Many hosts offer domain pointing - second domain name arriving at the same web page - but I haven't yet come across one that can delivery e-mail messages to the equivalent user on the second domain - they all seem to deliver to the catch-all of the first domain.

john@domain.net arrives at catchall@domain.com instead of john@domain.com.

This can't be that technically difficult, can it?

Seems like a reasonable thing to want to do for people who have variations of a domain - .com, .net and country TLDs.

Originally posted by brookie
This can't be that technically difficult, can it?

No, it isn't. But one thing you'll notice is that there are a large number of web hosts run by people who don't exactly have vast knowledge of the software they are using... and without understanding their MTA they're not going to know how to set it up properly.

To be fair, however, what you describe wouldn't always be the desired behaviour; the behaviour really should be user-selectable.

Originally posted by cperciva


No, it isn't. But one thing you'll notice is that there are a large number of web hosts run by people who don't exactly have vast knowledge of the software they are using... and without understanding their MTA they're not going to know how to set it up properly.

I certainly agree with you there :)


To be fair, however, what you describe wouldn't always be the desired behaviour; the behaviour really should be user-selectable.
Fair point.

I fully agree with cperciva as well, with an added point: a lot of hosts use canned control panels. Those control panels are often programmed to have one domain and multiple domain "pointers" associated to an account. Since the panel can only handle one true domain at a time, all the secondary domains are catchalls for the first domain. Kind of silly, but it works.

It just really depends on the hosting company's configuration and what tools they use. There are hosts out there (even on WHT) that do what you want to do. When asking for multiple domain support, find out as much information as you can to make sure it's what you want. Not all hosts consider multiple domain hosting to be the same thing as you might consider it to be.

also, if hosts allow people to get email on multi-hosted domains...more people will share accounts and use more resources per account so the hosts revenue will decrease...

Originally posted by Dogma
also, if hosts allow people to get email on multi-hosted domains...more people will share accounts and use more resources per account so the hosts revenue will decrease...

...but I'm just trying to solve the reasonable problem of having the .com and country TLD versions of the same domain name.

I want the same web pages to appear and the e-mail to route the right person in each case.

I don't think that is abusing the hosting service :confused:

Any other way of achieving this?

Allera, can you suggest names of hosts that do what I want? I haven't come across any yet.

Originally posted by Dogma
also, if hosts allow people to get email on multi-hosted domains...more people will share accounts and use more resources per account so the hosts revenue will decrease...

Exactly. We don't use a canned control panel - and we absolutely do know how to configure servers correctly. However, if we allowed full email accounts for domain pointers...the $5 setup fee that we charge for the pointers wouldn't even cover the amount of bandwidth the email account would probably use.

--Tina

Originally posted by AffordableHost
Exactly. We don't use a canned control panel - and we absolutely do know how to configure servers correctly. However, if we allowed full email accounts for domain pointers...the $5 setup fee that we charge for the pointers wouldn't even cover the amount of bandwidth the email account would probably use.
You could easily offer it in one of your higher-end packages (perhaps as a bonus?). Email bandwidth and processor use is very tiny for the _vast_ majority of users. Unless they are sending and receiving large attachments all day long, you should barely feel it. We have some users that receive gobs of mail a day (the most mailing lists I have ever seen) and I can't tell. :)

True, you can't turn into a hotmail-type service, but offering a few mailboxes for domain pointers (and limiting the domain pointers, or the amount of total boxes, spread across all domains, pointers or real) shouldn't make much of a difference. Maybe charge extra for email accounts on domain pointers? Anything's possible.

Originally posted by allera

Maybe charge extra for email accounts on domain pointers? Anything's possible.

We do. But, at that point, it becomes more cost-effective for the customer to just get another hosting account.

--Tina

Ours is setup so that the extra domains overlay the main account's email address and the email addresses work for whichever domain name you choose them to work for.

You@MainAccount.com works just as well as You@ExtraDomain.com

I've found it works for both the host and the client this way. The client receives the ability to offer the extra domains specific email accounts, but is also restricted to the number of email accounts the main package includes. So if the main package includes 50 accounts and has 15 extra domains overlaying it then they can simply use 15 (or whatever) of the main packages email accounts for the extras. No more than what was offered in the main package is being granted and the client receives the ability to use their extra domains with email ... It seems to work in everyone's favor this way. Visitors tend to email Whatever@domain.com regardless and I'd hate to see those emails be lost just because they were visiting an "extra domain"

Another account, or maybe upgrade their current account? Isn't that the way the wheel turns? ;)

I was also thinking that at what point would a domain pointer turn into more than a domain pointer (or I guess I'd say, what should be included with domain pointing?). Deb's solution (of course) is nice for the customer, though to be honest, I just figured that domain pointing would only consist of redirecting the second domain to resolve at the first domain and not much else (URL changes). Guess there are different levels of domain pointing (something I do realize and when it someone asks, "What is domain pointing?" - I always tell people to ask the host as it may mean a couple of things).

o domain thats email uses so much bandwith that it requires its own plan ?

interesting

Originally posted by AffordableHost


We do. But, at that point, it becomes more cost-effective for the customer to just get another hosting account.

--Tina

...but if I go for a second account I have to duplicate all the email addresses in the second control panel, and have to come up with some scheme to mirror the web site - either maintain a copy (which is not feasible if it's database-driven) or redirect to the first (in which case the first sites gets the bandwidth usage anyway).

I'm simply looking for a way of using synonymous domains names. It's not hosting different web sites on the same account.

Originally posted by brookie
I'm simply looking for a way of using synonymous domains names. It's not hosting different web sites on the same account.

I'd suggest you look for a web host using qmail. It should be easy to set up a .qmail file to redirect email from one domain to another.

I always thought Cpanel servers were setup so that when u park a domain on another, email mapping is changed to the equilovent ie

wildwayz@moose-shack.com -> wildwayz@moose-shack.net

--James