What are addon, sub and parked domains all about then?

Posted on November 12, 2007
Filed Under Domain Hosting, Domain Names | Leave a Comment

What is an Add On Domain?

Add On domains offer you the capability to have more than one web site on your hosting plan. You will of-course already have a main domain on your account (the one that you set up your hosting account with in the first place).

To have an add on domain, you will first want to register (or point an existing domain you have already registered to our servers) another domain name. Then you will need to use the Addon Domain feature in your web hosting control panel (under the Domains section in cPanel).

When you add an add on domain, your control panel asks you for a user name and password. It uses the username to create a directory within your public_html directory which will house all files relating to that domain. The password allows for independent ftp access to that domain’s directory and files.

Now this is the really good part … an add on domain has the benefit of its very own URL, i.e. http://www.addondomain.com. So, anyone wanting to visit addondomain.com will see that very domain name in the address bar of their browser, so its just like a separate web site. An add on domain uses the space and bandwidth available to your main domain.

In addition, an add on domain has its own CGI and FTP access, its own email accounts and web stats. You can also create sub domains for your addon domains (i.e. subdomain.addondomain.com)

However, each add on domain does not have its own control panel. You can access stats and add on domain configuration using your existing control panel for your main domain (stats access is available using the sub domain stats link in the Web/FTP Stats section of cPanel).

Each add on domain also counts as a sub domain (which brings us to the next question below), which means that each time you add an add on domain, you have one less sub domain available to you (if your host limits the amount of subdomains in your hosting account).

Also, you can add any of the available instant site scripts (such as those in Fantastico) into any of your addon domains.

What is a Sub Domain?

A sub domain, also known as a third level domain, utilises your existing main domain and does not have its own domain name. Creating a subdomain does add a sub directory within your public_html directory just as an add on domain, but it is accessed only using the main domain in the URL, i.e. subdomain.maindomain.com

This gives you the opportunity to create memorable and unique URLs for important sections within your web site. A fine example would be Yahoo who use sub domains like games.yahoo.com, mail.yahoo.com and news.yahoo.com

In addition, sub domains also have their own web stats, which is also accessible from the Sub Domains link in the Web/FTP Stats section of cPanel.

Also, you can add any of the available instant site scripts (such as those in Fantastico) into any of your sub domains.

What is a Parked Domain?

A parked domain involves the use of another domain name (you will need to register a domain or point an existing domain that you have already registered to our servers to have a parked domain).

A parked domain is one which simply points to an existing domain. So let’s say you have domain1.com which you want to park on your maindomain.com (your main domain in your web hosting account). You would simply use the Parked Domains feature in the Domains section in cPanel to add domain1.com as a parked domain.

Once added, anyone going to domain1.com with their browser will see your main domain’s web page in their browser but with either your parked domain or main domain’s URL in the address bar (depending on whether you redirect the parked domain or not).

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