--- title: Setting domain names for sites related: - https://docs.kentico.com/13/multilingual-websites/setting-up-multilingual-websites/setting-default-languages-for-users-and-visitors.md - https://docs.kentico.com/13/multilingual-websites/setting-up-multilingual-websites/configuring-urls-for-multilingual-websites.md --- > Agent instructions: > **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown. > > - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version. > - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt). Every site runs on specified [domain names](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name). The domain names determine where visitors can find the live site, and where editors or other users access the administration interface. Sites have the following basic properties related to domain names: - **Presentation URL** – the URL where the live site application is running. - **Administration domain name** – the domain name under which the site's administration interface is available. | Presentation URL format | Administration domain name format | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Enter the full URL of your live site application's website root.
The presentation URL value _**must include the URL scheme**_ (protocol). If the site is hosted in a virtual directory, include it in the URL path component.
**For example:**
_https://www.SiteDomain.com_
_http://localhost/MvcApplication_ | Enter the domain name without the URL scheme (protocol) and _www_ prefix. Administration domains automatically cover all URL schemes and _www_ prefix combinations.
Include the port number if it is different than _80_. May optionally contain a URL path component.
**Correct**:
mycompany.com
partners.mycompany.com
mycompany.com:8080
mycompany.com/xperience
**Incorrect**:
http://mycompany.com
www.mycompany.com | On Xperience instances with multiple sites, the domain name and Presentation URL values must be unique for every running site. A single site's _Presentation URL_ and _Administration domain name_ can share the same basic domain name, but the values cannot be completely identical (for example, the difference can be in the URL path component). > **Note:** **Note**: You need to have a valid [license](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/managing-sites/managing-site-license-keys.md) for the domains in both the **Presentation URL** and the **Administration domain name**. To set the domain names for an Xperience website: 1. Open the **Sites** application. 2. Edit the site on the **General** tab. 3. Type the URL leading to the live site into the **Presentation URL** field. 4. Type the administration domain into the **Administration domain name** field. 5. Click **Save**. ## Domain names for local development When running or debugging your administration application and website locally during development (for example using the built-in web server in Visual Studio), you need to use the domain names assigned to your site in Kentico Xperience. - You can adjust the _Project URL_ of your project accordingly in your development environment (Visual Studio). - If you wish to run on a _localhost_ domain, but your site has different domain names assigned, you need to add _localhost_ as a [domain alias](#adding-domain-aliases). ## Adding domain aliases Domain aliases are alternative domain names that lead to the same website. You can add any number of domain aliases for each site, both for the live site (Presentation URL) and the administration. Aliases can be particularly useful when building [multilingual websites](https://docs.kentico.com/13/multilingual-websites.md). For example, if your website runs on _mycompany.com_ as its main domain and you wish to make the same site available under the _my-company.co.uk_ domain, you need to create a domain alias. > **Note:** **Note**: You need to have a valid [license](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/managing-sites/managing-site-license-keys.md) for every domain alias. Domain alias licenses are free of charge if you already own a license for the main domains. To create a domain alias for your website: 1. Open the **Sites** application. 2. Edit your site. 3. Expand **Domain aliases** and select either the **Live site** or **Administration** sub-tab. ### Live site aliases The **Live site** sub-tab allows you to add domain aliases for the live site: 1. Click **New live site alias**. 2. Type the alternative presentation URL into the **Presentation URL** field. - Use the same format as for the site's main presentation URL, including the protocol or _www_ prefix. 3. (Optional) For [multilingual sites](https://docs.kentico.com/13/multilingual-websites.md), select a **Visitor culture**. - The domain alias is used for visitors who select the given culture (URLs of pages translated to this culture will contain the defined _Presentation URL_). - **Note**: If the site uses [content tree-based routing](https://docs.kentico.com/13/developing-websites/implementing-routing/content-tree-based-routing.md), the _Visitor culture_ field is only available when the _URL format for multilingual sites_ [setting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/managing-sites/configuring-settings-for-sites/settings-urls-and-seo.md) is set to _Domain_. 4. Click **Save**. Your live site is now available under the URL specified in the alias (in addition to the main presentation URL and any other live site aliases). ### Administration aliases The **Administration** sub-tab allows you to add domain aliases for the administration interface and specify their preview presentation URLs. Administration domain aliases let you specify under which domain names the Xperience administration interface is accessible. For each administration domain alias you can also specify a _Preview presentation URL_, which is then used when previewing live site content within the scope of the administration interface. For example, when displaying website content in the preview mode or in the page builder, the displayed content is sourced from this URL. For example, preview presentation URLs can be useful when preparing the environment for [content staging](https://docs.kentico.com/13/deploying-websites/content-staging.md). During development, you may want to allow editors to edit a particular instance of your site (e.g., a testing instance) only via a specific administration domain alias. On the live (production) version, you can then use the main _Administration domain name_(specified on the _General_ tab) only with the main _Presentation URL_. 1. Click **New administration alias**. 2. Type the alternative administration domain name into the **Administration domain name** field. - Use the same format as for the site's main administration domain name, without the protocol or _www_ prefix. 3. (Optional) Enter a **Preview presentation URL**. - Use the same format as for the site's main presentation URL, including the protocol or _www_ prefix. 4. On [multilingual sites](https://docs.kentico.com/13/multilingual-websites.md) and with the _Preview presentation URL_specified, select a **Visitor culture**. - The _Preview presentation URL_ is used within the context of the administration interface when previewing the selected culture (e.g., pages translated to this culture previewed in the page builder will be sourced from the specified _Preview presentation URL_). - **Note**: If the site uses [content tree-based routing](https://docs.kentico.com/13/developing-websites/implementing-routing/content-tree-based-routing.md), the _Visitor culture_ field is only available when the _URL format for multilingual sites_ [setting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/managing-sites/configuring-settings-for-sites/settings-urls-and-seo.md) is set to _Domain_. 5. Click **Save**. The administration interface for the given site can now be accessed under the specified domain alias.