URLs

Question

Hello, new to Confluence and curious if anyone can answer the following:

1) If we use the hosted version, does it support virtualhosts to allow redirects using CNAME or A records to establish a branded URL (eg. fancy.something.com)?

2) Do either hosted or self-hosted editions support a secondary domain for a specific space only (eg. blog space that has a different url from the main instance: eg. blog.something.com)

We can certainly do redirects, but it would be ideal to set everything up with vhosts (or equivalent) to have one space appear totally on its own.

Thanks in advance,

Kris

Shannon S · Answer

Thanks, Nic!

Kris - Nic is right - if you were to try to point an actual A record or CNAME to your Cloud URL it will not work. Only physical redirects work (such as HTML), depending on how you set them up, and they won't maintain the URL that you've set.

If you want your own domain then you're best hosting on a Server application or with an Atlassian Partner.

Kind Regards,
Shannon

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Answer

I can pick up the first question, I know what it means.  The answer is "no".  You have to use an atlassian.net url.

You could use a domain of your choice and run a simple "redirect", or even a proxy on it over to the <something>.atlassian.net, but Atlaasian applications have a single base url which your users need to use.  They might land on your redirect or proxy initially, but for the applications to work properly, they would need to move over to the atlassian address.

Shannon S · Answer

Hi Kris,

I'm not sure I understand your first question, but by your 2nd question, it seems that you want to point a subdomain to a specific space in Confluence. Is this correct?

Generally, CNAME records can only be pointed to a FQD (fully qualified domain) thus the path that leads to the space wouldn't work properly. And an A record can only be pointed to an IP address. So if your Confluence is hosted on a single domain or IP address, then certainly you can redirect another domain to it.

However, considering you want to point a subdomain to a space, if you're physically doing a redirect (as some DNS hosts will allow) then you can certainly point it to the full path including the space. The problem here would be that if a login is required to access the space, they'll then be directed to the Confluence login page, log in, and then be sent straight to the home page.

Thus, the only way for it to absolutely point to a specific space would be if the space was accessible publically, that is, anonymous users can read the space.

I hope this is clear but do let me know if you have any questions.

Kind Regards,
Shannon