You can point any 5 domain names that you own or control to your paid Drupal Gardens site. Custom domains are not available for free Drupal Gardens sites.
Overview
Buy a domain name - If you don't already have the domain name you'd like to use, you'll need to buy it from a domain name registrar (see a list of ICANN accredited registrars here ). Drupal Gardens is not a domain registrar and does not provide DNS services.
Point your domain name at your Drupal Gardens site - Be sure your domain registrar offers DNS services.
About DNS, IP addresses and domain names
The web uses a technology called the Domain Name System ("DNS" for short) to connect domain names (example.com) to the Internet Protocol addresses ("IP addresses") where sites are located. Most domain registrars where you buy domain names are also "DNS providers" and provide the DNS services you need to point your domain name to your Drupal Gardens website. Depending on your domain registrar, "pointing" your domain can also be called "mapping" and "forwarding" - these terms are mostly interchangeable. Be sure your registrar offers these services.
If your domain registrar is GoDaddy.com , you can also check the GoDaddy-specific domain configuration instructions .
Set up an email account for your custom domain - Drupal Gardens does not provide email services, but you can create, manage and use email addresses for that domain name using GMail as part of Google Apps.
If you are using professional fonts on your site , you'll need to reconfigure your accounts with Typekit and/or Fonts.com to include your new domain.
How to point your domain to Drupal Gardens using CNAME
Why CNAME forwarding? This is the preferred method for connecting your domain name to your Drupal Gardens site. A CNAME record specifies that a domain name is an alias
Buy a domain name (mydomain.com) from a domain registrar service . A domain name is a web address like mydomain.com .
Find out how to manage your domain name's DNS - In most cases, you can access DNS controls by logging in to your domain registrar's website. Contact your domain registrar (or DNS provider if you use a separate service) for information if necessary.
Create the "www" subdomain of your domain (www.mydomain.com ) . A subdomain is an address based on your domain name, but prefixed with something else like "www", "blog", or similar. You need to create the subdomain www.mydomain.com , following your domain registrar's instructions.
Point the "www.mydomain.com" subdomain to your Drupal Gardens site (using CNAME) - Use your provider's DNS manager to create a "CNAME record" (or "CNAME entry") for the "www" subdomain of your main domain name that points to your Drupal Gardens site.
For example, if your Drupal Gardens site is yoursite.drupalgardens.com , the CNAME entry for www.mydomain.com should point to yoursite.drupalgardens.com .
Note: Not all domain registrars offer DNS services, and not all DNS services allow CNAME record changes. See below for instructions on mapping your domain name to your Drupal Gardens site using an A Record instead.
Be patient - It can take up to 24 hours for forwarding and CNAME entries to propagate across the Internet.
Add the "www.mydomain.com" subdomain to your Drupal Gardens site
Log in to your Drupal Gardens website.
Click "My sites" in the administration menu
Click "Manage domains" for your site.
Enter your subdomain name (www.mydomain.com ) into the "Add a domain" field. Note: some domain registrars list domain names in all capital letters in their web interfaces. Enter your domain name into this textbox in lowercase letters only: "www.mydomain.com " not "WWW.MYDOMAIN.COM".
Note: If your domain's CNAME record has not been created properly or if it has not yet fully propagated, you will not be able to add it to your Drupal Gardens site. Wait some time and try again.
Your "www.mydomain.com" subdomain will now direct visitors to your Drupal Gardens website and all its URLs will be listed, for example, as www.mydomain.com/nice-content, instead of yoursite.drupalgardens.com/nice-content.
Forward (301 redirect) "mydomain.com" to "www.mydomain.com" in your DNS provider's interface - Most people want their site address to work both with and without the prefix "www". Once the subdomain, www.mydomain.com is pointing to your Drupal Gardens site, forward your main domain name (mydomain.com ) to the "www.mydomain.com" subdomain pointing to your Drupal Gardens site using your DNS provider's tools and interface. Visitors can then find your site whether they include "www" in front of the domain name or not.
How to point subdomains to Drupal Gardens using CNAME
A subdomain is an address based on your domain name, but prefixed with something else like "www", "blog", or similar.
If you already have a site running at mysite.com , you can run a campaign site, a blog, forums or something else in Drupal Gardens using a subdomain of your main domain name like product.mydomain.com , blog.mydomain.com , forums.mydomain.com or similar.
Create a subdomain - Some domain registrars require you to set up subdomains separately (some do this automatically when you create a CNAME record for a subdomain). Create a subdomain in your domain's DNS records like blog.mydomain.com .
Point the subdomain to your Drupal Gardens site (using CNAME) - Use your provider's DNS manager to create a "CNAME record" (or "CNAME entry") for a subdomain of your domain name that points to your Drupal Gardens site.
For example, if your Drupal Gardens site is yoursite.drupalgardens.com, the CNAME entry for a subdomain like blog.mydomain.com should point to yoursite.drupalgardens.com.
Note: Not all domain registrars offer DNS services, and not all DNS services allow CNAME record changes.
Be patient - It can take up to 24 hours for this CNAME entry to propagate across the Internet.
Add your subdomain to your Drupal Gardens site by following the instructions above labelled Add the "www" subdomain to your Drupal Gardens site , using the subdomain you have created and pointed at Drupal Gardens instead of "www".
