Putting Your Portal on Your Own Domain

You can run on a Pental subdomain, which is live immediately and needs no DNS, or on your own hostname, which is what clients should see. The choice is not permanent: you can move to your own domain later, or switch back. Either way it is set on your pental.io dashboard, under Portal Configuration, in Portal address, and it is the first part of white-labelling the portal.

Pick the hostname

Most firms use something like portal.yourdomain.com. Type it and press Add domain & get DNS record. A subdomain is the simpler case because it takes a CNAME, which points only that name at your portal and leaves your main website alone. A root domain works too, but root domains cannot use a CNAME, so it takes an A record instead. The screen shows exactly which record type, Host and Value to add for the hostname you typed, with copy buttons, so there is nothing to work out.

Sometimes it asks for a second record: a TXT record that proves you own the domain, because the domain is already attached to another account somewhere. Add it alongside the first, not instead of it, exactly as shown.

Add the record

The screen looks up where your domain’s DNS is managed and opens the steps for that provider, with a link into your own DNS dashboard where it can. It has steps for Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Namecheap, IONOS (1&1), 123 Reg, Squarespace / Google Domains, Wix, Vercel, Amazon Route 53, DigitalOcean, Azure DNS, Gandi and Hostinger, and general steps under Other / not sure for anywhere else. Add the record with its Host just as the screen gives it, leave TTL at your provider’s default, then leave the page open: it checks on its own and moves on when the record appears.

On Cloudflare, click the orange cloud so it turns grey (DNS only). Left orange, the record is proxied, verification never completes, and nothing in the error will tell you that is why.

Your portal stays on its current address until the check passes, then switches over with no downtime; Cancel setup stops a domain part way with nothing changed.

When it does not verify

• An old record on the same name. Delete any existing A, AAAA or CNAME on that host first. Many providers happily keep both, and the old one wins.
• The whole hostname typed as the Name. Most providers add your domain to the Name themselves, so portal.yourdomain.com typed there becomes portal.yourdomain.com.yourdomain.com. Type only the part the screen shows (portal). The check spots this one and says so.
• Proxying still on, which is the Cloudflare case above and the single most common cause.
• Propagation. Most providers are quick, but some take longer than their own documentation claims. The check keeps running.

After it goes live

• Load the portal on the new hostname in a private window and confirm the certificate and your branding.
• Send yourself an invitation and check the links in that email point at your hostname.
• Add the new address to your own Google and Microsoft applications, if you use single sign-on under your own name, before people sign in on it.
• Add the hostname to your own asset inventory. It is production infrastructure carrying client data.
• Tell your clients the address once, in writing, so a lookalike domain in a future phishing attempt has something to fail against.

To go back, switch to your Pental subdomain from the same section (the button names it); you can add a custom domain again whenever you like.