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clarify instructions to assign a custom domain #232

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6 changes: 3 additions & 3 deletions instruction/deliverable2AutomatedDeploy/deliverable2AutomatedDeploy.md
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Expand Up @@ -56,11 +56,11 @@ Using your domain name take the following steps in order to associate it to your
record value: byucsstudent.github.io
```

If you are using Route 53 then you would open the Hosted zone for your domain name and add a `CNAME` record by pressing on the **Create record** button. Then provide `pizza` as the subdomain, change the **Record type** to `CNAME`, and put your GitHub URL as the record value. For the example values given above, this would look like the following:
If you are using Route 53 then you would open the Hosted zone for your domain name and add a `CNAME` record by pressing on the **Create record** button. Then provide `pizza` as the subdomain, change the **Record type** to `CNAME`, and put your GitHub URL as the record value. Make sure that you follow the format `byucsstudent.github.io` and do NOT include a path such as `/jwt-pizza` with your URL. Also, do not include `https://` at the beginning. For the example values given above, this would look like the following:

@leesjensen leesjensen Sep 18, 2026

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I completely appreciate that there is the opportunity to get confused by this step, but I'm not sure that adding a third repetition of the same information will resolve the issue. The example directly above and the image directly below clearly show that it is the hostnames that DNS manages not URLs. If those examples were skimmed over then probably a textual sentence will also be ignored.

Perhaps the more valuable thing is to encourage the student to review what DNS is and how it works. Maybe a link to the CS 260 topic on DNS?


![create DNS record](createRecord.png)

1. Wait for the newly created record to propagate. You can use `nslookup` or `dig` to verify that it is available.
1. Wait for the newly created record to propagate. You can use `nslookup` or `dig` to verify that it is available. This may take up to half an hour.

@leesjensen leesjensen Sep 18, 2026

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I'm not sure where the 30 minutes figure comes from. If you are creating the record then it should happen within a couple minutes. If the record is being updated then it depends upon the TTL (time to live) set for the record. AWS by default sets this to 300 seconds (5 minutes). If you are seeing times longer than that then it could be your browser or other caching layer (BYU's proxy server) that is causing the delay. Either way when that clears is dependent on the cache.

I think it might be better to say something like:

Once dig shows the correct record your browser might still be caching old information. You can verify this by using a different browser or flushing your browser's cache.


```sh
nslookup pizza.byucsstudent.click
Expand All @@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ Using your domain name take the following steps in order to associate it to your

![Custom domain entry](customDomain.png)

1. Check the box to `Enforce HTTPS`.
1. Check the box to `Enforce HTTPS`. Initially, this box may say `Enforce HTTPS — Unavailable for your site because a certificate has not yet been issued for your domain`. If this is the case, just wait a bit and the box should become available. You may continue on with the other steps while you wait for this to happen.

@leesjensen leesjensen Sep 18, 2026

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This feels like a good addition. Maybe it could be more concise (students tend to skim rather than read long passages). Perhaps:

Check Enforce HTTPS. If it’s unavailable because your domain certificate hasn’t been issued, wait a few minutes and try again.


💡 It is interesting to consider how GitHub is able to generate a certificate for your domain. Perhaps this would make a great curiosity report.

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