Multiple Domains, One Hosting Account – what, why, how
Hi there, my name is Tanner and I have the pleasure of managing a team of Software Testers here at Go Daddy. I’d like to take a few moments and talk about a feature of our hosting plans that some of you may be aware of (and some not) – Domain Aliasing. I want to chat briefly about the benefits of Domain Aliasing, how to set it up, and how it can be used to host multiple domains/websites with a single hosting account.
What is Domain Aliasing?
When you really get down to it, a domain name simply points to a location…..to the IP Address of a server and then a file location on that server. Put your website files in that folder and those files are opened when people type your domain into their browser. Domain aliasing is a means to point (or “Alias”) a domain to another domain’s location; and as a result open the files in that location. Example: if you type GoDaddy.net into your browser, you are taken to GoDaddy.com’s website. Many people use aliasing to point common domains with different tld’s (.com, .net, .info, etc) to the same website.
How does domain aliasing allow me to host different websites on the same account?
Our Deluxe and Premium Go Daddy hosting plans allow you to alias domains and at the same time specify what directory within your hosting account to alias to. So like I said earlier….if a domain simply points to a location…..and you have multiple locations (folders) within your hosting account….. just point each of your domains to these different folders and now you’re hosting different domains/websites all on the same hosting account.
Example: I have 3 domains: fakedomain1.com, fakedomain2.com, and fakedomain3.com. I only want to use one hosting account for these domains, but I want them to have separate websites. I setup my hosting account using fakedomain1.com as my domain. Once setup, I alias fakedomain2.com and specify a directory of /domain2; I alias fakedomain3.com and specify a directory of /domain3. I publish my websites to their corresponding directories and I now have 3 domains, each running their own websites…..all on one $6.99 hosting account.
What are the benefits?
I can host multiple websites while only paying for one hosting account J
How do I set this up?
You can configure your domain aliases by logging into your GoDaddy.com account and launching the Hosting Manager. The “Domain Management” area in the Hosting Manager provides an easy to follow interface for configuring and maintaining your domain aliases. You can view the following articles if you’d like more help in setting your multiple domains and aliases up:
Linux: http://help.godaddy.com/topic/69/article/46
Windows: http://help.godaddy.com/topic/104/article/1216
Which hosting plans allow this?
While domain aliasing is available to all Go Daddy hosting accounts, domain aliasing to a specific directory is not. This “Multiple Domains” feature is available on all of our Deluxe and Premium hosting accounts – Windows and Linux; it is not available for Economy or “Free” hosting accounts.
This is a really cool feature and will save me a lot of money.
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Is there a limit to how many domains I can alias on a hosting account?
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There are no limits to how many "multiple" domains you can have. Keep in mind though, aliasing to a different directory (other than root) is not available for economy/free hosting accounts.
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But why u not provide multiple FTPs also. If we can create FTP users to subdirectories we can definetely give our clients to manipulate their websites.This feature also needed.
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As soon as I heard about domain aliasing I signed up for a deluxe hosting account... I never used all of my space or bandwidth on an economy plan, but I did have 4 different domains each with their own hosting accounts. This is really saving me some cash each month, instead of 4 $3.99 accounts, I have 1 $6.99 (actually less since I prepaid for a year and got 20% off with a coupon) so I get more space and bandwidth than I had before, one bill, it's working great!
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Hi. I'm trying do what you are describing, but my question is: Will the "alias domain" show up as http://fakedomain1.com/fakedomain2
or as
http://fakedomain2.com
?
What happens if in the box "Domain Hosting Path" say ?
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If you type fakedomain2.com in your browser, it will resolve and appear as fakedomain2.com. However, fakedomain1.com/domain2 is a valid link so it will work as well.
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What does this mean in terms of google. Can I submit each domain as a separate site, or is that considered overkill. Also We submit our sites to other lists within the business we are in, would it be legit to submit them under those other domains.
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While your domains are all hosted on a single account, the domain names themselves are still distinct. I don't know all the rules for submitting to google, but I would keep that in mind when doing so.
