Specify and Configure Vanity Domains

Oracle Content Management supports two methods of providing access to sites on vanity domains. Site vanity domains allow specific sites to be accessed on a vanity domain. Instance vanity domains allow all sites in your Oracle Content Management instance to be accessed on a vanity domain.

For example, a standard Oracle Content Management site URL might be https://myinstance.cec.ocp.oraclecloud.com/site/MyCustomerSite/, a site vanity domain could be configured as https://www.mycustomer.com. This is easier to remember, potentially useful for branding, and generally simpler to use when accessing a site. A custom path may also be used to access a site configured with a site vanity domains, such as https://www.example.com/store/.

Instance vanity domains can be used to access all sites in your instance by using the site path in addition to the selected vanity domain. Both site and instance vanity domains require several setup steps. Determine which method makes sense for your need and follow the instructions.

Use a Content Delivery Network

Both site and instance vanity domains require the use of a Content Delivery Network (CDN). A CDN is a platform of globally distributed servers meant to improve the performance and security of web sites. A CDN minimizes the distance between users and servers while optimizing the end-to-end performance of requests for content. While the primary goal of a CDN is to improve user experience, a CDN can also be used to alter requests in transit so that what the visitor sees is clean even if the process behind the scenes is not.

To support the hosting of an Oracle Content Management site on a vanity domain you will need to work with the CDN to configure it to handle all requests from the configured vanity domain, route them back to Oracle Content Management properly, and make alterations to the requests so they are handled properly and securely by Oracle Content Management.

Use Oracle Content Management’s Content Delivery Network

Oracle Content Management provides CDN services to enable several vanity domain setups. By using Oracle Content Management's CDN services you can host site level vanity domains, including bare domains and custom paths, as well as instance level vanity domains, both standard and short paths, and friendly management URLs.

Note:

Oracle Content Management’s built-in Content Delivery Network isn't supported in private instances.

To set these up, sign in to your Oracle Support account and see knowledge base article How to Use a Custom Hostname with Oracle Content Management. Work with the support teams to complete the process.

Oracle Content Management controls the CDN and associated security policies so access to full CDN capabilities and customizations are not possible. If you require additional control over the CDN delivery layer you must acquire your own CDN services and configure them to your needs.

Manage a Domain with a Domain Name System

Any domain can be used as a vanity domain for an Oracle Content Management site. You must control any domain used as the vanity domain before configuring it for use with an Oracle Content Management site.

Due to the limitations of domain name systems (DNS), using a root domain, such as example.com, without a www or another subdomain, such as store.example.com, may not be possible. Check with your DNS and CDN providers to determine if using a canonical name (CNAME) record for your root domain is possible.

Because DNS functions at the domain level and not the path level, for Oracle Content Management to host some paths of your domain and another service host other paths, routing will need to be handled by the CDN. DNS can only be used to segregate traffic at the domain and subdomain level.

Deploy Certificates

A certificate protecting a vanity domain needs to be created and hosted by the CDN. A certificate may protect a single domain, multiple domains, subdomains, and wildcarded subdomains such as *.example.com. Any combination is acceptable for a vanity domain. All protected domains will be visible in the certificate details, so if sharing these details publicly is unintended, separate certificates should be used.

Note:

The process for creating and hosting certificates is often specific to the CDN and they will need to specify how best to do this.