Subdomain

Hi,

I have my domain [crimsy.com] registered under GoDaddy. I recently had to leave my old host because they were closing down. So I transfered over to DreamHost. The transfer was good, I pointed the DNS servers to the ones in DH and added the domain to the CP.

So, the page works fine. crimsy.com connects to the server and so on and so on [I just need to move the files to the new server].

My main question is, why can't I set up a Subdomain? The main reason I need at this moment is because I want to let a new user get his own subdomain and server space so he can start learning HTML basics, basically I want to train him, but I don't want him accessing my main files. So a subdomain would be perfect.

I already read the wiki, searched around here, and found nothing that really helped me.

Main Question:

Can someone explain (in as much detail possible) how to make a subdomain work (ex, htmlnewbie.crimsy.com with it's own space, FTP, and user). I made one work, but the URL only worked as "www.subdomain.crimsy.com" I don't need that extra "www" there o_O

I need it to show under my root directory maybe like [crimsy.com/subdomainname] and the user having access only to that folder.

Thank you

-crismy :D

You said that you created a subdomain and it only worked as www.subdomain.crimsy.com. What do you mean by "it only worked"? Does the site not come up if you enter "http://subdomain.crimsy.com/"?

When you add a fully hosted domain in the control panel, you're giving the following choice:

How do you like the www in your URL?
 * Both http://www.domain.com/ and http://domain.com/ work.
 * Add "www." if somebody goes to http://domain.com/
 * Remove "www." if somebody goes to http://www.domain.com/

In all three cases, a user is supposed to be able to enter http://www.domain.com/ and http://domain.com/. The difference is what happens after that. In the first case, whatever the user entered as the domain name is what the site represents itself as in the address bar. In the second case, the first time a user types in only domain.com, it is automagically morphed into www.domain.com. In the third case, if the user types in www.domain.com, the www. part is stripped off.

I think you need wildcard DNS.



T-T-L

In reply to:

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I think you need wildcard DNS.

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Wildcard DNS is not required. The sub-domain *should* be reachable with and without the www. In my experience, it is not unusual for one or the other not to work correctly until the new DNS information has propagated fully.

My advice is to simply wait a while and things should start working as expected.


Mark

did you set up a new ftp user and choose that user when you set up the subdomain? if not, you can still set up a user and move the subdomain to that user (this will allow you to give that user access to the subdomain without letting them access your files).

track7 - my dream-hosted site

Yea, that's the main issue [besides connecting the subdomain to a user] I type "http://subdomain.crimsy.com" and nothing loads Firefox just says "Server not Found" but if I type "http://www.subdomain.crimsy.com" it loads an empty directory [which is something at least] but I upload files to every folder in my root, the subdomain folder, etc and nothing shows up anywhere. Like, there's no folder to upload files...

-crimsy :)

And yeah, I set up a new user for the account, seems they connect, but the subdomain won't work nor there's a folder to upload things...
Edited by crimsy on 06/20/07 07:26 AM (server time).

In reply to:

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I set up a new user for the account, seems they connect, but the subdomain won't work nor there's a folder to upload things...

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If you created a new user to control the sub-domain, then the web-directory for the sub-domain will be in that user's home directory, not your primary user's home directory. You will need to log-in using the user that controls the sub-domain to see this directory, by default this directory will have the same name as the sub-domain.

As for not being able to browse the sub-domain without the www; I believe you will find this is temporary and will 'fix itself' given some time. It might help to clear your browsers cache and restart the browser, just in case there is some caching issue happening.

Mark

A couple of quick questions:
1. When did you switch over from GoDaddy?
2. When did you add the subdomain?

Oh, and when you say "it loads an empty directory", do you mean you get an empty "directory view" with "Index of /" at the top and an empty table of files below?

In reply to:

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I need it to show under my root directory maybe like [crimsy.com/subdomainname]

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It is worth noting that, under the DreamHost system, sub-domains are not implemented as sub-directories inside the web-directory of the parent domain. Instead, they have their own directory in your home directory, just like the parent domain.


Mark

Hey, wait a sec...

Crimsy, how did you set up the "FTP user / CGI-runs-as user:" in for this domain (in the control panel)? You created a new ID for htmlnewbie, right?

Anyway, if so, you might want to make sure you're uploading to the right directory - it should be /home/htmlnewbie/htmlnewbie.crimsy.com/. Note that the root for the subdomain is under the (new) home directory of the new user you just created.

Apologies in advance if this isn't the case, but I recall making this mistake before.

On both replies for the directories, okay.. that's fine as long as I have access from my main account.

Okay, seems to be working as it should be "subdomain.crimsy.com" with the settings changed :D

Now,how do I access the root directory on my FTP? So I can see both crimsy.com's folder and the subdomain folders...

Sorry to be a pain, but this new CP and server is a bit different from previous experiences

~crimsy :D

Edited by crimsy on 06/20/07 08:09 AM (server time).

Cool. Glad that worked out for you!

On the subject of accessing htmlnewbie's directories and files from your account, is it acceptable to do this via sftp or shell access? My understanding is that getting ftp access to the other user's files will be problematic - but that doesn't mean someone else knows a trick that I don't.

the only trick I know is to use the webftp links on the panel...
lol
thats the fastest way
the other is to creat a symbolic link, and use a SFTP/SSH program, like winscp, or filezilla (for win) or a simple shell (for *nix)