Pulsar Subdomain Setup

Pulsar gives your server a free address (like my-server.ororbit.com) and sets up encryption automatically. It is the easiest way to get your server online.

🤔 What is Pulsar?

Pulsar is a free service from OrOrbit that does two things: it gives your server a name on the internet (via DNS — the internet’s phone book), and it sets up HTTPS encryption automatically using a free certificate from Let’s Encrypt. OrOrbit never sees your messages or traffic — Pulsar just makes the address work.

What You’ll Need

• A running OrOrbit server with the admin panel open
• A name you want for your subdomain (e.g. my-server becomes my-server.ororbit.com)

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Setup

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What Happens Behind the Scenes

⚙ How Pulsar works internally

1. DNS A Record — Pulsar creates a record mapping yourname.ororbit.com to your server’s public IP.
2. DNS-01 Challenge — To prove domain ownership, Pulsar creates a temporary TXT record at _acme-challenge.yourname.ororbit.com. Let’s Encrypt checks it and issues a certificate. This is fully automatic.
3. Certificate hot-reload — OrOrbit installs the certificate and enables HTTPS without restarting.
4. Heartbeats — Your server pings Pulsar every 5 minutes to keep the DNS record alive and update your IP if it changes.

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Heartbeats & Inactivity

Your server automatically checks in with Pulsar every 5 minutes. If your server goes offline:

Time offline	What happens
24 hours	Marked as stale (still works when you come back)
7 days	DNS record removed (URL stops working)
37 days	Registration deleted (name becomes available to others)

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Certificate Renewal

Certificates from Let’s Encrypt last 90 days. OrOrbit checks daily and renews automatically when there are 30 days left — no action needed from you.

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Troubleshooting

Registration failed

• Check your internet connection.
• Try a different name — it may be reserved.
• Rate limit: 3 attempts per hour. Wait if you’ve been trying many names.

Certificate provisioning timeout

• DNS propagation can be slow. Wait 2-3 minutes and retry.
• Make sure your firewall allows outbound HTTPS (port 443).

Subdomain taken

• Someone else registered it. Pick a different name.
• If you registered it before but your server was offline 37+ days, the name was released. Try again — if nobody else took it, it’ll work.

Heartbeat failed

• Your public IP may have changed — Pulsar auto-updates on the next successful heartbeat.
• Pulsar may be temporarily down. Your server retries automatically.

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FAQ

Does OrOrbit see my traffic? No. Pulsar only handles DNS lookups and certificate provisioning. All traffic goes directly from your friends’ devices to your server. OrOrbit never sees, routes, or stores any of your data.

What if Pulsar goes down? Existing connections keep working — users already know your IP. New connections may fail until Pulsar is back. Your certificate stays valid independently (90 days). You can always share your IP directly as a fallback.

Can I switch to my own domain later? Yes, anytime. Your Pulsar address keeps working alongside your custom domain, so you can migrate gradually.

Does Pulsar work behind CGNAT? No — CGNAT means your ISP shares one public IP among many customers, so nobody can connect to your server directly. Use a Public Access method (Cloudflare Tunnel, ngrok, or reverse proxy) instead, or ask your ISP for a dedicated IP. The admin panel detects CGNAT automatically.

What data does Pulsar store? Only what it needs: your subdomain name, server public IP, a public key for authentication, and timestamps. No passwords, no messages, no user data.