Hosts of America Documentation User Guide for No Menu Skin

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Configuring Domains

 

Related Docs:  

Editing DNS settings

This document covers the following topics:

 

Removing Domains

To remove a domain, do the following:

  1. Click the Domains icon. Select the domain if you have more than one.
  2. Click the Delete icon in the Domain name field at the top of the page.
  3. Confirm the deletion by clicking "Yes, I agree with the above".
  4. Choose whether you would like to preserve the content of the domain's directory.

    • If you choose to leave web content, all this website will remain on the server and will be accessible by FTP.
    • If you choose to remove web content, all this website and it's directory will be permanently deleted from the server.

 

Instant Domain Aliases

An instant domain alias is an additional web address that gives access to your website when you don't have a real domain name or when your real domain name is temporarily unavailable. Instant domain aliases are generated randomly based on your provider's domain name and can't be changed. To enable or disable access to your website by instant domain alias:

  1. Click the Web Options icon to go to your web options page.
  2. Select the domain if you have more than one.
  3. Click Edit next to Web Service.
  4. At the bottom of the Web Service page that appears, enable or disable Instant access domain alias.

 

Creating Subdomains

A subdomain is a lower level domain. It is added on the left of the domain name, e.g. subdomain.example.com. You can create as many subdomains as allowed by the plan. Domains and subdomains have equal functional capabilities, including web site management, e-mail service, FTP, dedicated IPs, etc., but subdomains do not have their own DNS zones and usually cost less.

To create a subdomain, go through the following steps:

  1. Click the Domains icon to go to your domain settings page. Select the domain if you have more than one.
  2. Click Add in the Sub Domains field. You will be asked to enter the subdomain name:

  3. Enter the new subdomain. It will be displayed in the Subdomain field of the Domain Settings page.

 

Shared and Dedicated IP Hosting

This is also called Virtual Hosting (Shared IP) and IP Based Hosting (Dedicated IP).

  • Shared IP hosting - one IP address is assigned to several domains and access to a domain is available only by its domain name;
  • Dedicated IP hosting - one IP address is assigned to one domain. To access a domain you can use either its IP address or its domain name.

 

Advantages

Disadvantages

Shared IP

  • can be used for virtually unlimited number of virtual hosts;
  • easy to configure and use;
  • requires no additional hardware of software;
  • can be used for free.
  • does not support Virtual FTP;
  • does not support SSL protection.

Dedicated IP

  • supports Virtual FTP
  • supports SSL
  • It is a pay service

Switching from Dedicated IP to Shared IP will delete your virtual FTP and SSL services.

To change the type of IP, do the following:

  1. Click the Domains icon to go to your domain settings page. Select the domain if you have more than one.
  2. Click the Change to Shared IP link in the IP Address field.
  3. If prompted, confirm the change by clicking "Yes, I agree with the above".

IMPORTANT: After you switch between shared and dedicated IPs, it will take several hours before the domain becomes available at the new IP address.

You can use an IP-only server. To create it, choose "no domain" option during signup. Following the signup, you should change type of IP to Dedicated.

 

Domain Aliasing

Domain aliasing, or domain stacking, is creating additional domain names that would point to the IP of a different domain. For example, if your domain name is example.com, you can register another domain name, e.g. example.net and have it point to the location of example.com. This means, every Internet user who goes to example.net will land in example.com.

A domain alias may have:

  • its own DNS zone;
  • custom DNS records;
  • separate mail service.

To create a new domain alias, do the following:

  1. Register the alias, exactly as you register domain names.
  2. Click the Domains icon to go to your domain settings page. Select the domain if you have more than one.
  3. Click the Add icon in the Domain Aliases field at the bottom of the page.
  4. Confirm by clicking "Yes, I agree with the additional charges".
  5. Enter the domain alias. This must be a fully qualified domain name, e.g. example.com:

    • leave the Configure DNS box unchecked if the domain alias is registered on a different DNS server. In this case, DNS for this domain alias will not be maintained and mail service will be inaccessible for this domain alias.
    • check the Configure DNS box if you want a DNS record for this domain alias to be created on this hosting server. In this case you'll be able to create and edit custom DNS records for this domain alias, and Mail Service will be available.

 

Server Aliasing

Server aliases are additional names for your virtual host. Unlike domain aliases, they are not added to your DNS zone, and are registered only with apache. For instance, if your virtual host name is example.com and you also would like it to be available at www.example.com, you should add www server alias to the example.com domain.

To add a server alias, do the following:

  1. Click the Web Options icon to go to your web options page. Select the domain if you have more than one.
  2. Scroll down to the Server alias field and click the Add icon.
  3. Enter server alias. It will be added to the list of server aliases for this virtual host name.

 

Prolonging Domain Registration

This option is available only for domains registered from your control panel.

Although you will be sent an e-mail notification before your domain expires, you can choose whether to prolong your contract with the registrar company manually or automatically. In the automatic mode, your domain name will be renewed for as many years as you specify in your control panel settings. In the manual mode, you would have to enter your control panel and click the Renew Domain link; otherwise the domain name will expire and become unavailable. To set the renewal mode to automatic or manual:

  1. Click the Web Options icon to go to your web options page.
  2. Select the domain if you have more than one.
  3. The active mode shows up in the Domain renew mode entry:



    To switch to another mode, click the Edit icon.
  4. On the page that opens, select either Manual or Automatic.

To prolong domain registration manually:

  1. Click the Renew domain link:



    • Renew/registration date: the date you registered your domain or last time prolonged the domain registration.
    • Registration/last renew period in years: the period you registered or last time prolonged the domain registration for.
    • Total contract length in years: the period you've registered your domain for (including all the renewals).
    • Expiration date: the date when your domain registration period expires.
    • Advisable renew date: the date you are advised to prolong the domain registration.
    • Renew domain for this many year(s): set the period you'd like to prolong the domain registration for.
  2. Click the Submit button, to confirm your renewal request.

To configure automatic renewal:

  1. Click the Edit icon next to Domain renew mode.
  2. Select Automatic and enter the years to renew the domain for:

 

Changing Contact/Billing Info for Domains Registered through the Control Panel

If you want to change either your contact or billing info for the registered domain, please click the Edit icon in the corresponding section. Edit info in the form and check the Yes button in the Affect Owner Info entry:


Related Docs:  

Editing DNS settings