_j4b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/hostmap_add_dns_rec.png"></p>
<p class="p">The UI and
terminology may vary depending on your registrar, but the concepts are the
same.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> It may take time for changes to the DNS system to be implemented. Typically, it
can take anywhere from a few hours to a day, depending on your Time To Live (TTL)
settings in the registrar's control panel. In the example above, the TTL is 14,400
seconds, or 4 hours.</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To configure a CNAME in the Cloudflare dashboard</strong> (only applies if you are
using Cloudflare DNS)</p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_kbc_npk_j4b__ol_jyt_tnd_cqb">
<li class="li">Log in to <a class="xref" href="https://dash.cloudflare.com" target="_blank"><u class="ph u">https://dash.cloudflare.com</u></a>
</li>
<li class="li">Choose the targeted website.</li>
<li class="li">Select <strong class="ph b">DNS</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Add record</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">From the <strong class="ph b">Type</strong> dropdown menu, choose <strong class="ph b">CNAME</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">In the <strong class="ph b">Name</strong> field, enter the subdomain you want to configure (for
example, &lt;support&gt; if you want to use support.mondocam.com).</li>
<li class="li">In the <strong class="ph b">Target</strong> field, enter your Zendesk account or brand subdomain
(for example, mondocam.zendesk.com).</li>
<li class="li">From the <strong class="ph b">TTL</strong> dropdown menu, ensure it is set to <strong class="ph b">Auto</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Under <strong class="ph b">Proxy status</strong>, ensure it is set to <strong class="ph b">DNS only</strong>. If you need
to change it, click the icon beneath Proxy status.<p class="p"><img alt="Guide host mapping subdomains" class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_kbc_npk_j4b__image_nbx_25d_cqb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide_host_mapping_subdomains.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_bbf_xpk_j4b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Specifying the new address</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">After making your subdomain an alias of your default Zendesk address, you need to
specify the new address in your instance of Zendesk Support. If you omit this step,
your new address will point to a Zendesk error page.</p>
<p class="p">The instructions in this section apply if you only have one brand. If you added
multiple brands, specify your addresses in <span class="ph">Admin Center &gt; Account &gt; Brand management &gt; Brands</span> instead of <span class="ph">Admin Center &gt; Account &gt; Appearance &gt; Branding</span>. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829476378#topic_bp3_gby_wp" target="_blank">Adding multiple brands</a>.</p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_bbf_xpk_j4b__ol_vsd_zpk_j4b">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_bbf_xpk_j4b__d9e403" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_account_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Account</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Appearance &gt; Branding</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Scroll down to <strong class="ph b">Host Mapping</strong> and enter your subdomain and domain name.
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_bbf_xpk_j4b__image_xsd_zpk_j4b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/hostmap_settings.png"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save Tab</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_dyr_bqk_j4b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">Setting up a hosted SSL</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p"><a class="xref" href="http://www.digicert.com/ssl.htm" target="_blank">SSL</a> (Secure Socket Layer) is an encryption protocol that ensures secure
communications with your website. You must configure an SNI-based SSL certificate
for a host-mapped domain using one of the two methods below:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_dyr_bqk_j4b__ul_r3f_dqk_j4b">
<li class="li">Use the free SNI-based SSL certificate from Zendesk (recommended)</li>
<li class="li">Use your own SNI-based certificate</li>
</ul>
<div class="p">Things to consider:<ul class="ul" id="topic_dyr_bqk_j4b__ul_pkq_wdn_l1c">
<li class="li">Your host mapping must be set up correctly before you start. Because of
potentially long lead times, consider your SSL options early when setting up
Zendesk Support.</li>
<li class="li">If you use a Certification Authority Authorization (CAA) record to restrict
which authorities can issue certificates containing your domain names, you
must add your certificate service to this record. Otherwise, the certificate
service may deny the SSL certificate.</li>
<li class="li">Only one SSL certificate can be uploaded and used for all brands.</li>
<li class="li">There's no expected downtime if you change from a Let's Encrypt certificate
to your own or vice versa. As a best practice, you should make these types
of changes during periods of low traffic to account for the occasionally
unanticipated delays in replacing records of this kind.</li>
<li class="li">Hosted SSL is not supported on trial Zendesk Support accounts.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="note important">
<span class="importanttitle">Important:</span> If you don’t obtain a Zendesk-provisioned certificate, or provide
your own, help center traffic for your host-mapped domain will result in SSL errors.
