Unless initially requested, your intranet URL will be provisioned in the Oak.com domain for your site via a CNAME (e.g. yoursitename.oak.com). This guide will walk you through the two different options and the information required to update the URL of your Oak instance.
This guide covers:
- Option 1: Changing the CNAME to another available CNAME within the oak.com domain
- Option 2: Changing to a custom URL (purchased domain or subdomain)
Requirements and considerations before you start
- If your site is already live, changing your URL may impact how you log in. To ensure a smooth transition, please schedule the change outside of regular business hours to minimise disruption, and contact our support team ahead of time so an expert is available to assist you and repoint your site.
- Ensure there are no custom links on your site where they include the full path of the site (e.g. in custom content). When adding internal links, use the object picker to find the area or content, rather than adding a custom link.
- Prepare for the change by updating documentation or IT infrastructure.
- Ensure employees are aware of the change.
Options
Option 1 - Changing the CNAME to another available CNAME within the oak.com domain
You can change the CNAME (yoursitename.oak.com) to another available CNAME (somesite.oak.com) within the Oak.com domain. When this change is made, some of Oak’s services will be affected, so you should consider the following points:
- Any SAML connection you have configured needs to be amended. The Entity ID as well as either the ACS URL or SSO URL will change to the new primary endpoint for your site, depending on the type of SAML connections you have. So, you’ll need someone who is able to make these changes on your Identity Provider(s) and Service Provider(s) to update these details.
- Email’s sent will contain the new links to the site (Please note older emails will continue to resolve to your intranet as we keep the old URL in place for a set amount of time).
- If you have one or more OIS (Oak Integration Services) installed, they will need to be reinstalled (We have separate guidance on how to do this, please request it). If you have strict firewall restrictions that specifically specify the outbound connections from the installed location of OIS, these will need to be adjusted too.
We’ll agree a date/time to make the change over (please provide notice if required to be out of hours). The old URL will continue to be accessible for some time following the change.
Option 2 - Changing to a custom URL (purchased domain or subdomain)
The considerations above apply, however there are some additional things to be aware of.
You need access to manage the DNS of the domain you which to use. If you are planning to use an apex domain (e.g. somesite.com) then you need to be able to point it to a CNAME (please check with your DNS provider on the steps how to do this).
If it’s a subdomain (e.g. somesite.yourdomain.com), then you’ll need to create a CNAME entry. We typically use your existing yoursitename.oak.com as the CNAME we ask you to point it to, but in some cases we’ll provide you with a different one.
Regardless of the option chosen, the site is accessed through HTTPS and is in another domain out of our control. Due to this, we will need a certificate that allows us to enable SSL. This certificate is installed on our webservers by our engineers; if this is in a subdomain, you may use an existing wildcard certificate or choose to purchase one specifically for that URL.
If you create the certificate yourselves it must be 2048 bit and provided to us in the form of a PFX which can be securely uploaded to us (https://upload.oak.com), along with the password to import it. We recommend a secure zipped file that is sent over another medium.
We can also make a CSR request on your behalf if you’re able to provide the following information:
Once the request has been created, we’ll send CSR file back to you via a secure link so you can purchase the certificate through a provider then send the files required to complete the CSR back to us.
Once we deploy your certificate across our infrastructure (please allow up to 3 working days), and confirm the URL resolves correctly with your site, we’ll agree a date/time to make the change over. The old URL will continue to be accessible for some time following the change.