Change account / domain question

[Galen]

Does anyone know if it's possible for Jag to change my account name to allow me to use a different domain name as my main account domain? It would sure be a lot easier to do this than to setup a new account, transfer my files and settings, cancel the old account, etc. It'd be nice if they could just change the account name, but I don't know if they can. Figured I'd ask here first before submitting a ticket for something they might not even be able (or willing) to do.

One more question while I'm here. If you multihost using .htaccess instead of through support setting it up, is there a way to use the e-mail service for the multihosted account? I would assume the answer is no. I ask this because I'd have to change nameservers to Jag's in order for support to set up multihosting and I'd really rather not do that. With AletiaNIC, changing the nameserver's from their default also takes away all control that I have over the domain settings. I'd have to submit a ticket to Jag every single time I wanted to change any little thing. That would get old.

Thanks in advance!

[mike7727]

Support changed my main domain shortly after I signed up. My first domain name is still used in several places, for instance mysql prefixes, the home folder name, etc.

[Galen]

Ok, good, then it's something they can and will do. That's nice to know.

Anybody got the second question? Please....

[jason]

Just because Jag sets up multihosting doesn't mean that you have to use Jag's servers. All you need to do on the multihosted domain is set up "A" records for www.domain.com and domain.com that point at your site's IP (or server's IP, if you don't have a uniquie IP). You'll also want to set up an MX record to allow mail through.

As for mail, I doubt you will be able to receive any mail on the JPC server (for forwarding since you can't have POP boxes on multihosted domains) if you don't have support set up the multihosting. Basiocally, messages will come in, but without a record of the domain in exim it will just bounce. Also, the .htaccess methood for multihosting web sites will only work if you have a unique IP.

--Jason

[gerilya]

Originally posted by jason
As for mail, I doubt you will be able to receive any mail on the JPC server (for forwarding since you can't have POP boxes on multihosted domains) if you don't have support set up the multihosting. Basiocally, messages will come in, but without a record of the domain in exim it will just bounce. Also, the .htaccess methood for multihosting web sites will only work if you have a unique IP.

I would guess all this doable without having support set up the multihosting. Just ask support to 'park' this domain to your account and you will be able to use .htaccess just fine
e-mail forwarding should work for parked domains as well.

[Galen]

Jason, I have a unique IP (and I do currently multihost a domain) This is one of the reasons, in fact, that I don't want to give up my current Gigadeal account, cuz then I'd have to pay extra for the unique IP (which I like very much). For now, I still get to keep it because I signed up originally with Aletia and got a unique IP then.

I was under the impression that I did have to use Jag's nameservers. Since you say I don't, I can at least ask support about it now. Thanks!

[jason]

As Gerilya pointed out, you might just want to ask for parking if you really want to use the .htaccess solution (and not have the domain count against your five for multihosting). Parked domains work the same as multihosted except that they point at the top level of your site (same place as your main account) instead of to a subdomain. I should have thought about this option last night, but I was tired when I posted.

When you set up a domain at JPC they'll actomatically set up the DNS entry in their servers for it. Since the responsibility to maintain your domain registration lies with you, not with JPC, it is completely up to you to decide whether you use their servers or someone else's.

--Jason

[Galen]

Hold up, now... You're saying that I could just park like 10 domains and use .htaccess to multihost them and it won't count against my five free multihosts and I can use e-mail forwarding from the parked domains? Isn't that sorta like cheating? I mean, that really sounds like a kinda underhanded way around the 5 multihost limit. But, unless Jag pops up and says "Galen, I'll f*****g kill you if you do that!" then that sounds like the best way to go. Thanks Jason!

[jason]

Originally posted by Galen
... But, unless Jag pops up and says "Galen, I'll f*****g kill you if you do that!" then that sounds like the best way to go. Thanks Jason!

LOL!

Well, Jag does offer free parking and allows you to use .htaccess and mod_rewrite at will, so if you want to be responsible for making sure that all 10 of those domains resolves correctly via .htaccess...

--Jason

[Galen]

Sounds awesome. I don't think I'll actually be having 10 domains any time soon though, hehe.

Thanks again

[gerilya]

It is my understanding that one-time charges for setting up multihosted domains are intended to compensate for support work, not to get additional revenue stream.
I think Jag himself mentioned in the forum that they charge for domain pointers because those are set up manually and once there is a way to do it automatically via control panel, this will be free too.

Also, it's technically possible to allow use of mod_rewrite and .htaccess and at the same time to block your attempts to convert parked domain into multihosted domain with the redirects.

[Joshua Clinard]

It's already possible to set it up automagically in CPanel, but Jag has to install that option to get it to work.

Can someone explain to me how to set the multihosted domain via .htaccess?

[Galen]

Ok, let's say you have www.abc.com and you want to multihost another domain, www.xyz.com on that same account. If you do it with htaccess, you won't have e-mail or anything like that, so it's really only good for a temporary solution (such as putting up a "Coming Soon" page or something while you work on the site)

You'd create a folder under the domain, like, www.abc.com/xyz/ Then go into your .htaccess file and put this:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} .*xyz\.com$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/xyz/
RewriteRule (.*) /xyz/$1

There ya go

[jason]

I think this was already said above, but I'll state it again. The code Galen posted will only work if you have a dedicated IP address and you are pointing that domain name at that IP. IF you don't have a dedicated IP, ask support to set up parking for the domain. Its free, and with it Apache will be set up to handle the domain if you do't have a dedicated IP. With parking you'll also get email support (forwarders, not POP accounts). Of course, unless you are already using five multihosted domains, you might as well just ask for multihosting--same effect, fewer hastles.

--Jason

[Joshua Clinard]

So there's really no reason to use the .htaccess method unless you've already gone over your multihosting limit, am I right?