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cPanel Addon and Parked Domains

This article covers how to work with cPanel Addon and Parked Domains.

The cPanel/WHM system, which is used to host the shared and reseller hosting plans provided by HostDime, provides two features for hosting additional domain names from an existing cPanel account. These are known as Add-on and Parked domains.

Instructions​

To host a new domain from your existing cPanel account as an Add-on or Parked Domain, you must first register a new domain name. If you have a client account with HostDime already under https://client.hostdime.com/ you can simply order a new domain name under your existing account.

If you already have an account under https://www.hostdimedomains.com/ (our legacy domain registration system), make sure to order under that system instead (that way all your domain registrations are together). You of course are free to register your domain with any other registrar that you choose if you wish.

Once the domain name is registered, you should be given options to update the nameserver addresses on the domain via the account you've registered the domain under. Update the nameserver addresses on the domain so that they point to the same nameserver addresses which the primary domain on your account is already pointed to. You should be able to locate these by performing a WHOIS search on the primary domain name for your account via Domain Tools or any other WHOIS website on the web. Alternatively the correct nameserver addresses should be in the Welcome email you received after signing up for your HostDime account.

Once the domain is pointed to the correct nameserver addresses, this should point to the server where your website is.

Add-on Domains​

An Add-on domain is a setting/configuration which allows an additional domain name to be hosted from a sub-directory under the existing public_html directory or the root home directory for your account. In addition to hosting this the website for the new domain name, you are also given options to add forwarding email addresses and email accounts for the newly added domain name.

  1. The first step is to select the Addon Domains icon from the home page of the cPanel.

  2. Next enter the domain name into the first field and then press the TAB key on your keyboard.

    ℹ️ This will cause the Subdomain/FTP Username field, and the Document root fields to become populated with a default automatically.

    The Subdomain/FTP Username field contains a name which will be used for both the FTP account which the cPanel creates by default to access the new Add-on domain, and also uses the same name for a subdomain it creates under your primary domain. For instance if your main domain is 'janedoe.com', then this Add-on domain will cause http://johndoejersey.janedoe.com/ to be created.

    Don't worry about this though, people will not know to access the website via this subdomain unless you tell them it exists. You don't necessarily have to use the default FTP account either. You can access the add-on domain folder from your main cPanel FTP account just the same.

  3. Enter the FTP password twice into the fields as prompted, then click on the 'Add Domain' button to finish the process.

Once this is done the server will be setup to host the new domain name. A folder will be created for you to upload your website files into for the new website.

Parked Domains​

Parked Domains work much the same way, but with one difference. Parked Domains are not hosted from a subdirectory of your cPanel account. Instead they host the same content as the primary domain name on your cPanel account. This is good for those people who register say 'johndoe.com', and also register 'johndoe.net' and 'johndoe.org', etc. Since they decided to snag all the other domains, they might as well point them all to the same website.

Just like Add-on Domains, Parked Domains also give you the ability to setup email addresses and forwarders under the newly added domain.

  1. To add a Parked Domain, simply select the 'Parked Domains' icon from the home page of the cPanel.

  2. Next simply enter the domain into the 'Create a New Parked Domain' field then click on 'Add Domain'.