The Domain Mapping plugin for Classcaster allows bloggers to use their own domain name with a Classcaster blog. With a little planning and direction CALI member law schools can use the plugin to create a custom blogging domain for their schools. All you need is a CALI account and the ability to create (or have created) a wild card record in DNS. So here’s what to do:

1. Login to Classcaster and create a blog (or go to the dashboard for an existing blog).
2. Click on ‘Tools’ and ‘Domain Mapping’ to open the Domain Mapping page and make a note of the IP address listed there.
3. Use the IP address from the Domain Mapping page to create a wild card A record in DNS.
   1. The record should have the format of *.lawblogs.example.edu or something similar. The only rule is that the first segment of the record be an asterisk.
   2. Just like in searching, the asterisk is a wild card. Any address, like blog1.lawblogs.example.edu or myprofsite23.lawblogs.example.edu, will be sent to the IP address in the record.
   3. It may take up to 72 hours for changes to your DNS records to be totally distributed across the net, so be patient.
4. Return to the Domain Mapping page on your blog. Add your custom domain to the form, for example topblog.lawblogs.example.edu, under ‘Custom Domain’ and click the ‘Add’ button to save the changes.
   1. Remember that it may take some time for the DNS changes you made in step 3 to take effect, so the new domain name may not work quite yet. That’s OK, because your original classcaster.net will keep on working.
5. To create more sites in your custom domain there are 2 options. You can create the blogs yourself or you can provide the information to faculty and staff to create blogs themselves.
   1. Creating blogs yourself:
      1. Click on ‘Dashboard’ and ‘My Sites’ to get to the My Sites page and follow the ‘Create a new site’ link near the top.
      2. Complete the form to create a new Classcaster blog.
      3. Once created, visit the new blog’s Dashboard and go to ‘Tools’ and ‘Domain Mapping’ to open the Domain Mapping page.
      4. Follow the directions above in step 4 to add the Custom Domain to the blog.
      5. Now you have another blog in your custom domain.
   2. Letting others create blogs in your custom domain:
      1. Provide your future bloggers with the Custom Domain you want them to use.
      2. Provide them with information on creating a Classcaster blog and adding a Custom Domain to the blog.
      3. By following these instructions, you will be able to let others create blogs with your Custom Domain.

With some planning you can create a custom blogging domain for your law school. In a future post we’ll take a look at how to setup a home page to track what is going on in your domain.