Quick guide to hosting Foleon Docs

Every Foleon Doc needs to live on its own URL. You have various options for hosting your content, including using a (free) Foleon domain, your own custom domain, or a custom sub-domain. In this article, we'll discuss these options and how they shape the URL of your live Foleon Doc.

In this article

• Hosting decisions to make
• Where to manage your domain setup
• What will your URL look like?
• Use your own custom domain

Hosting decisions to make

To help you quickly understand which hosting decisions you need to make, we've created this handy infographic to get you started. 

1. Decide on a domain:

• Use a (free) Foleon domain
  If you want to host your content on a free domain, you can select the Use a (free) Foleon domain option. For this option, "foleon" will always be included in the URL
  For example: account-alias.foleon.com
  If you choose this option, your domain is automatically secured for free, and you do not need to take any other steps.
• Custom (sub)domain
  Host your content on a domain you own. Either host on your main website’s domain using a reverse proxy (e.g. mydomain.com/content/, recommended for improved SEO), or by creating a subdomain (e.g. content.mydomain.com)

2. Custom domain setup with your hosting provider

Once you’ve chosen your domain name, you’re ready to configure your domain in the DNS settings of your hosting provider. 

• Sub-domain setup
  Go to your domain provider's DNS settings and point a CNAME record to our servers at s1.foleon.com (for content hosted in the EU) or s1.us.foleon.com (for content hosted in the US). After that, set up your domain in Admin Console > Domains.
  
• With a reverse proxy
  Link your domain to an intermediate (such as Cloudflare) and create a path prefix rule. Make sure the intermediate points to our servers at s1.foleon.com (for content hosted in the EU) or s1.us.foleon.com (for content hosted in the US) if the URL contains your chosen path prefix (e.g. “/content/”, “/docs/”, “/resources/”). After that, set up your domain in Admin Console > Domains, and apply the path prefix as a “base path” for your projects. With this setup, you must manually add an SSL/TLS certificate to secure your content.

3. SSL/TLS certificate
If you're hosting your content on a custom domain, secure it with an SSL/TLS certificate to ensure it's safe for your audience. You have two options:

• Let Foleon generate an SSL/TLS certificate for you (recommended)
  The default option is to let Foleon secure your custom domain with the help of Let’sEncrypt. There’s nothing you need to do to renew your certificate, and there is no impact on your live Foleon Docs site upon renewal.
• Manually configure SSL/TLS for a custom domain
  If your hosting setup requires a custom SSL/TLS certificate, for example, when using the Reverse Proxy option, you must manually install it and are responsible for its renewal.

Where to manage your domain setup

In the dashboard, go to the project for which you want to set up the hosting. In project settings, scroll down to your domain setup. You will see the two options discussed in this article: using a (free) Foleon default domain or your own custom domain.

If you have not yet set up a custom domain you can do so by going to the Admin Console > Domains > + Create new domain.

What will your URL look like?

By default, your Foleon Doc will be accessible via a URL that looks like the one below. If you set up a custom domain, this original URL will continue to function and will automatically redirect visitors to your custom domain.

https://account-alias.foleon.com/project-alias/foleon-doc-alias/page-alias

To better understand this URL and how it's made up, we go over the different components below:

• https:// — The default hostname is always secured with SSL/TLS.

• account-alias — The account alias is a hyphenated version of the company name you enter when creating an account. If you want to change your account alias, please contact support@foleon.com. Keep in mind that changing this will affect all of your Foleon Docs in your account.

• foleon.com — Foleon Docs live on our domain by default. Depending on your plan, you can also choose to publish on a custom domain instead.

• project-alias — The project alias is a hyphenated version of the name of the project a Foleon Doc lives in. You change it through a project's settings, but keep in mind that changing this will affect all Foleon Docs within that project.

• foleon-doc-alias — The Foleon Doc alias is a hyphenated version of a Foleon Doc name. You can change it through a Foleon Doc's settings. It needs to be unique within a project.

• page-alias — The page alias is a hyphenated version of a page name. You can change it through a page’s settings.

• account-alias — If the account alias is incorrect, visitors will be prompted with a Foleon 404 page.

• foleon.com — If the domain is incorrect, visitors will be prompted with a browser error page.

• project-alias — If the project alias is incorrect or missing, visitors will be prompted with a Foleon 404 page.

• foleon-doc-alias — If the Foleon Doc alias is incorrect or missing, visitors will be directed to the most recent published Foleon Doc within the project. Alternatively, they will be directed to the primary Foleon Doc.

• page-alias — If the page alias is incorrect or missing visitors will be redirected to the first page of the Foleon Doc.

Use your own custom domain

Alternatively, you can choose to publish on a custom domain instead.

Depending on whether you choose a sub-domain or a reverse proxy approach, your URL may appear differently.

URLs using a subdomain will look something like this:

http(s)://your-subdomain.your-domain.your-top-level-domain/foleon-doc-alias/page-alias

While domains using a reverse proxy will look like this:

http(s)://your-domain.your-top-level-domain/your-path-prefix/foleon-doc-alias/page-alias

To better understand this URL and how it's made up, we go over the different components below:

• http(s):// — Depending on the protocol of your domain Foleon Docs will either live on HTTP or HTTPS. To secure your domain, making it "HTTPS", you can install a SSL/TLS certificate in the project settings. Read more about securing your domain in our article How we generate an SSL/TLS certificate for you.

• your-subdomain.your-domain — You can either publish on a subdomain or root domain. Read more about using a custom domain in our article Hosting on a custom domain.

• your-top-level-domain — You can publish on any top-level domain (e.g. .com/.nl/.de).

• base path (optional) — You can decide the add a base path to structure your URL. If you want to use one domain for multiple projects, this is required for a successful setup. Learn more in our article Hosting on a custom domain. 

• foleon-doc-alias — The Foleon Doc alias is a hyphenated version of a Foleon Doc name. You can change it in the Foleon Doc settings.

• page-alias — The page alias is a hyphenated version of a page name. You can change it in the page settings.

• your-path-prefix — Similar to the subdomain, the path prefix is an additional layer you use to organize and structure your URLs.

Let’s talk about what happens when, for whatever reason, any part of this URL is incorrect or missing:

• http(s):// — What happens when a visitor navigates to HTTP/HTTPS is based on your domain’s protocol. To secure your domain, making it "HTTPS", you can install a SSL/TLS certificate in the project settings. Read more about securing your domain in our article How we generate an SSL/TLS certificate for you.

• your-subdomain.your-domain.your-top-level-domain — If any of these are incorrect or missing, visitors will be prompted with a browser error page.

• foleon doc-alias — If the Foleon Doc alias is incorrect or missing, visitors will be directed to the most recent published Foleon Doc within the project. Alternatively, they will be directed to the primary Foleon Doc.

• page-alias — If the page alias is incorrect or missing, visitors will be redirected to the first page of the Foleon Doc.