Add-On Domains, Parked Domains & Sub-Domains
By Mario Sanchez
2003-12-29
Reader Rating: 
Add-On Domains, Parked Domains & Sub-Domains
Once you have a website up and running, you may want to launch other websites. The default way to do it is to register new domain names and open new hosting accounts. However, opening new hosting accounts can be expensive, especially if you still have plenty of free space and bandwidth available in your original account. Fortunately, it is possible to share the web space and bandwidth of your original account among different sites.
You can basically do so through:
* Add-On Domains
* Parked Domains, and
* Sub-Domains
What is an Add-On Domain?
An add-on domain is a new domain name that points to a subdirectory within your existing domain hosting account, where the website for the new domain will reside. Add-on domains must be registered domain names that you own, and that are configured to point to your web host's servers.
From a web user perspective, an add-on domain functions just like any other domain. For example, if you already have a hosting account under www.main-domain.com, you can register and set up an add-on domain (for example: www.add-on-domain.com), so that when your visitors type "http://www.add-on-domain.com" in their browser, they will be transported to the new site.
The advantage of add-on domains is that the browser's address bar will show "http://www.add-on-domain.com" (there will be no reference to the original domain), so the process will be totally transparent to your users. If your users navigates to another page, their browser will accordingly show "http://www.add-on-domain.com/anotherpage.html", just like it should.
Apart from sharing web space and bandwidth with your main domain, add-on domains also get their own cgi-bin and statistics.
Many web hosts now offer to set-up add-on domains for free. This is only fair, since you are not getting any more web space or bandwidth. Others, however, will charge you a modest one time fee, which is not bad, especially when the cost of registering the new domain is included. Finally, some web hosts will charge you a montly fee for each add-on domain you set up. In some cases, that fee can be very close to the monthly cost of your web hosting account, to the point that it is better to just open a new hosting account for the new domain. If you plan to set up add-on domains in the future, you're better off avoiding this kind of account.
If you found this article interesting, you may want to read these as well:
» Web Hosts: Helping Us Navigate Through This Future Techno-World.
» Web Space or Bandwidth: Finding the Right Balance
» A Domain Name & Web Site - The Key To The Door.
» Web Hosting: To Switch or to Stay?
» What's In A Web Host?
» How Multiple Server Hosting Impacts Your Website's Uptime
|
