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Your Tenant Details allow you to create a custom URL for your tenant (your learning environment). We’ll walk you through purchasing and configuring a masked URL (outside of Console). Once you have that, we’ll show you how to add your purchased URL into Console to brand your tenant.
You will only be able to view the Tenant Details setting if your role contains the permission manage:custom_urls.
Purchasing and Configuring a Masked URL
In most cases, you will want a masked URL that your learners would use to access the platform. Something like, www.company.com or learn.company.com. Additionally, if your solution requires emails, you’ll need additional configuration to ensure emails are sent from your desired email and not from @benchprep.com.
We strongly recommend reading the FAQs and working with your IT resource to complete this section.
Custom URL FAQs
|
Term |
Definition |
|
What is a domain? |
A domain name is the URL or web address where visitors find your site. Your website’s domain name is an alias for its IP address. For example, the IP address of www.google.com is 172.217.12.78. If you type this IP address into your browser’s address bar, you’ll land on Google. We use domain names to surf the web because they are easier to remember than IP addresses.
Your BenchPrep platform comes with a free domain, “yourslug.benchprep.com” (i.e. dundermifflin.benchprep.com). You can replace this with a custom domain instead, like “www.yourdomain.com”. Custom domains give your site a professional look, strengthen your brand, and make it easy for visitors to find you on the web. |
|
What makes up a domain? |
A domain consists of a subdomain, a domain name, and an extension. In the domain “dundermifflin.benchprep.com”, “dundermifflin” is the subdomain, “benchprep” is the domain name, and “.com” is the extension. The most common subdomain is “www.” You may also see domain names called “second-level domains” or SLDs, and extensions called “top-level domains” or TLDs. Your custom URL must have a subdomain, domain name, and extension. |
|
How does a custom URL work? |
The aforementioned custom domain “www.yourdomain.com” will “mask” the target domain “yourslug.benchprep.com”. Both URLs will bring you to your instance of the BenchPrep platform. The end user experience will remain fully functional.
In order for this to work, you must purchase a custom SSL certificate for your custom domain which will secure traffic on your domain. |
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What is SSL? |
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a technology that secures the connection between your browser and the website you’re visiting. All modern desktop and mobile browsers support SSL. Websites using SSL will have URLs beginning with https://. |
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Why is a SSL certificate necessary? |
BenchPrep’s traffic only goes through https and requires an SSL certificate at all times as a security measure. |
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How do I set up my custom URL? |
In your DNS settings, you’ll need to point several records to your target domain yourslug.benchprep.com. The records include:
See DNS records below for more information. |
|
What is a CNAME record? |
A CNAME record specifies that a domain name is an alias for another domain, i.e. learning.dundermifflin.com is an alias for dundermifflin.benchprep.com. The CNAME record gives your visitors’ devices this information so that they are directed to your platform when they enter your custom domain.
When you connect a third-party domain to BenchPrep, you'll create two CNAME Records in your provider's DNS Settings. The first record establishes your custom URL as an alias for the target domain, yourslug.benchprep.com. The second record establishes a connection between your custom domain and Mailgun, the service BenchPrep uses to send and track emails to end users. |
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What is a TXT record? |
A TXT record is a record that allows you to include human readable information in your DNS settings. BenchPrep uses TXT records for email verification and to prevent domain spoofing.
BenchPrep will work with you to configure 2 TXT records. The first TXT record is a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record, which lists all of the servers that have authorization to send emails from your domain. This record prevents bad actors from “spoofing” your domain to send spam emails that appear to be from your site.
The second TXT record is a Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) record. DKIM records use a combination of a public and private key to verify that emails sent from your site (such as password reset and confirmation emails) are truly from the domain they say they are from. This helps prevent emails from landing in your learners’ Spam folders. |
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Why do we need to set up configuration for emails? |
Setting up email configuration for your iteration of the BenchPrep platform allows us to send emails to your users (when applicable) with your custom URL as the sender of record instead of benchprep.com (In Gmail, when you look at the “mailed-by” and “signed-by” fields in the recipients pop-up of a message, you would see your URL here instead of BenchPrep’s.) It also allows us to track emails sent to your users to confirm that they were sent and received and, if not, to troubleshoot. This is especially helpful for ensuring emails are not blocked by firewalls. |
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What URL am I purchasing an SSL cert for? |
If you select a subdomain (i.e. learning.dundermifflin.com), purchase an SSL cert for that subdomain or purchase a wildcard cert. A wildcard certificate provides you with an SSL certificate for “*.dundermifflin.com” that can be used for any subdomain (i.e. you could use it for learning.dundermifflin.com AND paper.dundermifflin.com simultaneously).
