Hello All,

I am new to web site set up and design and have a question regarding what the files should look in the cPanel like when hosting more than one domain.

The web host I am currently with boasts that we are able to host up to twenty-five domains with their plan. Well, for the time being, I'd like to figure out how this can be done with only two domains.

I have one domain (website) that I haven't yet built, and another domain (website) that I have built. But I have never seen what the file situation is supposed to look like in the cPanel when you have more than one site and its files on the server.

Does each domain need to have its own public_html file so that separate "index.html" files and related files can be loaded into it? And if so, is this function taken care of by the host provider, or do I need to know what to do?

In other words, how does one go about working with more than one site on the host server? For example: I have site xyz.com and I want to upload the files for that site to my host server. I also have abc.com and I want to differentiate its files from xyz.com. How is this done at the host server level?

Initially, I thought it might work the same way as it does on my computer, so I added a separate folder for each domain name (abc.com and xyz.com) under the "home" designation on the server and tried putting all the files for xyz.com into that folder, including the public_html file. But when I went to click on the website, the site wouldn't come up completely (some pages would not show and showed only an error signal or whatnot).

So, I took all the files that I had placed in the xyz.com folder and moved them back out of that folder (including the public_html file) onto the main "home" area in the cPanel and tried accessing the site and it came up perfectly.

Since I've never seen the directory (file and folder) setup for a situation in which more than one site (domain) is placed on the same server account, I was wondering if someone here who knows could enlighten me about how this is done.

I've tried searching on google to see if I could find the answer to this question, but it is difficult to come up with a short search phrase that describes this situation, and all the results I've gotten so far do not address this situation.

I supposed what I'm asking is: If it is possible to host more than one domain on a host server (as the host I'm with claims), how is this done? Do I need to point the domains in different directions on the cPanel? And if so, does there need to be a separate "public_html" file for each domain (site) placed somewhere?

If you know where this information can be found on the internet, a link to the site or directions to such would be appreciated if you don't feel like typing out an answer.

Thanks for your time and response.

Thom

For most hosts, multiple domains are classified in a similar manner to subdomains.

You register your main domain (http://www.abc.com) with your host, so that's what rests on the public_html server. Then you set up your addon domains through cpanel, so it will ultimately look like this:
http://www.abc.com/xyz
OR:
http://www.abc.com/qrs

Although it appears that they are subfolders to the main domain to you and the webhost, the general public will be none the wiser.

If you want to have each domain on it's own seperate section (such as a public_html folder, or a seperate login username and password for each), you'd have to purchase a reseller account with your webhost.

Hello Thom01,

Yes, it is possible to host unlimited addon domains under your primary domain name through cPanel >> Addon Domain which will be under the same web space and bandwidth allowed to the primary domain. It will act as an separate domain which is created as sub-directory within the public_html for your primary domain. You can upload different web pages and can have a totally different website.

Please let me know in case you have any more questions in this regards, I will be glad to assist you.

Thank you.

Are there any disadvantages of an addon domain?

Originally Posted by Ronnie

Are there any disadvantages of an addon domain?

The only real one to worry about is if the server goes down ... I know it doesn't happen often ... you loose both sites at once ... there is also the fact that both sites will be counting down (or up) your bandwidth allowance .. but other than that I don't see ant problems with this sort of set up and I use this sort of set up myself

Starlord

Originally Posted by jamestl2

For most hosts, multiple domains are classified in a similar manner to subdomains.

You register your main domain (http://www.abc.com) with your host, so that's what rests on the public_html server. Then you set up your addon domains through cpanel, so it will ultimately look like this:
http://www.abc.com/xyz
OR:
http://www.abc.com/qrs

When cPanel 11 creates an addon domain whith the default settings used it creates a directory under public_html named addondomain.com

So the addon site can be reached using

addondomain.com or

firstdomain.com/addondomain.com

I only receently was upgraded to 11 on one account that I have so I can't testify to the fact that cP 11 server does it that way.

I do know that some of the other private controls do it that way. Dreamhost is one of them.

How about search engines and page rankings. Does the addon domain make a difference? Also, what about the robots.txt file. Where should they go? Thanks...Ronnie

Originally Posted by Ronnie

How about search engines and page rankings. Does the addon domain make a difference? Also, what about the robots.txt file. Where should they go?

Search engines will see both your sites as separate entities and will spider them independantly. Page doesn't really relate to where your site is hosted, it's got more to do with the content on the site amongst other things.

A robots.txt file will just live in the same folder as each site index page.