Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : VPS Hosting : Multiple domains/websites on a single VPS?

[Vikalp]

Hello guys,

I have 3 websites, each hosted on a different domain with different hosting provider.

Recently I acquired a VPS and I want to migrate all 3 of my websites to this single VPS, so that I could save money on hosting providers and could manage my sites from one single location.

I guess Kloxo is perfect for this purpose.

I have installed Kloxo on my VPS and installation went fine. Although I am a bit confused regarding some of the features and have no idea what to put in those settings inside Kloxo control panel.

First is the DNS template, what do I add in Primary DNS and Secondary DNS? It automatically assigned my VPS's IP to Web IPaddress and Mail IPaddress, but I have no clue what to enter in primary/secondary DNS.

After that how do I go about adding all three of my Domains to the VPS?

And what changes do I need to make in my Domain's control Panel to attach them to the VPS?

I hope you guys understand what I am talking about, I would really appreciate if someone could guide me in this regard.

tl;dr - How can I host my 3 different websites on a single VPS using Kloxo? My VPS is having a single IP.

Thanks.

[SolidJoe]

If you aren't comfortable in the shell and managing a server, a VPS is probably not for you regardless of whether or not you have a control panel. It requires a lot of experience and expertise to properly and securely manage.

[tanmoyg]

Originally Posted by SolidJoe

If you aren't comfortable in the shell and managing a server, a VPS is probably not for you regardless of whether or not you have a control panel. It requires a lot of experience and expertise to properly and securely manage.

Well most of the managed hosting providers will do the job for you!

[Vikalp]

@SolidJoe I am quite comfortable with Shell and Linux commands etc. Its just that I am a bit confused how to carry out the above task using Kloxo.

[n8bit]

Sometimes it is a better idea (and probably more secure) to set it up without a control panel, so that you learn all the different portions of hosting (dns, webserver/vhosting, system health monitoring) in and out.

Or like tanmoyg said, have a managed provider set it up for you - then you take it from there. Better than suffering downtime!

[kbeezie]

Originally Posted by tanmoyg

Well most of the managed hosting providers will do the job for you!

True, but it certainly helps to have some basic shell experience.

[kbeezie]

Originally Posted by Vikalp

@SolidJoe I am quite comfortable with Shell and Linux commands etc. Its just that I am a bit confused how to carry out the above task using Kloxo.

Then don't use Kloxo like webmin and such it's just a control panel for existing installed software, you don't have to use it and sometimes its better if you don't. (Where as something like cpanel/directadmin/plesk is going to be pretty interwoven into the system and respective applications)

[Vikalp]

Thank you very much guys for all the help.

[algero]

All your tasks may be executed using Kloxo. It's easy.

[fshagan]

Originally Posted by Vikalp

First is the DNS template, what do I add in Primary DNS and Secondary DNS? It automatically assigned my VPS's IP to Web IPaddress and Mail IPaddress, but I have no clue what to enter in primary/secondary DNS.

A VPS has to have its own "authoritative name servers" (or, "local name servers"). These contain the A, CNAME, and MX records for your websites. There are more detailed than the name servers you are used to in the DNS. All of the other servers in the DNS just point to your authoritative name servers. Your other web hosts have provided this service for you; when you get a VPS, you have to provide it.

You can have Kloxo install your authoritative name servers for you. Check the Kloxo forums; they have quite a few tutorials and threads on it.

However, there's a problem with doing this, especially if email is important to your sites. If the local name servers are on the same server as your sites, when the server is unavailable, so are your local name servers. If I send you an email, and the name servers are unavailable, its as if your sites never existed. I get my email back immediately, with a bounce message, saying you don't exist. If, on the other hand, at least one of your authoritative name servers is still available, my email will be queued for delivery when the server is again reachable.

But, if email doesn't matter for your sites, you can put both name servers on your VPS. It will consume a bit of RAM to do so. The alternative, if email is important to you, is to either buy one or two more VPS for use as name servers, or use an external DNS option from someplace like DNSMadeEasy. This saves RAM and is less expensive than buying one or two more VPS.