How to check your CNAME record
Once you have followed the steps outlined here, you can check that your domain name's CNAME record is set up correctly and pointing to Drupal Gardens.
Go to http://www.zoneedit.com/lookup.html
The page at http://legacy.zoneedit.com/lookup.html?ad=whois provides some additional useful domain-record functionality.
Enter your domain name in the "DNS lookup" box
Set the drop down menu to "CNAME" in the record type field
Click "Lookup"
If the record is set up correctly, the result will be yoursite.drupalgardens.com .
Drupal Gardens support cannot assist you until the records are set and propagated. Once the CNAME record is set and correct, it can still take up to 48 hours for the records to be propagated and the Drupal Gardens servers to be able to 'find' your record and be able to connect it to your account.
Check and, if necessary, repeat the steps you took to point your domain to your Drupal Gardens site. You may also wish to contact your domain registrar or DNS provider for assistance.
How to point your domain to Drupal Gardens using the A Record
This is not the preferred method for connecting your domain name to your Drupal Gardens site. If your DNS provider does not allow you to create or change CNAME records as explained above, you can point your main domain name at your Drupal Gardens Site using an "A Record" that points directly to your site's IP address.
The disadvantages of using an A Record to forward to a specific IP address:
To maintain high availability, Drupal Gardens is built on dynamic cloud infrastructure and uses elastic IP addresses to guarantee high availability. Tying your site to a single IP address potentially compromises its high availability.
If your site is moved from one IP address to another (for maintenance or other technical reasons), your domain forwarding will no longer work until you update it to reflect the new IP address.
If the Drupal Gardens team has to change your site's IP address in a hurry (for emergency fixes, for example), there might not be time to warn you of the change beforehand.
Find your site's IP address
Click "My sites" in the administration menu bar.
Click "Manage domains" for your site.
Click "Details" to see your site's IP address.
Follow your DNS provider's instructions to set up an A Record pointing your domain name to your Drupal Gardens site's IP address.
How to set up email for your custom domain
If you use a custom domain name for your Drupal Gardens site, you can create, manage and use email addresses for that domain name using GMail as part of Google Apps. You will need to change your domain's MX (mail exchange) records with your DNS provider to route your incoming email to Google's servers. Most domain registrars (the service where you bought your domain name) are also "DNS providers", and provide the DNS services you need to change your mail records for your Drupal Gardens website.
The Google Apps and GMail suite of tools allows you to create and manage up to 50 email addresses and much more using the free "Standard" version. See http://www.google.com/apps for more information.
If you prefer to use another email provider, follow their instructions for changing the MX records of your domain name to point to their servers.
If for any reason you change your custom domain name to a different DNS provider, you must also update your MX records for the new DNS. If you do not, your site will experience a DNS conflict and emails will fail to go through.
You cannot change the MX records for Drupal Gardens domain names (URLs like "mysite.drupalgardens.com") to associate them with Google Apps or other email services.
How to set up Google Mail for your custom domain name
Set up Google Mail for your custom domain name
Register for a Google Apps account for your domain name at: http://www.google.com/apps .
If you don't already own a domain name, you can also buy one as part of the Google Apps sign-up process. In this case, email and other configuration options will be automatically set up for you to work with Google Apps.
Complete the registration process and create the administrator account and email address.
Confirm your ownership of your domain with Google - Choose the "Change CNAME record" option.
Create a new CNAME record for your domain using the interface provided by your DNS provider.
Copy the string of number and letters that begins with "google" and use it as the "alias" of a new CNAME record in your domain names's account with your DNS provider.
For the "points to" or "host name" of the new CNAME record, enter "google.com".
The new CNAME record should look similar to this:
Confirm the new CNAME record by entering it in a CNAME lookup service . Note: Do not include "http://" in the CNAME lookup. The correct format is "google1234.yourdomain.com" (the Google string you used to create the CNAME record and your domain name, separated by a dot).
Click "I've complete the steps above" once you have confirmed the new CNAME record is working (the lookup should show "google.com").
Continue to Guide or Dashboard - Continue on through the guide to learn more about Google Apps or skip it to go straight to your Google Apps dashboard where you can activate your GMail account, add other addresses and more.
Activate email: set MX records - Clicking "Activate email" your Google Apps dashboard will take you to instructions on how to change the MX records for your domain name. The drop-down lets you select generic instructions ("Any hosting company") or instructions specific to a variety of DNS providers.
MX record change summary
MX record change summary - This is a summary of the procedure for changing your domain's MX record. Refer to those provided by Google (generic or for your specific DNS provider) for definitive information. A list of helpful Google Apps reference links is included below.
Login to your DNS provider's web interface.
Go to the DNS management page for your domain. MX records are one kind of DNS record and can be found under "DNS", "Mail servers", "Name servers" or similar pages.
Delete existing MX records for your domain name.
Create MX records - Create records pointing to the servers listed in the priority order shown (lower numbers have higher priority - 1,5,5,10,10,10 is the same as 10,20,20,30,30,30). If you can set the "TTL", set it to the shortest interval possible (usually 30 minutes). Most DNS providers require the server addresses to be entered as shown below (with the trailing ".")
MX Server
Priority
ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
1
ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
2
ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
2
ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
3
ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
3
ASPMX4.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
3
ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
3
The records should look similar to this when set up correctly:
Google Apps, MX record, and email reference material
Here are some useful links for more information on Google apps, MX records, and email: