Configuring a custom domain and SSL certificate for your Help Center

Giving your customers a seamless experience is important – and to make that easier, you can configure Kayako to work with a custom domain. So instead of pointing your customers to a default Kayako URL, like brewfictus.kayako.com, you can host your Help Center at your own subdomain, like support.brewfictus.com.

To start using a custom domain, you'll need to do a little bit of setup with your hosting provider, and then add the details for the domain to Kayako. Since SSL is required to run Kayako securely, you'll also need an SSL certificate for your domain.

In this article, we'll take you through the steps involved in adding a custom domain and SSL certificate to your Kayako.

NOTE: If you're running multiple brands from your Kayako, you can set up custom domains for as many of those brands as you like.

Adding or updating a custom domain and SSL certificate

To add a custom domain for your Help Center, you'll need to have administrative access to the domain you want to use, as well as an SSL certificate associated with that domain. Note that if you're updating or replacing an SSL certificate, we recommend doing this at least 24 hours before your current one expires to ensure a smooth changeover.

NOTE: To add a custom domain in Kayako, you will need an administrator accountwith the 'Manage brands' permission.

To add a custom domain:

1. First, you'll need to sign in to your domain host and navigate to the DNS records for your site.
2. Here, you should be able to create or select the subdomain you want to use for your Kayako Help Center.
3. You'll also want to set the TTL (Time To Live) for your domain as low as it will go. This will help your changes propagate more quickly.
4. Next, you’ll need to create a new CName record to point your custom subdomain to your Kayako support domain. The steps for this process will vary, depending on your host, but the new CName record should look something like this:

   Record Name: support.[yourcompany].com
   CName Host: [yourcompany].kayako.com

5. Once you’ve created the new record, it can take 24-48 hours for the DNS changes to propagate. If you’ve set the TTL as low as you can that will help speed things up.
6. Before signing out of your domain host, find your SSL certificate, and make a local copy of the certificate as well as the private key.
7. Once your DNS changes have had a chance to propagate, you can then tell Kayako you're ready to make the switch.
8. Sign in to Kayako and go to the admin area.
9. Click Brands in the sidebar.
10. Hover over the brand you want to add a custom domain for and click the Edit link that appears.
11. Scroll down to the Custom Domain field and add the subdomain that you've set up to point to Kayako.
12. Click the Check DNS configuration button to make sure your changes have finished propagating.
13. Next, in the 'Custom SSL' section, click the Set certificate button.
14. Paste in your SSL certificate followed by your private key.
15. When you're done, click the Save button to start displaying your Help Center at your custom domain.