Associating Your Domain

Associating Your Domain

Overview:

Your OpenCart store is reachable at its IP address over plain HTTP as soon as it is installed. To use your own domain name with a free SSL certificate, follow the three steps below. It takes a few minutes and does not require editing any configuration files.

Applies to EGL Build 260909.1 and later. Earlier builds do not include the setup tool.

Before You Start

• Your OpenCart store is installed and reachable at http://<your-aws-public-ip>/
• You have a domain name and can edit its DNS records
• Ports 80 and 443 are open in the instance security group. Port 443 is required. Certificate validation uses port 80, but your site cannot serve HTTPS without 443

Step 1: Assign an Elastic IP

Do this first, before pointing any DNS at the instance.

• An ordinary EC2 public address is temporary. It changes whenever the instance is stopped and started. If that happens after you associate a domain, your domain stops resolving and your certificate stops renewing.
• In the EC2 console, open Elastic IPs and choose Allocate Elastic IP address
• Select the new address, then Actions > Associate Elastic IP address
• Choose your OpenCart instance and associate it

This cannot be done from inside the instance. AWS charges a small hourly amount for a public IPv4 address whether or not it is in use, so assigning an Elastic IP replaces the charge you are already paying for a running instance rather than adding a second one.

Step 2: Point Your Domain at the Instance

• Create an A record for the hostname you want to use, pointing at your Elastic IP address. For example, an A record named shop.example.com with your Elastic IP address as its value.
• A DNS change is not visible instantly. It becomes visible over the record’s TTL, commonly five minutes. Wait for that before moving to Step 3.

Step 3: Run the Setup Tool

1. Log in via SSH

• Use SSH to access your AWS instance:

2. Run the domain setup tool

• Run the tool and follow the prompts:

3. What the tool does

• Shows your current public address and asks you to confirm you have assigned an Elastic IP
• Asks for your domain name
• Checks that your domain actually points at this instance before doing anything. If it does not, the tool stops and changes nothing
• Requests a free Let’s Encrypt certificate and tells OpenCart its new address

4. When it finishes

You will see a confirmation like this:

There is nothing further to configure. The certificate renews automatically, and it survives application updates and instance reboots.

5. Your admin address changes too

• Your OpenCart administration area is not at /admin. For your security it is given a different name on every instance, in the form ocadmin followed by four digits, and that name was shown to you in the summary when the store was installed.
• The tool moves it to your new domain and prints the full address when it finishes, for example https://shop.example.com/ocadmin7391/. Use the address the tool prints.
• If you no longer have it, you can find it again by looking at the installation log on the instance:

Why a Domain Is Required for HTTPS

• A certificate authority will not issue a certificate for a bare IP address, and the .compute.amazonaws.com address AWS gives your instance cannot be used either.
• HTTPS therefore begins when you associate a domain, and not before. This is a rule of the certificate system rather than a limitation of this image.

If Something Goes Wrong

“your domain currently resolves to a different address”

• You have not created or updated the A record yet. Create it, pointing at the address the tool showed you.
• Or you have just updated it and the old value is still cached. Wait a few minutes, up to the record’s TTL, and run the tool again.
• This check protects you: Let’s Encrypt permits only five failed validations per hostname per hour, and running before DNS is ready uses up that allowance.

“your domain does not resolve yet”

• The A record has not been created, or has not propagated. Give it a few minutes and try again.

The tool finishes but the site does not load over HTTPS

• Check that port 443 is open in the instance security group. This is the most common cause.

Your site stops working after stopping and starting the instance

• The public address has changed, which is what an Elastic IP prevents. Assign one, update your A record to the new address, and run the tool again.

The store loads over HTTPS but the admin login bounces back

• You are almost certainly using the old address. OpenCart records its own address, and the tool updates it, so the admin must be reached at the new domain and at your instance’s own admin name, not at /admin.
• Clear your browser cookies for the site and open the address the tool printed.

Still stuck

• Email [email protected] with your domain name and the output of the tool, and we will help you from there.

Changing to a Different Domain Later

• Point the new hostname’s A record at the instance, then run sudo egl-setup-domain.sh.x again with the new domain. A new certificate is requested for the new name.