At a loss for configuring Network Solutions and Heroku

Question

I've perused numerous posts on the subject and still do not have anything working. Currently:

I've registered my domain (intertexti.com) with Network Solutions.

NS created A Records that I cannot delete.

When I try to create a C Record with the alias "www", it complains that an A Record already exists.

Somewhere I read something that web forwarding was needed, so I signed up for web forwarding, forwarding the A Records to proxy.heroku.com

I've also added my custom domains in Heroku, both "intertext.com" and "www.intertexti.com"

The app itself can be found at: radiant-basin-3170.herokuapp.com

So, what I am looking for are clear and concise instructions on what I need to do with Network Solutions A and C Records to get this properly working. I think at this point Heroku is set up correctly.

Thanks in advance, I realize this has been asked before, but none of the suggestions I have tried have worked.

Marc

Answer 1

I realize this is an old post and you've probably arrived at a working solution by now. Given the lack of documentation for the NS and Heroku combination, I wanted to record what worked for me.

My goal was to allow users to type the naked root domain or the www third-level name (eg: intertext.com and www.intertext.com) and access the heroku project site (eg. "radiant-basin-3170.herokuapp.com").

Various options seemed plausible. I found a useful page at dnsimple.com that provided some background on "differences-between-a-cname-alias-url".

The specific solution was:

On the Heroku side I followed the instructions at: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/custom-domains

And then read this page at NS even though it was for blogs: http://www.networksolutions.com/support/how-to-forward-your-network-solutions-domain-name-to-a-free-blog-service/

With that background, I did this at NS:

1. Logged in to the NS account via the "Manage Account" button in the upper right of the home page.
2. Selected "My Domain Names" then "Edit Advanced DNS Records" for the domain.
3. Selected "Edit A Records".
4. Set the @(none) record to 205.178.189.129 Checked the delete box for the www and *(All Others) rows. Selected "Continue" at the bottom of the form.
5. Selected "Edit CNAME Records"
6. Created a record with the "alias box" set to www Left the TTL at 7200 and selected the "Other Host" button. In the "Other Host" box entered the heroku project address (e.g. radiant-basin-3170.herokuapp.com.) Note the ending period, it was significant. Selected "Continue".
7. Initially the page did not reflect the edits. I clicked "return to domain details" and re-clicked the "Edit Advanced DNS Records". I had to repeat steps 2-7 a couple of times until the records showed A records: www and * as blank and @ set to 205.178.189.129 and a CNAME for www as the Heroku project address.

Note for step #4: The IP address (205.178.189.129) is the NS "Under construction" page. It's from the NS blog forwarding link.

Answer 2

I managed to get my network solutions dns resolve to my heroku app. Not saying that this is 'the' way but this is what I did.

1. Sign up for a free account at zerigo https://www.zerigo.com/

2. In network solutions click on Edit DNS and remove the two network solutions entries, mine were,

   NS53.WORLDNIC.COM NS54.WORLDNIC.COM

I deleted these and then added the Zerigo servers

A.NS.ZERIGO.NET
B.NS.ZERIGO.NET
C.NS.ZERIGO.NET
D.NS.ZERIGO.NET
E.NS.ZERIGO.NET

Step 3. In Heroku go to the Add-ons https://addons.heroku.com/zerigo_dns

Step 4. Click on the Zerigo Basic and then select your heroku app domain and click on the 'Add Zerigo Basic for Free' *

Step 5. In the Heroku App Settings domains add the network solutions domain, I added two entries mydomain.com www.mydomain.com (substitute mydomain for the name of your domain)

• The same process is described in the heroku dev center articles 'zerigo_dns#configure-dns-servers' - although they mention using the command line to install the addon and also add the domains to heroku. I didn't follow the steps under 'Managing MX and other host records' as the domain i have does not have mail. If step 3 does not work for you then try adding the add on using the command line.