how to set up google domains with heroku and ssl (https)

september 6th, 2020

Some tutorials look outdated so I thought I would create my own. This is what worked for my situation after scouring the internet, referencing various sources, and transferring my domain from domain.com after a few failed attempts.

The total cost of the domain was about $10 and the SSL is through the Heroku Hobby dyno so it is $7 per month.

Let's say your domain is your-domain.com.

If using Django, your allowed hosts in settings.py should include the following:

ALLOWED_HOSTS = [
    ...
    'www.your-domain.com',
    'your-domain.com',
    '.your-domain.com',
    ...
]

Heroku Configuration

• Go to your app on Heroku
• Click on Settings
• Scroll down to Domains
• Add your domain name by clicking Add domain. Since your domain name is your-domain.com, you would add www.your-domain.com.
• Your DNS target will be created for you. It will look something like silhouetted-soybean-random-numbers-and-letters.herokudns.com.
• Purchase the SSL by
  • Purchasing the Hobby dyno 
  • Then go back to your app's settings, scroll down to SSL Certificates, click on Configure SSL, and choose Automatic Certificate Management (ACM)

Google Domains Configuration

• Assuming you do not have a Google domain, buy a domain there. This should be a straight forward process. 
• Once you have your domain, select DNS on the left and scroll down to Synthetic Records
• Select Subdomain forward
• Enter @ for the Subdomain field
  • As in, @.your-domain.com
• Make the Destination URL field https://www.your-domain.com
• Select Permanent redirect (301), Forward path, and Enable SSL
• Click Add
• Scroll down to Custom Resource Records 
• The first record we're going to add will look something like the following:
  • Name: www
  • Type: CNAME 
  • TTL: 1h
  • Data: silhouetted-soybean-random-numbers-and-letters.herokudns.com.
• Click Add
• The second record:
  • Name: *
  • Type: MX
  • TTL: 1h 
  • Data: https://www.your-domain.com.
• Click Add

The second record may be added already. The dot after each "data" field is important but I believe they are added automatically.

Go to https://www.your-domain.com and your site should be live within a few minutes if not immediately. If it is not, feel free to leave a comment and I will try to help out where I can to solve your problem.