Addons, subdomains, a portal site?

jamestl2 · #1 12-04-2007, 11:50 PM

I had a few concerns (Sorry if these are dumb questions, I don't have full access yet):

1. Moving the Primary Site
I currently have domain1.com as my primary domain, however I don't want to keep it as my primary domain. I have domainB.com that I'd like to replace it with, and I suppose make domainA.com a subdomain? Where could I get this information, I searched, but came up with nothing.

2. Subdomains and Addons
I know sites are managed by the first one (ie: domain2.domain1.com, domain3.domain1.com). But say I wanted to have forums.domain1.com, would this also be viewed as an entirely different site (domain4.domain1.com)? Are there any differences or effects when visited by searchbots, rankings, etc.?

3. An administrative Portal Site
Would it be possible for me to manage everything from a "Dummy" domain? I'd really like to manage all my sites in one place together, and it's more convenient if I were to just be able to select one to edit, add pages to, etc. in one section of my directory. And I wouldn't need this "Portal" primary site to be indexed or visited by anyone (like google).

Goddess Dix · #2 12-05-2007, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamestl2

1. Moving the Primary Site
I currently have domain1.com as my primary domain, however I don't want to keep it as my primary domain. I have domainB.com that I'd like to replace it with, and I suppose make domainA.com a subdomain? Where could I get this information, I searched, but came up with nothing.

i think there is some confusion with the terminology here.

domain1.com = main domain
sub.domain1.com = sub domain
domain2.com (set up in domain1.coms control panel) = addon domain
domain3.com pointing to domain1.com = parked domain.

check out the knowledge base, which also discusses this, in hg's support section. to change what the main domain you signed up with hg is, you'll need to talk to support.

Quote:

2. Subdomains and Addons
I know sites are managed by the first one (ie: domain2.domain1.com, domain3.domain1.com). But say I wanted to have forums.domain1.com, would this also be viewed as an entirely different site (domain4.domain1.com)? Are there any differences or effects when visited by searchbots, rankings, etc.?

not an seo expert, but i expect subdomains (as explained above) to be viewed as part of the main site. that may not be right, though. addons will be seen as totally different sites. seo folks may have other comments on the implications.

Quote:

3. An administrative Portal Site
Would it be possible for me to manage everything from a "Dummy" domain? I'd really like to manage all my sites in one place together, and it's more convenient if I were to just be able to select one to edit, add pages to, etc. in one section of my directory. And I wouldn't need this "Portal" primary site to be indexed or visited by anyone (like google).

addon domains, subdomains, and parked domains under the same account will all be managed under the same, single control panel for that domain, so it's already in one place. i don't understand what you're wanting to an accomplish by having a domain that isn't being used to put the other sites under instead of using whatever your "primary" domain is.

if i'm not understanding, plesae clarify.

peace out.

jamestl2 · #3 12-05-2007, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goddess Dix

i think there is some confusion with the terminology here.

domain1.com = main domain
sub.domain1.com = sub domain
domain2.com (set up in domain1.coms control panel) = addon domain
domain3.com pointing to domain1.com = parked domain.

Using that example, I was just wondering how I could make domain2.com my "main domain", and wasn't sure where in knowledgebase it was located.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goddess Dix

not an seo expert, but i expect subdomains (as explained above) to be viewed as part of the main site. that may not be right, though. addons will be seen as totally different sites. seo folks may have other comments on the implications.

So subdomains and addon domains look exactly the same in cpanel to admins? But not to search engines, outside world, etc.?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goddess Dix

addon domains, subdomains, and parked domains under the same account will all be managed under the same, single control panel for that domain, so it's already in one place. i don't understand what you're wanting to an accomplish by having a domain that isn't being used to put the other sites under instead of using whatever your "primary" domain is.

if i'm not understanding, plesae clarify.

peace out.

I have a lot of files in my current public directory (say from domain1.com). I just wanted to move it (domain1.com) to an "addon" position to give my cpanel a "cleaner" look (for when I want to do things like erase, move files, etc.).

The supposed dummy domain may only be something like a one page site (thus hardly any domain1.com files right under my public_html folder) and much easier to manage for me.

olite · #4 12-05-2007, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamestl2

Using that example, I was just wondering how I could make domain2.com my "main domain", and wasn't sure where in knowledgebase it was located.

Simply send HG a support ticket asking them to change you primary account domain name to the domain you want as your main domain.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamestl2

So subdomains and addon domains look exactly the same in cpanel to admins? But not to search engines, outside world, etc.?

Not exactly, as they are managed in different sections they are slighly different. Althogh for functionability... yes they are more or less the same, just when using a add-on domain it can them be accessed by both addondomain.com and addondomain.primarydomain.com

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamestl2

I have a lot of files in my current public directory (say from domain1.com). I just wanted to move it (domain1.com) to an "addon" position to give my cpanel a "cleaner" look (for when I want to do things like erase, move files, etc.).

The supposed dummy domain may only be something like a one page site (thus hardly any domain1.com files right under my public_html folder) and much easier to manage for me.

This will only move the mess to a new location, probbibly more suggestable you schedule some time to organise your files :P

jamestl2 · #5 12-05-2007, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olite

Not exactly, as they are managed in different sections they are slighly different. Althogh for functionability... yes they are more or less the same, just when using a add-on domain it can them be accessed by both addondomain.com and addondomain.primarydomain.com

What if we want them to be completely independent of each other, and not able to be accessed via subdomain?