If you select a domain (i.e. www.dundermifflin.com), purchase an SSL cert for this specific domain. |
Setting Up a Custom URL and Email with your DNS Provider
Step #1: Pick your custom domain
-
We recommend picking a subdomain and not a root level domain
- Root level domains will only work if your domain provider supports ALIAS for @ records.
- Examples:
- customdomain.com will not work
- www.customdomain.com is good
- app.customdomain.com is good
Step #2: Purchase your domain from a domain name registrar
- A few common domain name registrars:
- Hover (recommended)
- GoDaddy
Step #3: Purchase SSL certificate
- Some registrars will allow you to purchase a SSL certificate from them. Otherwise, go to one of these sites for purchase:
- Digicert
- GoDaddy
- Do not purchase your SSL certificate from Wix. Wix does not support SSL certificates for any site that they do not host, so their certificate would not be compatible with your BenchPrep platform.
- Your SSL certificate should have a maximum lifespan of 397 days (just under 13 months). Any longer will result in browsers rejecting the certificate as invalid.
- Generate a certificate signing request (CSR) and provide the CSR to your SSL cert vendor.
- This will verify your company.
- If prompted for a server type, choose Apache when generating SSL files
Step #4: Connect your domain to BenchPrep
Refer to the table below to create the proper CNAME records in your DNS control panel. Set up the domain CNAME to point to [yourslug.benchprep.com].
The exact steps to add these records will vary based on your DNS provider. Please consult your provider’s knowledge base if you have any questions.
Here are support articles for common providers:
- Hover: Adding CNAME and TXT records
- GoDaddy: Adding CNAME records, Adding TXT records
- Dyn: Adding CNAME records
DNS Records:
|
Type |
Hostname |
Enter this value |
|
CNAME |
[YOUR CUSTOM URL] |
yourslug.benchprep.com |
|
CNAME |
email.[CUSTOM URL] |
mailgun.org |
Step #5: Email Setup
This step ensures that emails are sent with your custom URL as the sender of record instead of benchprep.com (in Gmail, when you look at the “mailed-by” and “signed-by” fields in the recipients pop-up of a message, you would see your custom URL here instead of BenchPrep’s). It also allows us to track emails sent to your users to confirm that they were sent and received and, if not, to troubleshoot. This is especially helpful for ensuring emails are not blocked by firewalls.
Refer to the table below to add two TXT records for your domain hostname for email. In this step, you will need to collaborate with BenchPrep to provide you with the necessary information.
The exact steps to add these records will vary based on your DNS provider. Here are support articles for common DNS providers:
- Hover: Adding CNAME and TXT records
- GoDaddy: Adding CNAME records, Adding TXT records
|
Type |
Hostname |
Enter this value provided by BenchPrep on your registrar |
|
TXT |
[BenchPrep to provide this key].CUSTOM URL] |
|
|
TXT |
[CUSTOM URL] |
|
NOTE: You will need to reach out to BenchPrep to complete the above table.
Step #6: Confirm your custom URL is rendering as expected
Note: Depending on your provider, these changes may take ~24 hours to go into effect.
Configuring Your Custom URL in BenchPrep
Now that you’ve created a custom URL, we’ll configure it via Console so your BenchPrep instance renders as your custom URL. Before getting started, locate your .key and .crt files.
- Select Settings > Tenant Details
- Select Add Custom URL
- Add your purchased custom URL in the Custom URL field
- Select Next
- Upload your certificate (.crt file) intermediate/root certificates (crt. file) and key (.key file)
- Select Publish Custom URL
The Custom URL will appear on the Custom URL landing page after a short waiting period (~10 minutes or less). It will show the expiration date after it has been added.
Editing/Updating Custom URLs
You can upload an updated certificate before it expires via Console by following steps 5 and 6 above. NOTE: Only the certificate (.crt file) and intermediate/root certificates (crt. file) are needed for the update, as your key (.key file) is not required for renewal. Consult with appropriate IT representatives internally to ensure you have the applicable files needed to upload successfully. If you are experiencing any issues with updating your certificate please contact BenchPrep.