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I just wanted to add to Tanners thoughts--They were GREAT HELP for me today with some account changes.
If you go with the $6.99/month Deluxe plan you can host UNLIMITED domains--just think what this can do for those of you that are just putting sales or landing pages up and want a seperate domain name for them instead of using an affiliate address.
Also--if you take the Deluxe plan with the LInux server you get many FREE add-on APPS.
Look at this link for the comparison chart: https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/hosting/shared.asp?se=%2B&ci=260#tabs
You get 4 free Blog Apps and 4 free content management apps.
For those of us that are not web programmers, GoDaddy makes getting a business up and going on the web easy.
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In your example, I would expect a /domain1 folder defined, but it appears to be the root folder.(?)
Is fakedomain1.com a "parent" of fakedomain2.com and fakedomain3.com? Can fakedomain2.com be reached by the url fakedomain1.com/domain2 (like subdomains)? Or are they truely independent domains (in separate folders, with the root folder being private/undefined)?
If domain aliasing behaves like subdomains (subfolders of the "Primary Domain"), can the primary be a truely fake domain ("unregistered.domain") making the root folder essentially private?
Thanks.
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Yes you're correct.... fakedomain1.com is the account I setup my hosting account with, so it is pointing to the root folder - kinda like the "parent" as you mentioned. Fakedomain1.com/domain2 will resolve like subdomains.
Also, you could in theory setup the main domain with a fake domain and your additional domains would resolve... just make sure the A Records for those domains are pointing to your hosting account IP (we do this for you if the domains are in the same customer account as the hosting). Does that answer your questions?
Thanks for the questions!
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Yes, that makes sense. I just want to be sure that using an unregistered domain as the default/primary was "legal" (not "theory").
Setting up /domain1, /domain2, /domain3 as regular (or sub) domains is what I'm looking for. I want to prevent the fakedomain1.com/domain2 url from being valid.
Leaving the root folder private (not assigned to a valid domain) could also let you to store data you may not want public (old scripts, uploaded files, etc). Even root folders like /privatedata (created via FTP) could remain private if not assigned to a domain.
I'll be upgrading to Deluxe soon.
Thanks for the clarification.
Mario
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Did you figure out if this works. I have tried this with fakedomain.com and waiting to relist previous primary domain as an alias, I already have one alias functioning. I was concerned w/ the cross referencing issue as well and this is the reason I am doing this.
I updated the primary to fakedomain.com earlier this morning and as of tonight it hasn't fully updated. It still says:
"WARNING: Domain Modification In Progress: mydomain.com ====> fakesite.com
There is a domain modification currently in progress. Please allow two to twenty-four hours for this change to take effect..."
I'm this will resolve itself by tomorrow and that there isn't a problem. I already had one issue w/ an alias error and had to call godaddy to get it resolved.
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Sounds like you just need to wait for the domain change to take affect. Sorry to hear you've had trouble in the past. Our support team is always there to assist you. You can reach the GoDaddy.com support team by phone or email at 480.505.8877 or support@godaddy.com.
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It worked out, almost on the dot for 24 hours, weird. Although I had problem before, the customer service took care of it for me. Good customer service from what I"ve experienced.
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Could someone explain how to do this. We are going to host five sites. right now we have two hosted. The hosting is registered to dom1.com and dom2.com is aliased. How can I change the hosting from dom1.com to FAKE and move dom1.com to an alias?
Thanks for the help.
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Thanks for letting me know about this feature. I will have to look into it and see if it will save me money in the long run.
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A question about aliasing domains that were previously "parked" on godaddy.
Say site01.com was parked, and the name servers were
PARK7.SECURESERVER.NET
PARK8.SECURESERVER.NET
Then I set site01.com to alias on my main hosting account, which is set at NS3.SECURESERVER.NET
NS4.SECURESERVER.NET
Once I set the aliasing up, do I then need to go and change the names servers from PARK7.SECURESERVER.NET to NS3.SECURESERVER.NET?
Also, say I have a site hosted elsewhere, and I want to move it and alais it on my current account, do I set up the alias as before and also then update to the same nameservers as the main account?
Thanks!
