How to host multiple domains using one hosting account
So you’ve bought your domain & hosting and set up your website and now you’d like a few more websites. You may think that you need to buy further domains and hosting but that’s not always the case. You can utilise the unused diskspace and bandwidth of your current hosting plan by employing the use of add-on domains, sub domains and parked domains. So what are these different types of domains?
Parked Domains
Parked domains are domains that have no hosting associated with them. They are forwarded to an existing website. For example: if you navigate to meerhost.com you are redirected to the ItsmirHosting website. Meerhost.com is a parked domain. To set up a parked domain you should do the following:-
Step 1 Purchase the domain you wish to park and update the nameservers at the domain registrars to point to your ItsmirHosting account (as you did for your main domain).
Step 2 Login to cPanel
Step 3 In the ‘Domains’ section of your cPanel select ‘Parked Domains’
Step 4 Type in the domain name you wish to park and click on ‘Add Domain’ (be patient after you’ve clicked this – it may take a while to set up)
Note: Email accounts can be created for parked domains.
Sub Domains
A sub domain is also known as a third-level domain and is a great way of extending your current website. They act as sub-sites allowing you to split different services or parts of your business into different websites linked by a common domain name. The basic syntax is: http://subdomain.domain.com An example of a subdomain is this blog which uses a subdomain to keep it separate from our main site, the address being blog.itsmisrhosting.co.uk and the data held in a subdirectory under the main public_html directory (/public_html/blog)
Although sub domains share diskspace and bandwidth with your main domain, they do get their own statistics.
To set up a sub domain do the following:-
Step 1 Login to cPanel
Step 2 In the ‘Domains’ section of your cPanel select ‘Sub Domains’
Step 3 In the ‘Sub Domain’ field type your desired prefix
Step 4 In the ‘Document Root’ field enter the home directory for the subdomain. This directory will be where files pertaining to the subdomain will be placed.
Step 5 Click ‘Create’ and wait whilst your sub domain is created.
Add on domains
An add-on domain is a new domain name that points to a subdirectory within your existing domains hosting account, where the website for the new domain will reside. From a web user perspective, an add-on domain functions just like any other domain. For example, if you already have a hosting account under www.main-domain.com, you can register and set up an add-on domain (for example: www.add-on-domain.com), so that when your visitors type http://www.add-on-domain.com in their browser, they will be transported to the new site. Unlike sub domains you can create email addresses, forwarders, ftp accounts and more — the same way you do for your primary domain on the account. The only difference is that the files share the same control panel and server. To set up an add on domain you should do the following:-
Step 1 Purchase the domain you wish to park and update the nameservers at the domain registrars to point to your ItsmirHosting account (as you did for your main domain).
Step 2 Login to cPanel
Step 3 In the ‘Domains’ section of your cPanel select ‘Addon Domains
Step 4 Enter the domain for the new addon domain into the New Domain Name field.
Note: When you enter the domain name, cPanel automatically populates the Subdomain/FTP Username field. If you are creating multiple addons with similar domain names (differing only in .com, .net, etc.), be sure to manually enter a unique username into the Subdomain/FTP Username field.
Step 5 In the Document Root field, enter the directory that will contain the addon domain’s files.
Step 6 Enter the password for the addon domain into the Password field. Make sure you use a secure password. You can have cPanel generate a secure pasword for you using the Generate Password feature.
Step 7 Confirm the password in the Password (Again) field.
Step 8 Click ‘Add Domain’ (and wait for the domain to be created – it may take a while!)
Note: Creating an addon domain in the cPanel interface automatically creates a subdomain. Altering or deleting the subdomain after it has been created may affect or delete the information displayed in the addon domain’s website.
Step 9 To add files to the addon domain’s home directory, click the File Manager link.
Note: You can also access this addon domain’s home directory in the File Manager by clicking the link under Document Root.
