Domain Management is a new service that we offer to practices who need a domain solution to host some of MacPractice's additional platforms, such as the Patient Portal, TSYS or MPGo. Domain Management provides a practice the ability to easily sign up and set up a domain with practically zero fuss. There'll be no need to work with an IT or Networking professional in most cases.
Domain Management is an a free feature for all MacPractice licenses, however please contact your MacPractice Sales Representative for more details. Clients must be on MacPractice Gen 12 (Build 12.15) and above to set up a Domain. You may need to request that Domain Management be added to your license.
| Info |
|---|
You will need a Domain registered in order to use MP Go and Online Patient Payments with Global Payments/TSYS. |
This article will review how to get started setting up a domain, and the steps required before you can use this Domain for our web products. If you have any difficulties or require assistance, don't hesitate to contact MacPractice Support.
...
Before proceeding, you'll also want to ensure that your office's network router is capable of port forwarding, and will need to have external traffic to Port 80 to forward onto Port 26691, and external traffic to Port 443 to forward onto Port 26692. Without doing this, the network traffic won't be properly handled. MacPractice cannot assist with this step, but an IT or Network professional can assist you.
A Static IP is Recommended
We strongly recommend that you have a Static IP provided by your Internet Service Provider. A Static IP will ensure that, upon the event of having to power-cycle a power outage or if you need to reset your router, your IP address doesn't won’t change and thus cause a temporary outage to your Domain services until the IP change is reconfirmed. With this, comes a more consistent, reliable, and secure connection.
Static IPs often incur an additional cost, but it is worth the price when you won’t have to worry about contacting MacPractice Support to have us reconfigure your domain to use a new IP periodically.
Accessing the Domain Management Page
...
When you've decided, enter this domain name into the "Domain" field, and re-enter it into the "Domain Again" field to verify, then click the Save button. If successful, your chosen Domain should appear underneath the Registered Domains header.
It may take up to four hours after registering the Domain for the Domain to appear as an option in MacPractice Preferences > Security.
| Info |
|---|
Note: If the office has multiple licenses for their multiple locations multiple locations, they cannot share a domain when setting up a subdomain. It is recommended to set up an individual domain hosted by MacPractice for each license. |
| Warning |
|---|
DO NOT SPAM THE SAVE BUTTON! |
...
If your practice already has a third party domain, you have the option to utilize this domain as opposed to purchasing a new domain.
| Note |
|---|
It is important to note that this option is only available |
...
if your pre-existing domain |
...
supports SubDomain DNS Delegation |
...
using NS Records. MacPractice does not support CNAME or ALIAS for this. |
What is Subdomain DNS Delegation?
The term “Subdomain DNS Delegation” refers to the ability to “forward” DNS requests with a specific subdomain to another DNS provider without affecting provider without affecting the whole domain. This is important for existing third party domains as you are almost certainly using the domain for something already (e.g. a website, email). It is important to ensure your provider supports this feature before proceeding.
While this term is widely used, not finding any mention of the term on a provider’s website does not necessarily mean they do not support it. If you are able to add NS records with a custom host (subdomain) this feature is supported.
If the registrar supports subdomain delegation using NS records, the 4 NS records from ClouDNS must be entered on the existing domain's hosting page. These NS records can be provided by MacPractice Support upon request.
If you have confirmed that your third party domain has Subdomain DNS Delegation, you can simply select the "I want to use a domain I already purchased from a third party" option.
Determining a Subdomain Name
Before entering the Domain into the Domain field, you'll need to decide on a subdomain name as well. If for example, your domain name is “AwesomePractice.com” "AwesomePractice.Com ", then you'll need to add an additional segment to the beginning of it, i.e. “Super"WebPortal.AwesomePractice.com”Com ". This leading segment can be anything, it just needs to be something unique so we can easily navigate to it.
Enter your third party domain name with the added segment into the "Domain" field and re-enter it into the "Domain Again" field to verify, then click the Save button. If successful, your chosen Domain should appear underneath the Registered Domains header.
...
Adding NS Records for Third Party Domains
If the domain is a subdomain, the domain registrar must support subdomain delegation using Name Server (NS) records. MacPractice does not support CNAME or ALIAS for this.
Name Server (NS): A Name Server stores DNS records for one or more DNS Zones. A DNS name server will respond with answers to queries against its database. In laymen's terms, when someone is trying to find a website, the Domain's name server will be called and asked for the IP address to the domain.
If the registrar supports subdomain delegation using NS records, the 4 NS records from ClouDNS must be entered by the client on the domain. You can refer to the screenshot below to see where these should be pointing to.
...
Linking your MacPractice Server to the Domain
...