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Todd,
Thanks for the question. It's not really the nameservers that need to be changed for your domain to resolve, what's important is the DNS zone file A Record for your domain. You can leave your domain on the park nameservers and it will still resolve to your hosting account.... as long as your A Record for the domain matches your hosting IP address. If your domain is in the same "shopper" account as your hosting, we will automatically update your A Record for you. If not, you'll need to manually go into the DNS Manager and change it to match your hosting IP. As always, allow up to 24 hours for dns changes to "propogate" and take effect.
In the case of your domain being registered elsewhere, you'll want to change the nameservers of that domain to match ours, and update the A Record to the hosting IP address.
Hope that helps
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I have a domain1 which is on the economy plan, recentely i bought a deluxe plan (domain2)...how do i change the one on the economy to be an alias of the deluxe one?
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After setting up the deluxe hosting account, you can add the domain from the economy plan to your newly set up account. Use this article for more instruct.
A few things to think about.
1.) If your current economy plan has content, then you will need to back that up before removing the domain name from the economy account or canceling.
2.) Once you have removed or canceled the domain from the account, you will need to wait up to 30 minutes for the domain to be available again.
3.) Make sure to update your IP to point to your newly set up alias.
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If I alias a domain registered through godaddy, is it possible to apply two ssl certs against both the domain being hosted as well as the aliased domain? And will godaddy generate the csr for the aliased domain as well?
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No, unfortunately applying ssl is only possible for the main domain on the account.
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I would be very interested in a work around for this problem. it seems unreasonable that an aliased account cannot have a cert applied. Can you provide a more detailed answer as to why this is not possible?
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The work around for multiple aliases would be a 6-in-1 SSL certificate. Please use the following link for more information on the certificate.
SSL Certificates
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Hi,
I've setup a godaddy hosting account for my self, but, I want to access this account directly (like : mydomain.com:2584) because my company firewall donot allow me to access godaddy.com directly and I have to use a proxy, and it is hard and non-secure !
So, can you help me ?
Thanks
Shahab
ps :: sorry for not-related post, but I haven't found any place to send comments !
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Shahab,
I'm not sure I understand your problem; you have a Go Daddy hosting account and that is blocked on your employer's network? So you'd like it opened on a different port?
Thanks for your post!
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This is some very helpful information. One question though. Say I have three domains on the hosting account. Of course I understand that the 2nd and 3rd domains are child directories of the 1st. Can I assign FTP login information to the specific folders the domains are located in? Or will all domains share the primary login information? If sharing the primary, can the 1st and 2nd domain folders be access when opening ftp://fakedomain2.com?
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This is a good question. Currently, we offer multiple FTP users for Linux hosting; these secondary FTP users can be assigned a specific directory they have access to. For example, you could create a secondary FTP user named "domain2" and give that user access to /domain2. This user would only be able to access /domain2 and all subdirectories, they would not have access to the root or any other directories outside of /domain2. The main FTP user on the account will always have access to the root and all other directories, including /domain2; only the secondary FTP users can be assigned a specific directory. This Multiple FTP users feature is not available for Windows hosting plans.
To answer your last question, all directories in the hosting account can be accessed when using the primary FTP login.... even if you ftp into your account with fakedomain2.com or fakedomain3.com.
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Tanner,
I have a Windows plan and have Aliases setup. So what do I do if I want to FTP directly to the root of fakedomain3.com (/fakedomain3)?
I have tried using the FTP path option (e.g. /fakedomain3/folder/) but I keep getting an error saying the path is not found even though I can see the folder I created fine in the FTP client.
Is /fakedomain3 just a Virtual Directory instead of a true folder? If so can I set the actual location of the Virtual Directory to resolve the FTP problem?
Thanks
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You should be able to FTP directly to the root of the hosting account, and then navigate into the subdirectory (which is the root of your alias domain.) However, you won't be able to connect directly to the directory where the alias is pointing without navigating through the website root. (However this *is* currently possible on our Linux plans -- by setting up an additional FTP user that is pointed to the subdirectory.)
The subdirectory is indeed a true folder, and not just a virtual directory.
