Subdomain woes

[imnotted]

Well, here's the deal. I have a .com w/ JagPC, and it uses two subdomains. I went to add a third, and for some reason, it won't work. It shows the redirection under 'Subdomains' and all, and it's set up EXACTLY like the other two, but I get 404s when I go to it. Any advice?

[Ron]

Open a ticket to support.

[Vin DSL]

Did you make the folder yourself, THEN use cPanel to designate it as a sub-domain, or did you let cPanel make the sub-domain folder from the get-go?

Does that question make sense?

I've had mixed results using cPanel to turn an existing folder into a sub-domain. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. However, I have never had a problem if I let cPanel make the sub-domain folder for me...

[Vin DSL]

If you don't mind me quoting myself, this my help...

We moved to JaguarPC this week and have been V impressed so far. However, I guess we fell into a common trap - misconfiguring subdomains - judging from the threads we've searched 'n read.

To anybody having problems, here's what you do. It's so simple it's hard:

1. Go to the 'Subdomains' section of your control panel. It's listed under 'Services.'
   
2. In the 'Add subdomain' form, enter a name and click 'Add.'

LoL! That's it! And, wait a couple of days for the DNS to kick in so you (and the rest of the world) can find it.

We fell into the 'trap' of thinking it was more difficult than it is. We tried this and that, only to screw things up. In particular:

1. Do not create your own subdirectory for the subdomain. Let 'Control Panel' do it for you.
   
2. Do not 'Set redirection.'
   
3. Do not be impatient. The DNS numbers will take a few days to 'kick in.'

Hope this helps others that are having difficulty setting up their subdomains...

BTW, here's a little test page we put up if you want to check it out. Basically, it has mapped graphics, a sliced image file and several types of audio files. See if you can find the 'hidden files.' They ALL work great on JaguarPC!

• http://civic.lenon.com/

Latez...

[Vin DSL]

I might add, that post was from when I first came here. In the meantime, I have setup several sub-domains using the above procedure and it 'resolves' immediately now. I don't know how JagPC did this, but my hat is off to them!

[imnotted]

Spot on info as usual, thanks Vin DSL! It's workin now..

[Ron]

[...]and it 'resolves' immediately now. I don't know how JagPC did this, but my hat is off to them!

I agree with all three points.

But, I set up two subdomains on the same (or subsequent) day(s), and the first resovled immediately for me, the second took 2 days, although for the person for whom I set it up, it resolved immediately.

My emails to that subdomain resolved immediately. My http traffic took 2 days.

Perhaps my ISP or another machine along the way had cached the fact that the domain didn't exist before I created it. :shrug:

[jason]

Normally if a requested name isn't in a DNS cache (even if the base name is), the server should go out and re-request the info to get the newly added subdomain--but who knows what some ISP's are doing to cut down on bandwidth.

Personally, when I was having trouble with this (around the same time as Vin's post), I asked for DNS wildcarding to be set up on my IP, and I've never had a problem since then. With wildcards, I esssentially have a catchall domain (which happens to be my main site) where requests go when a specific DNS match can't be found. In the case of subdomains, if I set one up in CPanel it is immeadiately set up in Apache, but (back then) it didn't seem to be set up in the DNS servers as quickly. Since subdomains and my main domain share the same IP, the request would be sent to my server because the name matched the wildcard, but Apache would pick up on the "host" header and serve the subdomain properly. This method will only work if you have a dedicated IP address, however.

--Jason

[Ron]

Back in Aletia days, the domains were wildcarded, and when I mentioned it on here it was suggested that was a bad idea. I don't remember why, nor if they said why.

Everything you say makes sense to me except the last sentence; why wouldn't a shared IP addy do the exact same thing? with *.yourdomain.com , blahblah.yourdomain.com would be sent to the shared IP server, and Apache would find the right home for it, no?

[jason]

Back in Aletia days, the domains were wildcarded, and when I mentioned it on here it was suggested that was a bad idea. I don't remember why, nor if they said why.

Everything you say makes sense to me except the last sentence; why wouldn't a shared IP addy do the exact same thing? with *.yourdomain.com , blahblah.yourdomain.com would be sent to the shared IP server, and Apache would find the right home for it, no?

I remember someone once saying it was a bad idea, too, but I don't remember any reasons for it, either. Personally, I haven't found any negatives to having it there.

As far as wildcarding with a shared IP, you're right, it probably would still work. I hadn't thought it through completely...

--Jason

<jason goes to get another cup of coffeee >