Configuring Domains

This document covers the following topics:

• Removing domains
• Instant domain aliases
• Creating subdomains
• Shared and dedicated IP hosting
• Domain aliasing:
  • before H-Sphere 3.1 Beta 1
  • in H-Sphere 3.1 Beta 1+
• Server aliasing
• Renewing domain registration
• Changing contact/billing info for domains registered through the control panel

Removing Domains

To remove a domain, do the following:

1. Select Domain Info link in Domain Settings menu on the left.
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. Select Quick Access in Account menu.
2. Click the Web Options icon to go to your web options page.
3. Select the domain if you have more than one.
4. Click Edit next to Web Service.
5. 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. Select Domain Info link in Domain Settings menu in user's Control Panel.
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.

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. Select Domain Info in the Domain Settings menu.
2. If you have several domains, choose the one to enable virtual FTP for.
3. Click Change to Shared IP in the IP Address field:

   

4. 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.

Domains on dedicated IPs don't have instant access aliases.

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

Domain Aliasing

Domain aliasing is creating domain names that point to other domains. 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.

Domain Aliasing before H-Sphere 3.1 Beta 1

To create a new domain alias, do the following:

1. Register the alias, exactly as you register domain names.
2. Select Domain Info link in Domain Settings menu.
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 Create DNS zone 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 Create DNS zone 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.
   • check the New Mail Domain Alias box if you want a mail domain alias to be created right away. In this case mail resources on a mail domain will all have alternative addresses with different domain parts and the same resource names. If you leave the box unchecked, you may create a mail domain alias using Mail Manager later.

Domain Aliasing in H-Sphere 3.1 Beta 1 and up

H-Sphere 3.1 Beta 1 introduces new concept of domain aliasing. Now H-Sphere treats domain aliases as full-featured domains. It means that they can be registered/renewed via domain registrar right from your CP. Besides, domain aliases can be easily turned to full-featured hosting domains and vice versa.

This concept provides you with more flexible approach to creating web hosting/mail service aliases. You can:

• Register new domain configuring it as a web hosting/mail service alias for an existing domain
• Disable web hosting/mail service alias for a domain
• Turn domain/mail service alias to full-featured web/mail hosting domain
• Register domains without enabling web hosting/mail service to be considered later either for hosting or for aliasing
• Renew web hosting/mail service aliases automatically through H-Sphere

Currently, H-Sphere supports hosting/mail service alias for the following types of domains:

Hosting Domain Alias	Mail Service Alias
domain of Host Existing Site type Registered domain Transferred domain	domain of Host Existing Site type Registered domain Transferred domain

If you have domain aliases added before version 3.1, they will continue to operate according to the old scheme. To make old aliases full-featured domains, remove them and then add again as described below.

Configuring new domain as a web hosting/mail service alias for an existing domain

To do this:

1. Choose Add New Domain in Domain Settings menu.
2. Enter name for your alias and click Submit:

   

3. Click Continue. Then on the Options page choose settings exactly as shown on the below screenshot. Click Submit.

   

Disabling web hosting/mail service alias for a domain

To do this:

1. Go to Edit Domain page:

   

2. Click the Trash icon near Mail Service Alias/Alias to existing hosting domain.

Turning domain/mail service alias to full-featured web/mail hosting domain

To do this:

1. Go to Edit Domain page.
2. Click the Trash icon near Mail Service Alias/Alias to existing hosting domain as in the above subsection.
3. Click the Off icon near Mail Service/Web Service:

   

4. Mail/Web Service will become enabled:

   

Registering domains without web/mail service to be considered later either for hosting or for aliasing

To do this:

1. Choose Add New Domain in Domain Settings menu.
2. Enter name for your domain and click Submit.
3. Click Continue and on the Options page choose settings exactly as shown on the below screenshot. Click Submit.

   

4. Later on the Edit Domain page turn on either the Service buttons or the Alias buttons.

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. Select Quick Access in Account menu.
2. Click the Web Options icon to go to your web options page.
3. Click the Edit icon next to the domain you need.
4. Scroll down to the Server alias field and click the Add icon.
5. Enter server alias. It will be added to the list of server aliases for this virtual host name.

   

Renewing 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 renew 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. Select Quick Access in Account menu.
2. Click the Domains icon.
3. Select the domain name if you have more than one.
4. The active mode shows up in the Domain renew mode entry:

   

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

To renew domain registration manually:

1. Click the Renew domain link:

   

   • Renew/registration date: the date you registered your domain or last time renewed the domain registration.
   • Registration/last renew period in years: the period you registered or last time renewed 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 renew the domain registration.
   • Renew domain for this many year(s): set the period you'd like to renew 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

Contact/billing info is available only for domains registered through CP.

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

Note: If your .org domain is locked, you won't be able to update your domain's contact/billing information via CP! Unlock your domain first!