Managing domain forwarding : Hover Customer Support

The Hover forwarding tool will allow unlimited custom redirections to any web address, using domain forwards, subdomain forwards, or domain shortcuts.

The domain will need to use Hover nameservers and also point to Hover's IP address for our forwarding tool to function.

The Hover forwarding services utilize a 302 redirect. No masking of the URL is available.

Note: DNS changes can take up to 24 hours to propagate fully. If DNS changes were made, please allow up to 24 hours.

Domain forwarding
Forwarding with CNAME
HTTPS forwarding

Domain forwarding

Domain forwarding, also known as URL redirects, allows you to redirect your website visitors to another website or domain. Redirects forward to the HTTP domain version and will not function for HTTPS.

Setting up domain forwarding

Sign in to your Hover control panel using your chosen method of 2FA.
Note: The control panel will take you to a list of your domains if you have multiple. Click the domain name from the list to be taken to its overview page.
On the domain's overview page, ensure it uses Hover nameservers, ns1.hover.com and ns2.hover.com.
Note: Changing nameservers may disrupt any third-party website or email hosting services connected to the domain.

Select the DNS tab and ensure the domain uses the following DNS records.

Type: A
Hostname: @
IP address: 216.40.34.41 
TTL: 15 minutes

Type: A
Hostname: *
IP address: 216.40.34.41 
TTL: 15 minutes

Select the Forwards tab, followed by Forward this domain.
Use the drop-down menu to select a forward type.

Domain forward yourhoverdomain.com

Subdomain forward subdomain.yourhoverdomain.com

Domain shortcut yourhoverdomain.com/shortcut
Enter the web address to which you would like the domain forwarded, followed by Save forward.
The forward is now set up. A domain forward can take upward of 30 minutes to become active.

Setting up subdomain forwarding

The Hover control panel allows you to redirect visitors from one subdomain to another domain. You may wish to forward your subdomain if your subdomain's web pages were moved to another directory or location or if you need to forward your visitors to a specific location on your site.

Sign in to your Hover control panel using your chosen method of 2FA.
Note: If you have multiple domains, the control panel will take you to a list of them. Click a domain name from the list to be taken to its overview page.
On the domain's overview page, ensure it uses Hover nameservers, ns1.hover.com and ns2.hover.com.
Note: Changing nameservers may disrupt any third-party website or email hosting services connected to the domain.
Select the Forwards tab, followed by Forward this domain.
Use the drop-down menu to select the Subdomain forward type.
Enter the web address you would like the subdomain forwarded to, followed by Save forward.
Select the DNS tab.
Create an A record for the subdomain forward you just set up by clicking Add a record. Use the subdomain prefix as the hostname and Hover's IP.
```
Type: A
Hostname: info (this is the subdomain prefix)
IP address: 216.40.34.41 (Hover's IP)
TTL: 15 minutes
```
The forward is now set up. A domain forward can take upward of 30 minutes to become active.

Setting up domain shortcuts

Sign in to your Hover control panel using your chosen method of 2FA.
Note: The control panel will take you to a list of your domains if you have multiple. Click the domain name from the list to be taken to its overview page.
On the domain's overview page, ensure it uses Hover nameservers, ns1.hover.com and ns2.hover.com.
Note: Changing nameservers may disrupt any third-party website or email hosting services connected to the domain.

Select the DNS tab and ensure the domain uses the following DNS records.

Type: A
Hostname: @
IP address: 216.40.34.41 
TTL: 15 minutes

Type: A
Hostname: *
IP address: 216.40.34.41 
TTL: 15 minutes

Select the Forwards tab, followed by Forward this domain.
Use the drop-down menu to select the Shortcut forward type.
Enter the web address you would like the shortcut forwarded to, followed by Save forward.
The forward is now set up. A domain forward can take upward of 30 minutes to become active.

Forwarding with CNAME

Though not a redirect type, a CNAME DNS record can be used to achieve a similar outcome. If the IP address of the destination hostname changes, you won't need to change your DNS records because the CNAME will have the same IP.

Note: It is not recommended to set up a CNAME record for a naked domain, such as @ or domain.com, as your other records, like MX or TXT, will be invisible and stop working.

It is possible to create a CNAME record for www.domain.com and then set up a redirect from domain.com to www.domain.com as a workaround.

A CNAME record can be set up by using Hover's DNS management console.

HTTPS forwarding

Although our forwarding tool can forward to any web address, it will not function for the HTTPS version, https://yourdomain.com.

Hover's forwarding tool will allow forwarding on the following variations of a domain:

http://yourdomain.com
http://www.yourdomain.com
yourdomain.com
www.yourdomain.com

HTTPS URLs are not included with domain names. An HTTPS URL for your website can be achieved by installing an SSL certificate through the domain's web hosting provider.

Note: Hover does not offer web hosting. The host is the provider of your website.

If you require HTTPS on your domain name, you can not achieve this using forwarding. First, connect the website to Hover using DNS and configure SSL with your web host.

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