Quote:

Originally Posted by olite

This will only move the mess to a new location, probbibly more suggestable you schedule some time to organise your files :P

It's a wordpress site, so there isn't much choice in organizing, there's all those files no matter what.

Plus, one more quick question about addon domain propagation, do we use the same nameservers that we used to host our primary domain (within the registrars), right?

GvilleRick · #6 12-05-2007, 06:41 PM

The only way for the domains to be truly independent would be to purchase separate accounts for each domain. That is one of the drawbacks to addon domains. While I haven't tried it, you should be able to use a rewrite in the .htaccess file to force domain2.domain1.com to go to domain2.com.

As for nameservers, they would need to be the same as your primary domain.

jamestl2 · #7 12-05-2007, 11:58 PM

Alright, thanks for the info everyone.

I had one more concern about domain transfers. They are asking for a $5 changing fee, so if I were to do that, what would happen to my current main domain? Will it automatically be placed under as a subdomain? Or does it just disappear, because I don't want to lose my current main domain?

olite · #8 12-06-2007, 12:17 AM

You would need to add your current main domain as a addon or parked domain after they change the main domain on your account for you.

You can also ask them to do this for you while they change your main account domain, I'm sure this would not be a problem for them.

jamestl2 · #9 12-06-2007, 09:59 AM

I went to HostGator Support's Change Domain Form,
but there is no option for keeping my current main domain as an addon domain

Goddess Dix · #10 12-06-2007, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamestl2

I went to HostGator Support's Change Domain Form,
but there is no option for keeping my current main domain as an addon domain

you can do that yourself from your control panel after your main domain is changed. just add the addon domain there, and put your files in the folder that's created when you set up the addon.

jamestl2 · #11 12-06-2007, 02:44 PM

Thanks Goddess,

What happens to the old main domain once I switch it? Do I still have access to it somewhere in the control panel?

Goddess Dix · #12 12-06-2007, 04:49 PM

after you recreate it, you will have access to it in the control panel.

jamestl2 · #13 12-06-2007, 04:51 PM

Thanks again for the info, Goddess

slapshotw · #14 12-06-2007, 06:28 PM

When you submit the form, a ticket will be generated for you. I'd also add the extra info as a message on the ticket.

jamestl2 · #15 12-07-2007, 11:07 AM

What is going on?!?

I specifically asked live chat support that when I switch my main domain, that my old main domain's content would not be there when I wrote the "Change domain name" submission form.

But now that's exactly what happened, no new subdomain for my old main domain or anything. Why did this happen?!?

jamestl2 · #16 12-07-2007, 11:41 AM

OK, it seems like only my homepage was changed. What am I suppose to do? I thought the new subdomain (from the old main domain) would be automatically created?

GvilleRick · #17 12-07-2007, 03:54 PM

The comments made here previously stated that once the domain was changed on the account you would need to create the addon domain in cPanel and upload the files from the old account to it. If you don't have the old files I would suggest contacting the Help Desk and ask them what your options would be. It may be that they have a backup of the account before it was changed that could either be used to get the files or used to recreate the original site.

jamestl2 · #18 12-09-2007, 10:45 AM

Alright, there asking for $75 an hour to move the databases, which I can definitely not afford. Is there any way I can transfer the databases myself? Like I said before I already have backups of my old main domain, and I don't have any databases on my current primary domain.

Chimpie · #19 12-09-2007, 10:51 AM

What are you transferring? Just websites? Forums? ??

jamestl2 · #20 12-09-2007, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chimpie

What are you transferring? Just websites? Forums? ??

I'm trying to transfer my previous domain's databases to an addon position. I recently switched my primary domain through the "changed main domain" form, but now all the information from my old domain is now on this new domain I just registered.

That old domain of mine (www.toptenlisted.com) I'm trying to put into an addon domain. And the new domain I just registered and switched (www.jameslewitzke.com) still has all my toptenlisted data. So I'm not sure where to go next.

GvilleRick · #21 12-09-2007, 11:13 AM

It doesn't look like you have created the addon domain for toptenlisted.com since I am getting a Page not Found error on that link. You would need to create that addon so that you have a folder created for the domain. You could then move the files and folders from public_html that were used in the old account to that new addon folder. You would then need to edit the config file for WordPress to match the new directory structure. It looks like the database is still working but the theme is not due to the changes.

jamestl2 · #22 12-09-2007, 11:40 AM

So I don't make any changes inside the mySQL portion of cpanel?

Chimpie · #23 12-09-2007, 11:55 AM

If you have any databases then you need to export them so you can import them to your new domain. I found that the easiest way to do this was via email. Email yourself (export) the database to your email address, save to your desktop (or where ever), then upload at your new domain.

GvilleRick · #24 12-09-2007, 11:59 AM

I don't believe so. The cpanel username should not have changed and there is no reason that the database names or users should have changed. I would make sure that you have a full backup of the site before making any changes. I would probably just try copying all of the files to the addon folder once it is created and get things working before deleting the files in the public_html folder.

GvilleRick · #25 12-09-2007, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chimpie

If you have any databases then you need to export them so you can import them to your new domain. I found that the easiest way to do this was via email. Email yourself (export) the database to your email address, save to your desktop (or where ever), then upload at your new domain.

If you asked HG to change the main domain name then it is not likely you will have to export any databases. They are already there since all that has changed is the domain name.