Brian
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I'm new to all this stuff - so bare with me. I recently added shared hosting to my account. Is there a comparison chart showing all the differences between the different plans. I failed to mention that I also have a "website tonight" web site.
As I am also considering the use of "dotnetnuke" for windows - I'd as interested in learning more about that as well - could you direct me to a forum ?
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Levy,
Take a look at this page, the comparison charts are at the bottom in the tabbed folders: https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/hosting/shared.asp
As far as DotNetNuke goes, here is a Go Daddy help article: http://help.godaddy.com/article.php?article_id=888&topic_id=150
For more information, you can check DotNetNuke's site http://dotnetnuke.com/
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Tanner,
I've set up an alias/subdomain pointing to a subfolder of my root. I'm using Visual Web Developer/ASP, and when I go to my second website (at the subfolder) I get an error. It looks like it's trying to use the web.config file from the root directory which mentions a "white theme". My second/subfolder site does not have such themes. Is there a quick fix to make sure my second/subfolder site reads the web.config file in my subfolder, rather than the root directory?
Thanks.
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I've sent this issue to our support staff to work with you and try to determine the problem.
Thanks for the post!
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I just set up an account and says that my domain alpascual.com will be pointing to the new page. Please don't do that, give me an temp url to transfer from my exisiting hoster
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Albert,
If your domain is in the same customer account as your hosting account, we would have made the DNS change automatically. If you want to have access to both to copy over your existing content, try one of the following:
1. Change your DNS A Record back to your old hosting account IP for alpascual.com. Then you can copy the content and ftp to your new (Go Daddy) hosting account with your new IP address (instead of the domain name). When you're ready to go live with your new hosting account, change the A Record back to your new hosting IP.
2. Rather than change your A Record, try ftping to your old site via IP address and getting the content that way.
Hope that helps.
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Actually, even when the aliased domains point to the same Web root the 'main' domain does, those sites can easily be set up in different directories (with a bit of scripting and/or mod_rewrite 'magic').
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is it possible to to this at economy hosting plan?
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No, aliasing to a subdirectory is not possible on Economy plans. You can still do standard aliasing with Economy (aliasing to the root directory).
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Aliasing - automatic - is not possible. Yet one can redirect requests to aliased domains to manually created directories via URL rewriting.
It means care should be taken to handle that, but it *is* possible to separate aliased domains into different directories even on Economy plan.
What I found missing (if it is missing) is the ability to control traffic. Is it possible to disable site (in total or certain domains only) temporarily if it comes to the assigned bandwidth limit? I see only the .htaccess 'Deny From All' solution as an emergency action.
It is too easy to consume traffic (there are even such attacks). Currently, if I am not mistaken, I simply will be charged for any extra traffic (since I see no simple ways to disable site if it ate too much traffic, attack or not).
Also, in many cases I need to upload ZIPped (archived in general, say a tarball) file and unpack it in situ, not uploading its contents file by file. I see no such capability in GoDaddy hosting plans. Can it be added?
Also, no convenient backup/restore tools as well. Can such features be added (perhaps to bigger than Economy plans)?
Thanks!
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Konstantin - yes, it is true that advanced users can create the same result as redirecting aliased domains to subdirectories even on the Economy plan (usually using some form of URL rewriting.)
Regarding your feature requests: no, we currently don't have a user interface for our shared hosting plans that can disable site access at an assigned bandwidth limit. (However, our Dedicated and Virtual Dedicated hosting just released a similar feature -- check out the new blog article on this topic.) But all of these are good ideas that we'll look into implementing -- thanks for the suggestions!
Brian
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It was a very good idea for me and i immediately changed my hosting plan from economy to Deluxe. Unfortunately, additional domains do not work properly as the directory of the domains is not a root directory even I changed the settings as root directory. I think there is a misunderstanding or serious error on the control panel's directory management.
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Can you give me a few more details on exactly how you configured this? Once you do setup your aliasing, there is a period of time (up to 24 hrs) before your DNS changes propogate out, so your sites may not be reachable immediately - do you know if your DNS was configured properly?
