Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : dns

[jonniejoejonson]

Hello,
What i am trying to do.
I have a social network called... www.example.com (http://www.example.com)
this domain is pointing to my hosting companies names servers.
I would like my users to be able to have their own domains and for them to point to their own space on my website.
At the moment i have it set up so that my users...
1/ point their domain to my hosting company namesservers.
2/ I then add their domain as a parked domain.
3/ At the top of the index page of www.example.com (http://www.example.com)...
I have a script that forwards any domains that aren't www.example.com (http://www.example.com) to another page.
This page then loads the appropriate details for that domain.
I would like a system whereby I dont have to park their domain every time.
Is it possible for them to point to my domain's dns? and therefore i would not need to park the domain?
thanks to any responders

[bager]

You are talking about subdomains right? Set up wildcard dns and add a script to iframe their sites.
So they will add their sites, another script will automatically update your database for the new iframed page.

[jonniejoejonson]

No, i dont own that domain (just using it as an example), and i im talking about subdomains...
However sites like ning, offer customers the ability to have their own domain...
the user has to buy the domain and change the a-records of their domain to ning's ip address.
However what i want ot know is what do ning do so that the domain resolves to the correct place. I don't believe they create a parked domain for the 500'000 users that use their own domain.
thanks again to any responders.

[foobic]

This is CPanel, right? When you park a domain in CPanel you're doing two things:
Setting up a dns entry - either a new zone or a new A record
Setting up the virtualhost by adding a ServerAlias in the existing vhost container
To get the same effect without manually adding the parked domain you need:
Wildcard dns - for subdomains of the domain you're using (or even all domains if necessary). This is a non-standard setup, but some hosts are willing to do it for you if you only need wildcard subdomains.
Virtualhost settings that will accept any domain name and send it to the same document root. I think CPanel will do this by default if your site is on a dedicated IP. If not, again you could ask your host for a custom setup.
So, ask your host. If they won't do it for you there are others who will, or you could get a VPS or dedicated server where you can set it up for yourself.

[jonniejoejonson]

thanks foobic...
so if i were to,
1. Create
ns1.mydomain.com
ns2.mydomain.com
and point them to an my servers dedicated ip...
2. and then if i were to then tell my users to point their domains to
ns1.mydomain.com
ns2.mydomain.com
all the domains would then by default go to the root dir of my hosting account?
and if at a later date i wanted to change my ip for whatever reason, because my users have their domains pointing to my nameserver, it is just a question of me changing my servers ip?

[foobic]

Setting up your own nameservers isn't strictly necessary but it would certainly be a good idea in case you need to change hosts in the future. In that event you'd just need to change your nameserver IPs and the dedicated IP you're using for the site (no changes to customer settings).
The IP addresses you use for nameservers won't necessarily be the same as your own dedicated IP though - again, ask your host.

Your users can use any DNS they want, so long as they point their domain name to your website's IP address. (If they use a registrar like eNom or other similar registrar, they can point their domain name for free using the registrar's DNS.
Anyway, once they do that, add this to your home page:
....
Nevermind, I can't help you because the forum gives me this error:
"You need five posts before being able to use any of this board's vB code features. Including smilies and linking to URLs."
Very lame.