Tracking Your Domain's DNS Validation

What the Status Means

After you start a domain connection, your dashboard tracks it live. What you see depends on which connection method you're using.

Nameserver Connections (most domains)

Pending connection… — LinkHaven is waiting for your nameserver change to take effect. Changes usually land within 5 minutes to 1 hour, rarely up to 48 hours.

What to do: confirm at your registrar that BOTH nameservers were saved exactly as LinkHaven showed them, with no extras left over. Then wait — there's nothing else to add.

Connected — done. Try your domain in a private browser window.

DNS-Records Connections (Cloudflare-registered domains and the fallback method)

Waiting for your DNS records — LinkHaven hasn't detected the records yet. Either they haven't been added, haven't propagated, or a value doesn't match. Open the live panel on your domain card and compare each record character-for-character.

Cloudflare is validating — your records were detected; the SSL certificate is being issued by checking the TXT records (they're named like _acme-challenge.yourname.com). Usually a few minutes. If a TXT value rotates while you wait, the live panel always shows the current required value.

Active — your domain is live over HTTPS.

Failed — validation didn't complete: a record is missing, has a typo, or an old record is blocking it. Fix the records against the live panel, then use Retry.

On Cloudflare DNS: set the two CNAME records to DNS only (grey cloud) — Cloudflare adds new records as proxied (orange) by default, and DNS only is the setup we test and support. An orange cloud is not always the reason a domain is stuck, so if the colour is already grey, compare the record values and the TXT records against the live panel before assuming Cloudflare is the problem.

Why It Sometimes Takes Longer

DNS changes propagate around the world; most finish in minutes, but some networks cache aggressively. If your domain has been stuck on the same status for more than 24 hours, contact support with your domain name and a screenshot.