Need Cloudflare protection for my Siteground staging site

[effectivechinese]

Problem description: I am adding staging site named www.staging1.effectivechinese.net, but I am unable to access it until it is protected by Cloudflare. My hosting provider, Siteground, told me I need to contact you guys directly.

Timestamp (UTC): Epoch timestamp: 1609435968
Timestamp in milliseconds: 1609435968000
Date and time (GMT): Thursday, December 31, 2020 5:32:48 PM
Date and time (your time zone): Thursday, December 31, 2020 9:32:48 AM GMT-08:00

ZoneName/ZoneID: Pacific Standard Time, Portland OR (GMT-8)

Problem frequency: Always (it is a persistent state)

Steps to reproduce problem: Just type --> www.staging1.effectivechinese.net

Actual results: “This site can’t be reached”

Expected results: Access to the staging website

[domjh]

Hi @effectivechinese,

You don’t seem to have any DNS records at Cloudflare for staging1 or www.staging1, so neither subdomain resolves.

You should also be aware that www.staging1 won’t work with Cloudflare’s universal certificate --> Subdomain too deep

[effectivechinese]

Hi domjh, thanks for helping me with this issue. I really appreciate it. To be honest I am not too familiar with the meaning of the “www.” prefix. The official names that siteground uses for these two sites are not prefixed with “www”. I apologize for not being aware of this difference. Given this information, can you (or anyone else) tell me how to add “staging1.effectivechinese.net” to Cloudflare? Thanks

[domjh]

No problem, that’s fine. You just need to go to the DNS section of your dashboard and add an A record pointing to the IP address of your server. If the staging site is on the same server as your main domain, it should probably be the same IP.

Adding DNS Records

This tutorial covers adding general DNS records and specifically A, AAAA, CNAME, MX and TXT records. Go to the DNS app of your Cloudflare dashboard. Enter your credentials and click ‘Log In’ Click the domain in question Click [image] [Please note, the content of the records below are solely for example purposes and should be replaced by valid records with content provided by your web host] Please select which record you need help adding:

A Record

<a class="lightbox" href=&quot…

[effectivechinese]

Hi domjh, I am getting a message “Please ensure you are providing the root domain and not any subdomains (e.g., example.com, not subdomain.example.com)”. Can you tell me if I am violating this rule?

[domjh]

You don’t want to add it as a site, but as a DNS record on your existing site effectivechinese.net. Click on that domain and go to the DNS section, then follow the instructions for adding an A record.

[effectivechinese]

Thanks for helping me with this. I see one line with and “A” in the first column “effectivechinese.net” in the middle column. Should I click the “Edit” button for that row?

[domjh]

No, not unless you want to stop your main website from working! You need to add a new A record for the staging1 subdomain.

[effectivechinese]

(Sorry for taking so long) Do I want to enter something in the “Add a record” line at the top of the form?

[domjh]

Yes, click on A record in this tutorial and follow the steps there. Enter staging1 for the name, your server IP for the content and then add it.

Adding DNS Records

This tutorial covers adding general DNS records and specifically A, AAAA, CNAME, MX and TXT records. Go to the DNS app of your Cloudflare dashboard. Enter your credentials and click ‘Log In’ Click the domain in question Click [image] [Please note, the content of the records below are solely for example purposes and should be replaced by valid records with content provided by your web host] Please select which record you need help adding:

A Record

<a class="lightbox" href=&quot…

[effectivechinese]

I feel lost. I can see the animated model demonstrating how to complete the steps for “A”. However, I can’t find the form where these steps are actually used. Can you give me some more hints? Thanks

[domjh]

This is on the DNS screen above where you saw this. Once you click .

@effectivechinese

I see one line with and “A” in the first column “effectivechinese.net” in the middle column.

[effectivechinese]

I am trying to send you an image …

Is this where I configure it?

[sdayman]

You already have a DNS entry for effectivechineseDOTnet. And ‘www’.

‘www’ is essentially a subdomain, much like ‘staging1’ will be. It sounds like it’s the same server, so all you need to do is:

[effectivechinese]

Hi sdayman, I appreciate you help. However (I know this is lame), but now I can’t find the DNS table to make these changes. Can you help me find it? Thanks!

[effectivechinese]

Okay, I found the DNS table. And I have replaced “effectivechinese.net” with “staging1”. Can you verify that my next move is to click [Save] button?

[effectivechinese]

I followed the advice above and my site has completely disappeared. Can anyone help me put this back together again? (effectivechinese.net)

[sdayman]

Dom’s advice was to use the +Add Record button. Not to replace the main site’s record.

You need “A” records for both: “effectivechinese.net” and “staging1”.

[effectivechinese]

sdayman, thanks for the help. But now my site has disappeared. Can you suggest a method for fixing the current problem?

[effectivechinese]

additional information: I restored the name back to the original (effectivechinese.net) and it is still not working.