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested2" id="topic_f42_3qk_j4b">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title7">Getting a Zendesk-provisioned SSL certificate</h3>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">We recommend using the Zendesk-provisioned SNI-based SSL certificate for your
host-mapped domains. Zendesk requests an SSL certificate from <a class="xref" href="https://letsencrypt.org/" target="_blank">Let's
Encrypt</a>, a third-party certificate service. This is included for free
with your Zendesk plan. <ul class="ul" id="topic_f42_3qk_j4b__ul_e2j_3rx_rxb">
<li class="li">The SSL certificate covers up to 100 host-mapped domains. If you have
more than 100 host-mapped brands, you'll need to <a class="xref" href="#topic_wtp_kqk_j4b">provide your own
certificate</a>.</li>
<li class="li">Zendesk automatically renews the SSL certificate before it expires.</li>
<li class="li">When you add, update, or delete a host-mapped domain, Zendesk removes
your current certificate and replaces it with a new certificate that
covers the new host-mapped routes.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To get a Zendesk-provisioned SSL certificate</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_f42_3qk_j4b__ol_zfg_kqk_j4b">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_f42_3qk_j4b__d9e373" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_account_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Account</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Security &gt; More settings</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">SSL</strong> tab at the top of the Security page.</li>
<li class="li">In <strong class="ph b">Hosted SSL</strong>, click <strong class="ph b">Enable Zendesk-provisioned SSL</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
<p class="p">It can take up to an hour to complete the request. If you have any issues,
contact <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408843597850" target="_blank">Zendesk Customer Support</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested2" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title8">Providing your own SSL certificate</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">If you prefer not to use a Zendesk-provisioned SSL, you can get and upload your
own SNI-based SSL certificate as described in this section. If you use your own
certificate, Zendesk will not automatically renew it when it expires.</p>
<div class="section" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__section_ohy_mqk_j4b">
<h4 class="title sectiontitle">Getting your own SSL certificate</h4>
<p class="p">If you already have an SNI-based certificate for your host-mapped address,
skip to <a class="xref" href="#topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__section_thy_mqk_j4b">Uploading the certificate</a> below.</p>
<p class="p">You can purchase an SSL certificate from a <a class="xref" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_authority" target="_blank">certificate authority</a> such as DigiCert or
Symantec, or from resellers such as Namecheap. You need to give the
certificate authority a certificate signing request file (CSR) to create the
certificate. You can generate the CSR, as described below.</p>
<div class="p">Make sure any SSL certificates you purchase support <a class="xref" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication" target="_blank">Server Name Indication</a> (SNI)
technology.<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> IP-based SSL certificates are not supported.</div>
</div>
<p class="p">If you have multiple host-mapped brands, you only need one certificate for
all of them -- you don't need an SSL certificate for each brand. However, if
you add a host-mapped brand, you must replace your existing certificate with
a new one. Generate the new certificate as described in the procedure below.
For more information on host-mapped brands, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829476378#topic_5qk_xkz_lr" target="_blank">Generating an SSL certificate for
host-mapped brands</a>.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To get your own SSL certificate</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__ol_phy_mqk_j4b">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__d9e373" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_account_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Account</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Security &gt; More settings</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">SSL</strong> tab at the top of the Security page.</li>
<li class="li">In the <strong class="ph b">Hosted SSL</strong> section of the page, click <strong class="ph b">I do not have a
certificate</strong>, and then <strong class="ph b">Generate a request</strong>. A certificate
signing request file (CSR) is created and downloaded to your computer.