[fkam17]

You can host multiple web sites on a single VPS with a single IP using named based virtual hosting in your Apache config. The control panel you use should be able to handle it. Name based virtual hosting allows your http request to be interpreted into different documentroot based on the URL.

[Vikalp]

Originally Posted by fshagan

A VPS has to have its own "authoritative name servers" (or, "local name servers"). These contain the A, CNAME, and MX records for your websites. There are more detailed than the name servers you are used to in the DNS. All of the other servers in the DNS just point to your authoritative name servers. Your other web hosts have provided this service for you; when you get a VPS, you have to provide it.

You can have Kloxo install your authoritative name servers for you. Check the Kloxo forums; they have quite a few tutorials and threads on it.

However, there's a problem with doing this, especially if email is important to your sites. If the local name servers are on the same server as your sites, when the server is unavailable, so are your local name servers. If I send you an email, and the name servers are unavailable, its as if your sites never existed. I get my email back immediately, with a bounce message, saying you don't exist. If, on the other hand, at least one of your authoritative name servers is still available, my email will be queued for delivery when the server is again reachable.

But, if email doesn't matter for your sites, you can put both name servers on your VPS. It will consume a bit of RAM to do so. The alternative, if email is important to you, is to either buy one or two more VPS for use as name servers, or use an external DNS option from someplace like DNSMadeEasy. This saves RAM and is less expensive than buying one or two more VPS.

Great! Thanks for the simple nice explanation.

I think I will go with a third party DNS service, like ClouDNS.com

So I can put the DNS info they give me into primary and secondary DNS option inside DNS template. Now whenever I add a new domain through Kloxo I can assign the same template to it and I have to put the same nameservers, provided by the DNS provider, into my Domain's control panel.

Got it! Thanks again.

@fkam17 Thanks to you too mate.

I will try and post the results soon.

[ichpen]

Originally Posted by Vikalp

Great! Thanks for the simple nice explanation.

I think I will go with a third party DNS service, like ClouDNS.com

So I can put the DNS info they give me into primary and secondary DNS option inside DNS template. Now whenever I add a new domain through Kloxo I can assign the same template to it and I have to put the same nameservers, provided by the DNS provider, into my Domain's control panel.

Got it! Thanks again.

@fkam17 Thanks to you too mate.

I will try and post the results soon.

Use your registrars nameservers. They are faaar better than keeping them locally. Namecheap and godaddy have pretty robust DNS that is free as long as you have a domain with them.

I honestly don't understand why folks offload DNS and try to manage dns zones separately (unless you're running an enteprise).

Never used Kloxo but can wholeheartedly recommend ispconfig if you're looking for a free panel. I find it better in someways to directadmin/cpanel.

[fshagan]

Originally Posted by Vikalp

I think I will go with a third party DNS service, like ClouDNS.com

So I can put the DNS info they give me into primary and secondary DNS option inside DNS template. Now whenever I add a new domain through Kloxo I can assign the same template to it and I have to put the same nameservers, provided by the DNS provider, into my Domain's control panel.

Got it! Thanks again.

Yep, you got it. It should work fine. It helps with RAM usage a bit to not run BIND (although Kloxo has a great tinyDNS feature in their "switch software" configuration that does almost as much).

[kpmedia]

Originally Posted by ichpen

I honestly don't understand why folks offload DNS and try to manage dns zones separately (unless you're running an enteprise).

I did it just to see if I could. Now I'm considering moving a few important sites to a better DNS setup. I don't want to pay more than a few bucks per month, however.

ClouDNS.net doesn't work for me so far. I just registered, activated, and then it tells me I have bad login info. When I try to use the "forgot password" function, it says I submitted an invalid email. So my opinion of that service is already tanked. I already wasn't thrilled that prices are not listed on the site, and you have to be logged in first. Oh well. Next.