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WebCom Domain Name Service (DNS) -- Configure Subdomain

This page describes how to use the Configure Subdomain service option. To access this or any other domain name service, log in to your account by clicking on "Control Panel" at the left of this page, and then select Domain Name Services from the main menu.

For more information about domain names at WebCom, please see our Domain Name Services documentation.

Description

In essence, all domains function through their subdomains. For example, if you have the domain name, "bunnysbeachballs.com", people visit your site via the web by going to www.bunnysbeachballs.com, via FTP by going to ftp.bunnysbeachballs.com, and so on. This domain name service allows you to configure how subdomain behave, primarily which part of your WebCom account (and associated webpages) that they point to. Please note that using http://domain.ext and http://www.domain.ext in your browser will take you to the same location; therefore changing where "www.domain.ext" subdomain points changes where "domain.ext" points as well.

Configure Home Page for Subdomain

WebCom customers who have a BudgetSite, BusinessSite, or WebCommerce service plan have the ability direct custom domains (and/or subdomains) to their www directory, or any subdirectory contained therein. For instance, if the directory structure of your site were to look like this:

you would have the option of pointing your domain to the www, subdir_1, or subdir_2 directory. Accessing the domain will cause the default file (i.e. "welcome.html") within that directory to be loaded by the browser. If you use FrontPage, please see our Subwebs documentation for tips for FrontPage users with multiple domains.

Steps to Configure Home Page for Domain/Subdomain

  1. Login to your WebCom account and select Domain Name Services.
  2. On the Domain Name Services Menu, click on the Configure Domain/Subdomain option.
  3. If you have more than one domain or subdomain you will be asked which one you would like to configure. (You can only point subdomains to different directories. If you would like to point "domain.ext" to a directory, you can do this by pointing "www.domain.ext" to the desired directory. "domain.ext" will point to whichever directory "www.domain.ext" points to.)
  4. The form that you are presented with allows you to change the directory that the subdomain points to, or set alternate configurations. Click the radio button next to "Home Page Location" and select the directory that you would like the domain to point to from the drop-down menu. (Shown below.)



    (If the directory you would like your domain to point to does not yet exist (doesn't appear on the drop-down list) you will have to create that using the WebCom File Manager or an FTP client. When your directory is created, leave the form and enter it again, and your new directory will appear on the drop down list.)

  5. Click on the "Modify Subdomain" button at the bottom of the form, and the domain will be updated in about 2 hours.

Alternate Subdomain Configuration

There any many things that can be done with a subdomain other than just have it point to a web site on our web server. WebCom's domain name services allow you to take full advantage of your domain name, allowing you to create subdomains and configure them for alternate tasks. The following are descriptions of different ways a WebCom subdomain can be configured. Because our name servers must be modified for these changes to take effect, and because of propagation time of subdomains on the Internet any alternate configurations can take 24 to 48 hours to take effect.

Please Note: We do not recommend using the Alternate Subdomain configuration options unless you have good knowledge of the Domain Name system and how it functions with the Internet.

Address (A) Record

This option is used if you would like a a given subdomain to resolve to another computer on the Internet. The Address record is used to point a subdomain to an IP address. List the IP address(es) that you would like the given subdomain to resolve to, each IP address on a separate line. If you list more than one IP address our name servers will rotate which IP address is given when queried by other name servers.

Please note: When modifying the Address (A) Record for a domain hosted at WebCom, the domain will only be able to correctly resolve by going to http://www.domain.com, and will not work correctly with only http://domain.com . The "www" is required to have the domain resolve correctly. There is unfortunately no work around to this issue.

Alias (CNAME) Record

This option is used if you would like a a given subdomain to resolve to another computer on the Internet. The CNAME (Canonical name or "alias") record is used to point a subdomain to another hostname. List the host name(s) that you would like the given subdomain to point to, each host name on a separate line. If you list more than one host name our name servers will rotate which one is given when queried by other name servers.

Please note: When modifying the Alias (CNAME) Record for a domain hosted at WebCom, the domain will only be able to correctly resolve by going to http://www.domain.com, and will not work correctly with only http://domain.com . The "www" is required to have the domain resolve correctly. There is unfortunately no work around to this issue.

Nameserver (NS) Record

This option is used if you would like another service provider to provide name service for your subdomain. List the name servers that you would like this subdomain delegated to, each on a separate line, and click on "modify domain". After this change has taken effect, the new service provider will be responsible for administering this subdomain, and domain name queries will be directed to the listed name servers.

Additional Notes

In the case of configuring/changing the home page for a subdomain, it normally takes about 20 minutes for the change to take effect. All alternate configuration options take 24 to 48 hours for changes to take effect, as our servers must be restarted, and the change needs time to propagate through the Internet. If the changes do no take effect in the expected amount of time, contact support@webcom.com and they should be able to assist you.

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