Domain name shenanigans

darleysam · December 2007

I'm looking for some advice on registering a second domain name, and hosting it on the space I currently have registered (or something approximating that). As it stands I have samdarley.co.uk registered with one.com, and rather than register a whole new site, I'd like to get a second domain and use it on the same account/space/whatever that I currently pay for. How would I go about this?
Also I'm in the UK, if that changes anything. Thanks in advance.

vonPoonBurGer · December 2007

I have something like this set up for my dad. He has two names for his home business, both are registered as domain names, but only one of them actually has any website hosting attached to it. The second domain is just a domain forward to the first domain. So when someone navigates to seconddomain.com, it shows them the website at firstdomain.com, but still says seconddomain.com in the browser's navigation bar. I think that's what you want. Most domain registration and web hosting places will offer this as a free option when you register with them.

Zifnab · December 2007

Do you want this new domain name to go to the same site, or do you want to have two different sites on the same hosting? If you want it to go to the same place, you're looking for a 'parked' domain. You'd register the name with your preferred registrar, then go into your hosting control panel (or contact your host, depending on your situation) and add it as a parked domain to your current hosting account. If you want it to go to a different site on the same hosting, it's usually called an 'addon' domain, and you'd want to follow the same process for that. Only difference is that for an addon domain, you'll need to point it to a subfolder on your hosting account with the site inside of it.

darleysam · December 2007

It would ideally be the second of those two, an addon domain. I've just sent an email to the support side of my hosts, to see what they can do to help set this up. I'll put more here if I hit any snags, but thanks for the advice so far.

blincoln · December 2007

It really depends on the ISP. Mine (POE Hosting) has done this for me several times. I have seven or eight domains, all pointed to the same account, but different subfolders of my file space.

darleysam · December 2007

Cool. They do mention it in the support pages, so hopefully it's something that can be sorted easily. If I can't register a second domain through them, where's a good place to go?

Quoth · December 2007

I like GoDaddy. They have been good to me and my hubby. I have multiple websites through them hosted in the same place, so it can be done. And they're pretty cheap, as far as I can tell, but quite reputable.

darleysam · December 2007

Had a reply from my hosts, saying I can only have one domain name attached to a 'web hotel' (new term to me, but hey). I've replied, pointing out that the advice given in their support pages, under "What is DNS?" seems to contradict this (not stating it in those terms), and asking for some clarification.
I'm probably completely wrong.

vonPoonBurGer · January 2008

darleysam wrote: »

Had a reply from my hosts, saying I can only have one domain name attached to a 'web hotel'

A who what? That's not a technical term I've ever heard of, smells like marketing bullshit to me. My guess is they've got one level of hosting a X$ called 'web hotel' (uh, ok, lame, but whatever), and another a X$+N$ (what do they call that one, web condo?? /snicker) that allows multiple domain names. If you're just looking to add another domain name to an existing website, register it with whoever you bloody well please, after confirming they have free domain forwarding, then ask them to forward to the existing website. Your existing hosting company doesn't have any say in it.

darleysam · January 2008

Here's the replies I've had from them

They wrote:

Kindly be informed that one and only one
domain is attached to each web hotel. You
can't have two sites in one web space.

Each domain registered by us has to accompanied
by webspace. We offer domain registration
with the webspace.

darleysam wrote:

Just for clarification, how does this affect
the advice given in the "What is DNS?" section
of the support pages? On reading that, it
sounds as if it is possible to have two domains
on the same space, or at least have a second
one forwarding to the first. Thanks for your
time, it's appreciated.

They wrote:

You can redirect your domain that is hosted
with us to another domain name that is hosted
with us or registered with a different host
provider and you can do this via DNS settings
in the control panel.

It is not possible to register a domain name
with us, without ordering a host plan.

So it sounds like if it is possible to set it up, but I'd need to register for more hosting with them. So, register the domain elsewhere and set things up as usual?

Æthelred · January 2008

If you don't mind the money, just register a second account with One.com and set that up. Then register your second domain elsewhere and link that to your second One account.

This is part of why it's general a good idea to control your doman name(s) apart from your hosting.

darleysam · January 2008

Best to keep them separate, so you can migrate easier when you want to switch hosts? That makes sense. Not sure how to set up hosting with One without registering a domain with them, but I'll look into that. I will say, to their credit, they have been good hosts as far as I've found.

edit: I see it does mention it in their support files, so I'll get in touch with them again and see what they say.

Penny Arcade

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