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Thanks Tanner,
Thanks for linlighting us. It looks like I will never use full storage capacity, however I own several domains. It will really be useful for us.
I will now sign up for a deluxe account.
Thanks to Godaddy.com
I appreciate your sevices!
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thanx for the reply Tanner. But i still have a question.
what does standard aliasing mean?
For example i have 3 web domain name but one web site. Is it possibe to use both three domain name for a one web site with standard aliasing. I wish you understand. Sorry for my english.
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I'm not sure "standard aliasing" is the correct term, what I mean by this is Aliasing that is pointed to the root directory, not a subdirectory. Go Daddy economy hosting only allows aliasing to the root (I termed this as "standard").
If you alias all 3 of your domains to the root directory, then all three will open the same website - the website that is published to the root directory.
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Wow! This is great! I found out about this yesterday, and I am already using the feature. I have a question about email accounts, though, in relation to the multiple domain names. For example, when I go to "Email Accounts", the drop-down for the domain name only allows the primary domain name that I've set up for hosting. How can I set up accounts for the domain aliases?
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Glad you like the feature. I'm assuming you're trying to set up your "free" email that's included with a hosting account, correct? If so, free email can only be configured and setup for the main domain. Aliased domains can be used for email accounts, but only with a purchased email account.
Hope that answers your question.
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How do I decide which hosting platform i.e. Windows or Linux is best for me?
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EC,
It really depends on what type of website you'd like; and what type of technology you'd like it built in. Here is a comparison chart for the different types of accounts we offer, look at the bottom of the page in the tabbed window....that's where you'll find the charts on what languages, etc. are supported in Linux vs. Windows plans.
https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/hosting/shared.asp
I'd also suggest doing a little searching on Google to see what other suggestions people might have.
Have you given any thought to what kind of site you'd like to have?
thanks,
Tanner
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why don't you explain ALL the limitations of Aliased Domains? . . . so people won't get as mad as I did . . . eg . . .
all the control panel value add-ons are NOT available to Alias Domains and they do not get their unique emails unless you buy an extra Premier Email Service for at least $30 extra
or every time you make a change in Hosting Manager - you have to wait at least an hour (sometimes 24) unlike competitors where changes are made instantly (eg adding an ftp account)
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Greg,
I don't know all the limitations but I'll certainly list the ones I'm aware of.
-Free email accounts only work with the primary domain on the hosting account; any purchased email account will work with your aliased domains - those currently start at $9.99 per year.
-Our value app system is geared toward installing on the primary domain. Also, you can only have one instance installed of each app. You can try creating an alias domain to the same directory as an installed value app, we've gotten it to work with mixed results.
-Most changes to our hosting accounts will be completed within a matter of a few minutes; with the exception of a change in Operating System, or a change of your domain name, etc. It sounds like this may have been a rare occasion when some problem was preventing your ftp user from setting up. If you experience your ftp user taking this long to create again, please let us know.
-You won't be able to configure your aliased domain with an ssl certificate....only the primary domain.
-You won't be able to publish frontpage with frontpage extensions directly to the aliased domain. You can however, publish through the primary domain to the subdirectory...which should accomplish the same thing.
I hope that helps out, let me know if you have any other problems with this.
Thanks for the post,
Tanner
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This is a huge disappointment...the reason I selected godaddy.com is the domain aliasing feature, as I run 10 web sites but all very small, low traffic. with no ability to get email, it's worthless.
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Free domain email for aliased accounts is possible, but a pain to get working. GoDaddy Support has told me that free email accounts will function as long as the hosting account is active.
It will take a while, but try the following...
1) Create your email accounts for the current (primary) domain...
2) Change the primary domain to one of your aliased domains (wait 24-48 hours)...
3) Repeat step 1 & 2 until all your free email accounts are created.
It's a pain and will take days, but with patience, you will end up with your domain email accounts the way you want and they will remain active until your hosting account expires (or so GoDaddy says).
Hope it helps.
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What about FRONTPAGE EXTENSIONS on ALIASED DOMAINS?
They don't seem to work.
