ProphpBB Support Forum

By popular demand, we now support pointing your own domain name to your ProphpBB powered forum. If you prefer using http://www.yourforum.com rather than http://yourforum.prophpbb.com/ - we can do it. All it takes is 3 easy steps.

Step 1. Have a domain name, of course. I recommend Godaddy but you can use any registrar you want.
Step 2. Point your domain's A RECORD to our host server, the IP address is 207.58.184.51
Step 3. Let me know what your domain name and forum url is, so that we can take care of the rest.

That's it, easy enough right? Well, some of you might not know how to change your domain's A RECORD, so I'll try to explain. With Godaddy, you'll need to be using their nameservers (which is default when you register a domain with them). In your domain management area (Go to Domains => My Domains) click on your domain name and you'll have a bunch of options. You'll find a link for Total DNS Control and MX Records, which you'll need to click. At the top of the next page, you'll see that your A (Host) record is set to @ and pointed to an IP address. Click the edit button and change ONLY the IP address to 207.58.184.51 - after that it'll take a while to propagate - sometimes up to a day but often less than an hour. Then, proceed to step 3.

If you're not using Godaddy, sorry I can't write tutorials for every domain name registrant out there - on top of that not all registrants offer the ability to change your A RECORDS with them. In either of those cases, I'd suggest using a free DNS service. For the purpose of this how-to, we'll suggest Every DNS. They'll ask you to go to your domain registrant and set your nameservers to their own - ns1.everydns.net, ns2... etc. Then, go back to your Every DNS account and add yourwebsite.com (without the www) and click the "basic" button to add a new domain name. You'll then have an option to manage that domain by clicking on it at the top left of the screen. Type in the fully qualified domain name: http://www.yourwebsite.com/ and for record value type in our IP: 207.58.184.51 and click "add record." Then, proceed to step 3.

If anyone has a better tutorial for adding A RECORDS or wants to add a tutorial for other registrars / DNS services, feel free to add it here. If you find an error in anything I wrote, let me know. Especially with Every DNS as I've never actually used their service (only went through their menu to write this how-to).

PS - you should be able to do this for the top level and subdomains (http://www.domain.com and forum.domain.com), but not subdirectories (http://www.domain.com/forum).

alright so when using go daddy do you have to buy a domain?

how do i register my forum with them?

You don't register your forum with any domain registrar, you register your domain. Then, you edit your domain's A Record to point to our IP. That's it. There's an entire paragraph about how to do it with GoDaddy in the first post.

alright, i think im missing something here...

alright so how do i register a domain with them? (if thats what your saying)

They use a simple checkout system, so use their search to find an available domain name then use their checkout cart to pay for it. I'd suggest registering for at least 2 years or more, as search engines seem to apply a slight penalty for new domains only registered for 1 year.

Alright so after i go to that link i type my forum in the search box?

Alright using a free DNS server is less complicated, but i think i got it figured out now

Alright so when it asks account type which one should i use?

Type: A
AAAA
CNAME
NS
MX
TXT
LOC
HINFO
RP
SRV

im using http://www.Freedns.afraid.org

Set type A to 207.58.185.120

GOT IT!

Now what?

I need to know the domain name you want to use.