Finishing the website content does not mean it can be made publicly accessible right away. From content completion to visitors being able to open it normally, there are still several procedures in between, and the order cannot be reversed—if any step is missed, the following steps will get stuck. This article sorts through the purpose and prerequisites of these steps.
Step 1: Display of ICP filing information
If the server is located in mainland China, the domain name must first complete ICP filing. After the filing is approved, the ICP filing number must be placed in the copyright information area at the bottom of the website and made to link to the ICP filing public query platform. This is a compliance requirement and also a prerequisite for normal service access later. Note that the ICP filing number must be displayed in a public location visible on every page, not hidden on some subpage.
Step 2: Confirm domain ownership
The domain name should be registered and held in the enterprise's own name. Having a service provider hold it on your behalf, or handing the registration account over to someone else to manage, can cause problems later with renewal, transfer, and ICP filing changes. This step may seem simple, but it concerns asset ownership and is worth confirming clearly at the early stage of website construction. At the same time, confirm that the domain name's validity period is long enough to avoid facing an expiration reminder shortly after launch.
Step 3: Configure domain resolution
The purpose of resolution is to point the domain name to the server that hosts the website. The common practice is to add a resolution record and point the host name to the target address provided by the service provider. The main domain and the www subdomain usually each need one record. The record type is often an alias type that points to another domain name, and the service provider will provide the corresponding record value. After modification, it takes some time to take effect globally. This time depends on when caches in various places refresh; anywhere from several tens of minutes to several hours is normal.
Step 4: Verify whether it has taken effect
Verification can be done from three angles: use a command-line method to check whether the address returned by the domain name matches the target; visit the domain directly to see whether the page opens and the styles are normal; and check whether the ICP filing information at the bottom is fully displayed. If all three are normal, the resolution has taken effect.
Step 5: Enable encrypted access
Most platforms will automatically complete the deployment of the encryption certificate after resolution takes effect, with no manual operation required. If you deploy it yourself, pay attention to the certificate's validity period; failure to renew before expiration will make the website directly inaccessible.
Several places where problems easily occur
If resolution has been configured but the site still cannot be opened, first confirm whether it has taken effect, then check whether the record type and host name are written incorrectly. It is not advisable to configure multiple potentially conflicting records under the same host name at the same time. If a content delivery network is used, resolution also needs to be configured once in the corresponding platform in sync.
If you arrange these steps in order, you will find that they are dependent layer by layer: ICP filing determines whether access is possible, the domain name determines ownership, resolution determines whether it can be found, and verification confirms the result. If any step is skipped in the middle, the problem will be left until the end to surface.