I have searched the forums here and found some similar questions but none that fit my case, so here goes.

I have recently signed up with Tera-Byte.com for the 4R package, the one with ASP instead of shell access. I have to say in two months everything has been great until now. When I ordered the account I was told I would have subdomains, then found out later I needed to use a script. Fine no problem, have used them before, so not a problem. After a weekend of banging my head off the wall I finally was able to talk to someone that didn't have a stop watch timing me and they looked at my server. Well it turns out I am out of luck. Even though wildcards are enabled for subdomains the rule throws everything back to the root directory.

So now I think to myself, instead of being tight, I'll spend a few extra dollars and get two more domains instead of using subdomains, more professional anyway. Well they tell me I can have 3 domains with my account but they will only point to the root and my other script won't work on that either. So if I want to use subdomains or domains the way I want I need to step down to the cheaper account and be moved to another server. Result, I lose my entire database and 2 months worth of work.

To add insult to injury I inquire about enabling ASP and they tell me I would have to be moved to another server, the current server I was on was not ASP capable. Yet my account includes ASP. So if I waited a year after my business was really booming I would lose my database. Even after two months it is a major loss let alone a year.

So where do I stand. I opted to spend more money for the best shared host account, I can't use subdomains, can't use multiple domains the way I need to and I can't use ASP. Well at least not with out losing my entire database and months of work. As far as the subdomain issue, would it not be easier, I'm not an Apache guru like most here but, couldn't they just change one line in the http:conf file to allow scripts to work instead of a client losing their database? So now I am not so pleased with Tera-Byte.

Back to my question. I want to keep Tera-Byte because of the work I have invested. I thought maybe you guys would know a fix for me, since most of you are Apache/Cobalt gurus. Is there a way or a service available that I can use to assign subdomains to a subdirectory of my account. Redirection.net said no, it wouldn't work, that doesn't sound right to me and their grasp of the english language is less than stellar. Just to clarify, I want subdomain.mydomain.com to point to a sub directory of my site but they say I can't do that even with a service because of the rules of the server I am on. I am in a real bind and any help is more than appreciated.

Thanks for reading my long winded story / question / mini rant.

It seems what concerns you most is the db. That should be easy to deal with.

Do you really need 25GB transfer per month? If not, move to a cpanel or plesk host and you will be able to manage the db, add subdomains, etc.

Try downtownhost.com. They are running a special. $13 for 200mb and 12.5GB transfer. If you want to test drive cpanel, I can even give you my account info to try it. That's a new account on that special plan.

Originally posted by ebird
It seems what concerns you most is the db. That should be easy to deal with.

Do you really need 25GB transfer per month? If not, move to a cpanel or plesk host and you will be able to manage the db, add subdomains, etc.

Try downtownhost.com. They are running a special. $13 for 200mb and 12.5GB transfer. If you want to test drive cpanel, I can even give you my account info to try it. That's a new account on that special plan.

Good advice except for the ASP.

But... I don't think it's wise to give your account info away to let someone try Cpanel. Best thing to do would be go to the DTH actual CPanel demo. ( http://cpdemo:demo@cpanel.downtownhost.com:2082/ )

Thanks for your advice. :)

I tried the demo, but for the subdomain, I couldn't test it. That's the reason I offered my account info for a real test. This account is new and I will begin to use it in March. If KaosAD is a bad guy, I will ask Jorge to reset my account. Am I too innocent? :rolleyes:

Why not just have the subdomains have a home page that automatically redirects the visitor to whatever directory on whatever site you want them to go to? Like META REFRESH tag for instance.

ebird: Thank you very much, I appreciate it but I would not feel right having your account info. Switching hosts is a last resort for me. The project is too far along at this point to even contemplate switching unless absolutely necessary. Plus I paid for 6 months already.

UnifiedCons: if it were only that simple, like I stated, any subdomain gets thrown back to root and the rule which will make it seek the first index.* it finds. which appears to be only html, shtml, htm, php etc, not cgi.

Tera-Byte has put me in a spot with their less than knowledgeable sales people. I doubt I will need ASP but it was nice to know it was there if I needed it but of course now I can't use it. If I had shell access this would not be a problem but because I opted for ASP (which I don't have now) I don't have shell access. I really need a resolve to get subdomains working, whether through Tera-Byte or with redirection service. I have seen ZoneEdit and MyDomain but I am not sure if they would even work. I mentioned Redirection.net for the simple reason, they appear to be on Tera-Byte's servers which I know are reliable and they are affiliates. I still need some help with this one, any ideas?

If you can make it open index.php, you can most probably do the redirecting. You should have all necessary environment variables available to you.
I could go and try to make something for you, but I really don't know all the variable names and necessary functions exactly and there are probably many scripts out there to do this.

I've got some cgi scripts and stuff that should let you have multiple domains and subdomains run from just the root directory. If you're interested, PM me.

El Nino, I want to thank you for sending me those scripts. Unfortunately I get the same results. No matter what I try, even with .htaccess files I always wind up back at the root. Tera-Byte could eliminate this headache by simply implementing a one line rule on that server, since they allow it with the less expensive accounts and the server already has wildcards enabled, why they won't is beyond me. I guess in their eyes inconveniencing a client is easier to deal with.

A note to Tera-Byte, educate your sales staff on options with your various plans. I will make sure this gets passed along to the Editor in Chief here. This should make for a wonderful editorial/review.