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__image_rhy_mqk_j4b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/hostmap_generate_csr.png"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Provide the CSR file to the certificate authority. <p class="p">The certificate
authority generates an SSL certificate and gives it to you so that
it can be installed on our servers.</p>
<p class="p">Certificate authorities
charge a fee for each request, so keep the following tips in
mind:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__ul_shy_mqk_j4b">
<li class="li">Before you buy, make sure your certificate authority supports
<a class="xref" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2" target="_blank">SHA-2</a> encryption and
that the CSR file generated uses SHA-2 encryption.</li>
<li class="li">Make sure the certificate supports <a class="xref" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication" target="_blank">Server Name Indication</a>
(SNI) technology.</li>
<li class="li">If prompted, specify "Nginx," "Apache," or "Apache + mod_ssl" as
the desired web server.</li>
<li class="li">After the certificate authority generates the certificate file,
save it so you don't have to make another request.</li>
</ul>
<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> We strongly discourage using <a class="xref" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcard_certificate" target="_blank">wildcard certificates</a>. If
your certificate is compromised anywhere on any of the services you
use, the information on all your services is at risk. It means you
will also have to replace the certificate everywhere it's
used.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<p class="p">Once you have an SSL certificate, the next step is to upload it as described
below.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__section_thy_mqk_j4b">
<h4 class="title sectiontitle">Uploading the certificate</h4>
<p class="p">After purchasing the SSL certificate, the certificate authority will send you
an email or direct you to a page where you can download the certificate. The
instructions are often unclear about what files you really need or if you
should prepare them before uploading them. For guidance, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832106522" target="_blank">Preparing your SSL certificate for upload
to Zendesk</a>.</p>
<p class="p">After obtaining or preparing the SSL certificate as a PEM file as described
above, upload it to our servers as follows.</p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__ol_uhy_mqk_j4b">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__d9e373" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_account_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Account</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Security &gt; More settings</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">SSL</strong> tab at the top of the Security page.</li>
<li class="li">In the <strong class="ph b">Hosted SSL</strong> section of the page, click <strong class="ph b">I have a
certificate</strong>, then <strong class="ph b">Upload certificate</strong>. <p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__image_why_mqk_j4b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/hostmap_upload_cert.png"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Navigate to the PEM file and select it.</li>
<li class="li">If you have a private key associated with the certificate, click
<strong class="ph b">Upload private key</strong> and enter your passphrase, if any. <p class="p">You
don't need a key if you generated the CSR file from the Hosted SSL
section of the page by clicking <strong class="ph b">I do not have a certificate</strong> &gt;
<strong class="ph b">Generate a request</strong>, as described in <a class="xref" href="#topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__section_ohy_mqk_j4b">Getting your own SSL certificate</a>.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
<p class="p">The certificate will be installed on our servers.</p>
<div class="note" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__note_r2m_5cw_r5b">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> If you’ve uploaded your certificate but notice it
has stalled in the pending stage (it has been pending for more than an
hour), <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408843597850" target="_blank">contact Zendesk Customer Support</a>
so we can help you resolve the issue. When submitting the ticket to Zendesk,
don't include any attachments other than the PEM file.</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__section_uqs_5qk_j4b">
<h4 class="title sectiontitle">Updating the CNAME record</h4>
<p class="p">For either SSL option – you provide your own SSL certificate, or you use a
Zendesk-provisioned SSL – Zendesk requires that the DNS record be a CNAME
record that points to <strong class="ph b">yoursubdomain.zendesk.com</strong>. DNS "A" records are
not supported (see <a class="xref" href="#topic_kbc_npk_j4b">Making the
subdomain an alias of your default Zendesk address</a> above).</p>
<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> You must configure the DNS using the steps listed in this article. If
there is an error in the DNS, we will remove the invalid host
mapping.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title9" class="topic nested1" id="topic_phk_xqk_j4b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title9">Reviewing the SSL status of a certificate</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can review the SSL status (CNAME check) of your host-mapped, SSL-enabled brands
