Platform and Custom Domains

A domain name is the web address or URL used to visit your site. The Domain Name System (DNS) resolves human-readable names like www.example.com into machine-readable IP addresses like 127.0.0.1. All Pantheon sites are accessible via platform domains, and you can easily connect your own custom domain to paid sites.

Platform Domains

Pantheon issues platform domains for all environments. Each environment (Dev, Test, Live, each Multidev) is accessible via the platform domain, matching the following patterns:

• dev-site-name.pantheonsite.io
• test-site-name.pantheonsite.io
• live-site-name.pantheonsite.io
• multidev-env-site-name.pantheonsite.io

All platform domains are available over HTTPS. Redirecting to HTTPS during development and testing is a good best practice to ensure you are ready to go live with HTTPS. See Redirect to HTTPS for more information.

robots.txt

Pantheon serves a default robots.txt that disallows crawlers on platform domains (/*.pantheonsite.io, /*.pantheon.io, /*.gotpantheon.com, and /*.sites.my-agency.com). Crawlers are allowed on the Live environment for requests served with a custom domain (e.g., www.example.com). If you attempt to access your Live environment with a platform domain, even if you have a domain associated with the environment, the default robots.txt will be served.

Pantheon does not allow crawlers on Dev, Test, or Multidev environments. Adding a custom domain to an environment other than Live will not permit crawlers to that environment.

Custom Domains

If you don't already own a domain name, register one with a third-party provider. Pantheon is not a domain registrar, but we've created documentation for several popular DNS managers:

Connect your custom domain on the Site Dashboard, and point DNS at Pantheon to trigger automated HTTPS provisioning.

A paid plan is required to connect custom domains to your site, up to the following limits:

Add a Custom Domain

.gle .prod .docs .cal .soy .how .chrome .ads .mov .youtube .channel .nexus .goog
.boo .dad .drive .hangout .new .eat .app .moto .ing .meme .here .zip .guge .car
.foo .day .dev .play .gmail .fly .gbiz .rsvp .android .map .page .google .dclk
.search .prof .phd .esq .みんな .谷歌 .グーグル

1. Log in as an Admin, Team Member, or Privileged User.

2. From the Site Dashboard, for the environment you want the domain to point to (usually Live), click on the Domains / HTTPS tab.

3. If no domains have been added yet, enter a domain and click Connect Domain:

   

   If one (or more) domains have already been added, click Connect Domain:

   

4. Verify ownership by adding a new DNS TXT value or by uploading a file to a specific URL. Select the method you prefer, and follow the instructions. Note that the values are randomized for security. Click Verify Ownership to confirm, or to skip HTTPS provisioning for now, click Skip without HTTPS:

   

   It might take 30 minutes or more for DNS records to propagate, depending on your DNS host and your domain's TTL values. If you encounter issues after 30 minutes, check some of the following:

   • Ensure that there's no "parking page" or redirect configured in your DNS.
   • The TXT record's Host value doesn't have a trailing ..
   • That the DNS value has propagated.

5. After you add your domain, you'll be automatically taken to the domain's Details page where you will see both the current DNS records detected (the Detected Values), as well as the values to be added at your DNS host (Required Values):

   

   If you instead see:

   Waiting for HTTPS, DNS records will be provided when HTTPS provisioning completes.

   Wait a minute, then refresh the page.

6. Add the values to your DNS management service. For more details, see Introduction to Domain Name Services.

   • Note that if the Platform detects a CNAME record, the Status will show Remove this detected record on the line with the CNAME. Remove the CNAME from the DNS management service to avoid potential issues or interruptions.

Choose Primary Domain

Pantheon uses the term primary domain to refer to a single domain used to serve all traffic from a site. For example, configuring www.example.com as the primary domain means that requests to example.com (or any other custom domain connected to the environment) all get redirected to www.example.com. This assumes that you have added both example.com and www.example.com to the Site Dashboard.

Redirecting all traffic to a primary domain is a best practice for SEO since it avoids duplicate content. It also prevents session strangeness, where a user can be logged in to one domain but logged out of other domains at the same time, and it can make it easier to measure and monitor website traffic.

Choose a primary domain from the dropdown at the bottom of Domains / HTTPS:

Set a Primary Domain via the Dashboard

1. Navigate to the environment you want to set a primary domain for (typically Test or Live), and then select Domains / HTTPS.

2. Ensure that all domains have been added and are listed.

3. Navigate to the Choose Primary Domain section, select the domain to which traffic should be redirected, and then click Save Configuration.

Set a Primary Domain with Terminus

1. Install or upgrade to the latest version of Terminus.

2. Use Terminus to add the primary domain. In this example, replace:

   • my-site with your site name
   • live if you'd like to set it for a different environment
   • www.example.com with your primary domain

   terminus domain:primary:add my-site.live www.example.com

Update or Remove Primary Domain

Update the Primary Domain using either method provided in the previous section.

Remove an existing selection for the Primary Domain on any environment using Terminus:

terminus domain:primary:remove my-site.live

Replace my-site with your site name, and live with the environment you're removing a primary domain from.

Verify

You can confirm that the Primary Domain has been removed with cURL pointed at one of your other custom domains, which would previously have been redirected:

curl -I https://example.com
HTTP/2 301
retry-after: 0
server: Pantheon
location: https://www.example.com/
x-pantheon-redirect: primary-domain-policy-docdate: Wed, 05 Feb 2020 16:43:21 GMT
x-served-by: cache-mdw17355-MDW
x-cache: HIT
x-cache-hits: 0
x-timer: S1580921002.586800,VS0,VE1
age: 0
accept-ranges: bytes
via: 1.1 varnish
content-length: 0

The presence of x-pantheon-redirect: primary-domain-policy-doc indicates that the domain is still being pointed at the former Primary Domain. Contact support if this value persists.