When we access our alias domain via the top level domain, namely www.windermerenaz.com/chinovalley/, the form, on REQUEST INFORMATION, works.
When we access it via our aliased domain, namely www.windermerechinovalley.com, the same form does not work.
HELP! (and thanks).
-- Ed
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Ed,
Frontpage extensions will work on aliased domains, but through the primary domain.... So when you publish with frontpage you don't want to publish to the aliased domain. You want to publish to the primary domain then directory of the aliased domain (primary.com/aliased). I've sent this to our customer support group to make sure your problem is resolved.
Hope that helps.
Tanner
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Hello,
I just set up our new website and I was wondering how to remove the "this page hosted free by GoDaddy.." banner at the top. Is this possible?
Thanks,
david
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David,
The Ad banner that you're seeing is a component of our free hosting accounts and cannot be removed. You can however, upgrade your hosting account which will remove the Ad banner.
Hope that answers your question,
Tanner
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When trying to set up a couple of Domain aliases for a Premium hosting account that is ASP.Net based I receive a security error when trying the aliases:
Server cannot access application directory 'Actual path' The directory does not exist or is not accessible because of security settings.
I am sure this is from having the ASP.Net site set to Medium trust level. Is there any workaround for this? I really would like the other two domains to point at the primary site.
Thanks
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Robert,
I'm not sure what is occuring. Can you provide more details on exactly what you're doing and what you're trying to accomplish? Are you trying to alias all of your domains to the same website? Let me know what you have and we can try to figure out the answer.
Thanks!
Tanner
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-Free email accounts only work with the primary domain on the hosting account; any purchased email account will work with your aliased domains - those currently start at $9.99 per year.
That is rediculous. It would be extremely helpful if this was mentioned anywhere in the FAQ. I will be canceling based on this fact alone.
What good are multiple domains if you can't use unique e-mails with each domain without paying outrageous fees.
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I would have to disagree that the fees are outrageous. An extra 9.99 a year for 5 or 29.99 a year for 100. Now the space allocation per box is a little low, but the price you're either eating or you're passing on to your customers. The total per/month is a lot lower than where I hosted previously. I have several accounts that don't use email at all. Look at it as value ad to your customers. Hosting is $x.xx and add email for $x.xx. In the end the cost per month is reasonably low with this add on. My only complaint is that I wish is could all be managed in one interface.
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I think I want each of my domains in sub directories and leave the root free.
First question is; I already have my primary domain located in the root directory. What steps do I need to do to move it to a subdirectory?
Second question is; I am using Front Page Extensions. Regarding your reply to Ed on 8/28, if the root is not the primary domain how does effect you answer?
Thanks, Jim
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Jim,
Actually, you cannot remove the primary domain from the root directory - the root directory is the home directory for the primary domain. You'd also need the primary domain to publish if you're using Front Page extensions. You could do as one blog reader suggested and setup the primary domain as a phoney or non-existent domain.... then the root directory would exist but would not be accessible via the internet. Would that help you achieve the same desired result?
I hope that answers your question,
Tanner
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I have several web sites that are utilizing Access databases and I am concerned that if I upgrade to the multiple web sites - one hosting account option, that my sql and dsn info will not transfer properly. Do I copy the data folder containing the databases into the new subdirectory(aliased domain name) for each web site, or do I have to change the programming to reflect the database directory located at the root? Thank you.
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Jim,
I don't know too much about your setup, but for Access databases you should use the access_db directory in the root of your hosting account (this folder is created after "enabling" access db support). This will not be a problem with multiple domains and databases as long as your databases don't have the same name. You will need to update your code to reflect the new connection strings to these databases.
Does this answer your questions?
Thanks,
Tanner
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where is my file Manager ?
2. How do I enable permissions to my files and directories ?
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You can access your hosting files/directories via ftp. There are several good ftp clients out there that allow you to modify the permissions of your files and directories; to name a couple FileZilla, SmartFTP. If you're looking for a quick and basic ftp client, you can use the built in client in our Hosting Manager, although you cannot modify permissions with the built in client.
thanks for the question.
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