in the Zendesk Support interface.</p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_phk_xqk_j4b__ol_hcx_yqk_j4b">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_phk_xqk_j4b__d9e373" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_account_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Account</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Security &gt; More settings</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">SSL</strong> tab at the top of the Security page. <p class="p">The SSL page
displays information about your certificates: </p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_phk_xqk_j4b__image_jcx_yqk_j4b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/hostmap_cert_info.png"></p>
<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> This view
of the SSL page is only displayed if you have a host-mapped, SSL-enabled
domain.</div>
</li>
<li class="li">Refresh the page to run the SSL status check again.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title10" class="topic nested1" id="topic_tmg_zqk_j4b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title10">Replacing a certificate</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can replace a certificate installed on Zendesk Support.</p>
<p class="p">Zendesk will notify you when the certificate you provided is about to expire. If it
expires before you can replace it, Zendesk will automatically replace it with a
free, SNI-based SSL certificate from <a class="xref" href="https://letsencrypt.org/" target="_blank">Let's Encrypt</a>, a third-party certificate
service (see <a class="xref" href="#topic_f42_3qk_j4b">Getting a
Zendesk-provisioned SSL certificate</a>). You can keep the certificate or
replace it with your own.</p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_tmg_zqk_j4b__ol_jj5_1rk_j4b">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_tmg_zqk_j4b__d9e373" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_account_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Account</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Security &gt; More settings</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click
the <strong class="ph b">SSL</strong> tab at the top of the Security page.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">I already have a certificate</strong> and follow the steps in <a class="xref" href="#topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__section_thy_mqk_j4b">Uploading the
certificate</a> above. <p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_tmg_zqk_j4b__image_lj5_1rk_j4b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/hostmap_replace_cert.png">
</p>
<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> This view of the SSL page only displays if you have a host-mapped,
SSL-enabled domain.</div>
</li>
<li class="li">If you don't have a replacement certificate yet, click <strong class="ph b">I do not have a
certificate</strong> and follow the steps in <a class="xref" href="#topic_wtp_kqk_j4b__section_ohy_mqk_j4b">Getting a SSL
certificate</a>, above.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title11" class="topic nested1" id="topic_mjb_2sk_j4b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title11">Extending HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to one year</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) is enabled by default for host-mapped,
SSL-enabled domains in Zendesk Support. HSTS instructs the user's browser to access
your host-mapped domain only over SSL.</p>
<p class="p">When a user types "http://shop.example.com" or just "shop.example.com" to access an
SSL-enabled site that doesn't have HSTS, the user's browser briefly accesses the
non-encrypted version of the site before being redirected to the encrypted HTTPS
version. The redirect makes the user vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack, where
a hacker could exploit the redirect to redirect the user to a malicious site.</p>
<p class="p">When HSTS is enabled, the site instructs the user's browser never to load the site
using HTTP. The browser automatically converts all such attempts to HTTPS requests,
skipping the redirect that hackers can exploit for man-in-the-middle attacks. As
long as the user accessed the site once using HTTPS, the user's browser will know to
only use HTTPS when accessing it.</p>
<p class="p">The browser remembers the site only for a specified period. By default, for Zendesk
SSL-enabled domains, the period is one day. You can increase the period to one
year.</p>
<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> This feature is only available if you have a host-mapped, SSL-enabled
domain.</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To extend the period that the browser remembers your site to one year</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_mjb_2sk_j4b__ol_prg_hsk_j4b">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_mjb_2sk_j4b__d9e373" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_account_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Account</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Security &gt; More settings</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">SSL</strong> tab at the top of the Security page.</li>
<li class="li">Choose <strong class="ph b">HSTS</strong> to instruct browsers to remember the site for up to one
year.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
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