Point BlueHost DNS to Flywheel

Flywheel provides each site with an IP address to which domains can be pointed. This is useful if you own, for example, thisfinedomain.com, and would like it to resolve to a Flywheel site.

If you’re brand new to the world of domain names, some of the terminologies may seem a little confusing. If you ever feel stuck, feel free to reference our Glossary of DNS terms.

Step 1: Add the domain to your Flywheel site

1. From the site’s Overview tab, click the (+) icon in the Domains list to add the domain you’d like to point to Flywheel.
   
2. Fill out the domain information:
   
   • Enter the URL in the Domain field
   • Check the box to set the domain to Primary (if this will be your site’s main URL)
   • By default, the www version of the domain will be added (uncheck the box to skip this step)
   • Select Yes for “Have you purchased this domain?”
   • Click Next

   Note

   In the background, our system will automatically update all appropriate URL references in the database to this new primary domain.
3. Click the site’s IP address to copy it to your clipboard for use in Bluehost’s DNS editor (instructions below). Clicking Back to site will take you back to the site’s Overview tab.
   

Step 2: Log in to Bluehost

1. In a separate tab, log in to the Bluehost administration panel.
2. Make sure you’re on the My Domains page.
3. Find the domain you’re pointing to Flywheel, then click the triangle next to Manage and select DNS.
   

Step 3: Remove the current A Record

There’s a good chance you’ll see several records on the DNS page, especially if your domain was pointed to a different host previously. For now, we’re just going to be concerned with the A Record, since it’s the record responsible for pointing your domain to your website.

Be careful about modifying or deleting any other records – especially MX records, which are responsible for email. Also, it never hurts to take a screenshot before you start making changes.

1. Locate the A (Host) section.
2. Click the 3 dot icon and choose Remove. If there isn’t already an A record, go ahead to the next step.

 Step 4: Add a new A Record

1. In the A (Host) section, click Add Record.
2. Set Host Record to @
    
   Note: The @ symbol serves as a placeholder for the root level domain. In this case, it stands for thisfinedomain.com.
3. Enter the site’s IP address (the one you copied to your clipboard earlier) under Points To. In this example, the IP is 151.101.66.159.
4. Usually, there’s no need to adjust TTL, which stands for Time To Live, so you can leave that as is. For more information on TTL, check out this help doc.
5. Click Save to apply the changes.

Unless you have a subdomain setup, for example shop.thisfinedomain.com, you should only need one A Record value. At the very least, make sure that you have one A record with @ set as the host which is pointing to your Flywheel IP address.

For more information, visit Bluehost’s help article on adding/updating A Records.

Step 5: Configure CNAME record for www

If you added the www version of your domain earlier, you’ll want to set up a CNAME record as well. A CNAME (aka canonical name) points a subdomain to another domain name.

For example, with a CNAME in place, visitors entering www.thisfinedomain.com in their browser will be re-routed to thisfinedomain.com. Without a CNAME record, visitors will instead reach an error page.

1. In the CNAME (Alias) section, click Add Record.
2. Set Host Record to www. You do not need to enter the full URL (for example, do not enter www.thisfinedomain.com)
   
3. Enter your root level domain under Points To. In this example, the root level domain is thisfinedomain.com.
4. Click Save to apply the changes.

For more information, visit Bluehost’s help article on adding/updating CNAME Records.

Step 6: Double-check your work

1. Check Bluehost’s DNS page to make sure the record changes have been updated.Your records should look like this (with your domain’s information instead of the example domain here):
   
2. After propagation, you can also verify your domain is successfully pointed to Flywheel by clicking the Check DNS button.
   
3. Once your site is pointed to Flywheel, the status will switch to ✅ Pointed and the domain registrar will be displayed as well (in this example, GoDaddy).
   

Need help?

If you have any questions our Happiness Engineers are here to help!