Redirect to HTTPS

It's a best practice for SEO and security to standardize all traffic on HTTPS and choose a primary domain. Configure redirects to the primary domain with HTTPS in pantheon.yml

Redirect with PHP

If your site configuration prevents you from setting the primary domain from the platform level, you can use PHP redirects:

if (isset($_ENV['PANTHEON_ENVIRONMENT']) && php_sapi_name() != 'cli') {
  // Redirect to https://$primary_domain in the Live environment
  if ($_ENV['PANTHEON_ENVIRONMENT'] === 'live') {
    // Replace www.example.com with your registered domain name.
    $primary_domain = 'www.example.com';
  }
  else {
    // Redirect to HTTPS on every Pantheon environment.
    $primary_domain = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
  }

  $requires_redirect = false;
  
  // Ensure the site is being served from the primary domain.
  if ($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] != $primary_domain) {
    $requires_redirect = true;
  }

  // If you're not using HSTS in the pantheon.yml file, uncomment this next block.
  // if (!isset($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT_HTTPS'])
  //     || $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT_HTTPS'] != 'ON') {
  //   $requires_redirect = true;
  // }

  if ($requires_redirect === true) {

    // Name transaction "redirect" in New Relic for improved reporting (optional).
    if (extension_loaded('newrelic')) {
      newrelic_name_transaction("redirect");
    }

    header('HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently');
    header('Location: https://'. $primary_domain . $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
    exit();
  }
}

if (isset($_ENV['PANTHEON_ENVIRONMENT']) && php_sapi_name() != 'cli') {
  // Redirect to https://$primary_domain in the Live environment
  if ($_ENV['PANTHEON_ENVIRONMENT'] === 'live') {
    // Replace www.example.com with your registered domain name.
    $primary_domain = 'www.example.com';
  }
  else {
    // Redirect to HTTPS on every Pantheon environment.
    $primary_domain = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
  }

  $requires_redirect = false;
  
  // Ensure the site is being served from the primary domain.
  if ($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] != $primary_domain) {
    $requires_redirect = true;
  }

  // If you're not using HSTS in the pantheon.yml file, uncomment this next block.
  // if (!isset($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT_HTTPS'])
  //     || $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT_HTTPS'] != 'ON') {
  //   $requires_redirect = true;
  // }

  if ($requires_redirect === true) {

    // Name transaction "redirect" in New Relic for improved reporting (optional).
    if (extension_loaded('newrelic')) {
      newrelic_name_transaction("redirect");
    }

    header('HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently');
    header('Location: https://'. $primary_domain . $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
    exit();
  }
}

For more redirect scenarios, see Configure Redirects.

Vanity Domains for Organizations

Pantheon Partners, Strategic Partners, Enterprise accounts, Resellers, and OEM Partners have the ability to provision a custom vanity domain for each environment on every site running on the platform, in addition to the default platform domain (pantheonsite.io).

For details, see Vanity Domains.

Troubleshooting

Failed cache clears, search and replace, or Drush and WP-CLI operations

All redirect logic should include the php_sapi_name() != "cli" conditional statement to see if WordPress or Drupal is running via the command line. Drush and WP-CLI are used by the platform for operations like cache clearing and search and replace, so it is important to only redirect web requests, otherwise the redirect will kill the PHP process before Drush or WP-CLI is executed, resulting in a silent failure:

[notice] Command: site.env -- 'drush <command>' [Exit: 1]
[error]

Infinite Redirect Loops

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO

Errors referencing too many redirects may be a result of using the $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] variable within redirect logic located in your site's wp-config.php or settings.php file.

Resolve this error by replacing the offending redirect logic with the recommended code samples in the above section and for your specific use case.

Modules and Plugins

Modules and plugins that support managing redirects in the Site Admin interface can produce redirect errors when repeating or conflicting with redirects managed via PHP in your site's configuration file. Some examples include:

WordPress plugins: Redirection, Quick Page/Post Redirect, Safe Redirect Manager, Simple 301 Redirects

Drupal modules: Language (when using URL detection), Securepages, Redirect

When troubleshooting a redirect loop, you may want to deactivate any module or plugin that may be providing its own redirect logic.

Mixed-mode Browser Warnings

Replace http:// in the site's database and configure your CMS to assume users are visiting via HTTPS and the site’s primary domain. Templates for example should reference HTTPS in absolute CSS and Javascript sources, even when accessed with HTTP.

Mixed Case DNS Is Not Supported

If you have your name server configured to use a mixed case domain, visitors might not be able to access your site.

Configure your DNS to accept an entirely lowercase domain to avoid this issue.

Test Domain Names Before DNS

You can modify your local hosts file to validate domain-specific settings before DNS is in place.

Note that modifying the hosts file usually requires administrative privileges from the OS.

The location of the hosts file varies depending on your operating system:

• MacOS / Linux: /etc/hosts
• Windows: C:\\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts

Add lines to your operating system's hosts file in the following format:

203.0.113.10    example.com
203.0.113.20    www.example.com

In the example above, replace the IP addresses with those provided by Pantheon, and the domains with your own.

See Also

• Configure Redirects
• Launch Essentials
• Relaunch Existing Pantheon Site