Welcome to iRaiser and nice that we re able to help you with your new site! But what all is involved in creating it? 

Article content:

• Global step-by-step plan
• 1. Agreement for a new website
• 2. Creating demo site
• 3. Adjust domain
  
  • Hosting
  • DNS
  • SSL
• 4. Going live

Global step-by-step plan

This is roughly the roadmap for creating a iRaiser Premium site:

1. Agreement for new website
   There s agreement to create the site
   
   
2. Create demo site
   iRaiser creates a demo site and adds you as site administrator and you can start filling it immediately
   
   
3. Set up domain
   The domain where the site is to be located is set and technically configured and the platform is set up on the new domain
   
   
4. Livegang
   When everything is ready, the checkout can be linked to the website and you can go live! 
   
   
   

In addition to these technical steps, there are a few practical ones:

1. Viewing dashboard training and explanation in support centre
2. Kick-off: going through site settings and current connection status
3. Checklist: have you thought about this before going live

We will go into each step in detail and specifically what is involved. 

1. Agreement for new website

Before we can start, an agreement must be given on the creation of the site. This is done in collaboration with the account manager (iRaiser Sales Team). If you are a new customer, an agreement is signed for the use of the platform. If you are an existing customer, simply agreeing to the cost of an additional website is enough. Then the account manager sends a signal to support and the connection starts.

2. Create demo site

After agreement, we will create a demo site for you. The site is then temporarily on a iRaiser domain, e.g. website.iraiser.eu and we will add you as administrator. From then on, you can already start filling and modifying the site. On the demo site there is a test checkout, with which you can make test payments. So you can create Fundraisers, Teams, Campaigns and make test payments to go through the flows. When going live, we ll be able to remove all test data for you, but then you can already see what the site will look like when it is already filled.

Any changes you make on the demo site will also go with it when we eventually put the site on the domain. You will then also receive a connection e-mail from us with an Overview of all the steps and how to carry them out.

3. Setting up domain

An important part of any website is the domain name. A domain name is a unique name on the internet on which the platform will reside. For more information about the domain name, see sidn.nl.

Every iRaiser website should have its own domain name. Here we distinguish between top-level domains and subdomains.

Some examples of top-level domains are:

• foriraiser.eu
• supportiraiser.eu
• supportiraiser.eu
• iraiser-fundraisers.eu
• iraiser-in-action.eu
• inaction-foriraiser.eu
• action-foriraiser.eu

Subdomains:

• fundraisers.iRaiser.eu
• kominaction.iRaiser.eu
• support.iRaiser.eu

Naturally, these are just examples and can also be chosen to be completely customised.

Note! When using the Sub sites module, it must be a top-level domain, i.e. not a subdomain. This is required because each Sub site will have a subdomain.

Hosting

All iRaiser websites are stored on and served from Amazon Web Services servers in Ireland. We work with 1 codebase on which all websites run and it is not possible to host the website on our own servers. 

We can hold and manage the desired domain for you. Then we will also immediately set everything up properly technically so that the platform can be transferred. If you also want to attach mailboxes to the domain, it's best to do the hosting yourself, because we don't do that. In that case, we will ask you to set up some DNS data, which we will forward to you.

DNS

A domain name is a unique name on the internet. A domain name has a long number as its address: the IP address. Because such’a number is difficult to remember, domain names were invented. The domain name system translates the IP address into a domain name and serves as a mask for the IP address. The IP address leads to iRaiser's servers where the website physically resides. The domain is usually owned by you and does not necessarily have to be sémanaged by iRaiser. To link the domain to our servers, so that the domain knows where to point, we use DNS.

Setting up DNS requires some technical knowledge and is usually outsourced to a web hosting company or arranged by an in-house IT person. We ask for this contact during the connection process to make setting up the DNS go as smoothly as possible and not to bore you with technical details.

If we manage the domain, we will set up the DNS data ourselves. If you manage the domain yourselves, we will send you the DNS data to be set. With the DNS configuration, we ll supply an A record (for the domain) and a CNAME record for the www part and/or subdomain. For the website to work correctly, it is important that this is copied exactly as it is. In addition, we supply one or more _acme-challenge records. We use these to request the SSL certificate. Are you having trouble setting this up? Then please contact us and send a screenshot of the Settings.

We use automatic scaling of servers within Amazon and within this process IP addresses can be changed. The CNAME record ensures that the correct IP addresses are always found behind the domain.

After setting the DNS, depending on the TTL (time to live), it can take from 5 minutes to up to 24 hours for the change to be made and visible to everyone.

SSL

securing data is our top priority. Therefore, all our websites are equipped with a secure connection by means of an SSL certificate as standard. This can be recognised on the site by the closed padlock and the https:// indication in the browser's address bar.

A Users can see from the SSL certificate (by clicking on the lock) by whom the certificate was issued.

The installation of an SSL certificate on the (sub)domain is done by iRaiser. Through the _acme-challenge records, we can periodically renew the certificate automatically.

4. Going live

When the site is on domain and the checkout is linked, you are ready to go live! Your account manager will then also contact you to dot the i's and give you some final tips.