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Redirecting a subdomain to another server or host Add to Facebook Share on Twitter

As you know for a domain to be hosted somewhere it has to have nameservers attached and in normal circumstances and with most hosts you cannot change the nameservers for a subdomain and they will usually have to stay with the current host.

However it is extremely easy to forward a subdomain to another server as long as you can create “A” DNS records with your domain/web host;

1. Set up the domain hosting as normal on the destination host in anticipation of the move.
2. Get the IP address of the destination server (even if this is a shared server) for example 89.242.34.56.
3. In your origin server’s control panel software go into the DNS settings for the parent domain for example domain.com.
4. Find the option to create an “A” record.
5. Input the subdomain for example other.domain.com.
6. There should be another field for IP address and this field will only work with an IP, so input the destination server’s IP.
7. Click save/add/finish, whatever your host has to complete.
8. You should now have an A record pointing at your desintation server IP.
9. Wait up to 48 hours.

You should now be able to browse to the subdomain you created and be directed straight to the domain space you set up on the destination host, as an end user you should see no difference in URLs from the destination IP.

NOTE: This definitley works with shared hosts (where you do not have a dedicated IP) I have tried and tested it.

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  1. Ed
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    Aug 17th, 2011 at 19:31 | #1

    I also don’t get the 1st step. There’s no problem in setting up two accounts with a shared host with the same domain?

  2. gigi
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    Aug 23rd, 2009 at 06:12 | #2

    the missing piece: parking the domain on the destination host. so when it reaches the host, it knows what to do with it. works now.

    cheers 🙂
    gigi

  3. gigi
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    Aug 22nd, 2009 at 14:24 | #3

    @Skyfall

    I took it from cpanel, I can see my website by typing in the browser:

    http://serverIP/~myHostgatorUsername

    I guess that’s the way things are set up there.. you can get a dedicated IP for a few bucks more and I guess I’ll do that at some stage, although this is not my main hosting account.

    Thanks
    Gigi

  4. Skyfall
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    Aug 22nd, 2009 at 14:19 | #4

    @gigi
    Not sure what to recommend, how did you obtain the IP address for the target server? There is a possibility that is wrong, other than that I don’t know what else to try.

  5. gigi
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    Aug 22nd, 2009 at 12:39 | #5

    @Skyfall
    on the source host i added a dns record, and the target ip address. the target is on a hostgator shared account..

    thanks
    gigi

  6. Skyfall
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    Aug 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 | #6

    @gigi
    Hi gigi, sad to hear it’s not working for you, it has worked on at least 3 servers for me all with shared hosting. It must be something to do with the apache/server setup on one of your hosts…

    The reason why it works with shared hosting in general with only the IP is that you are not only doing an IP redirect you have added a DNS record. When your browser queries the nameservers they tell the browser where the domain is pointing so when the request goes to the destination server the domain information is in there and it is treated like any other domain request, it is just coming from a different nameserver.

    Are you sure it was an A DNS record you added on the host?

  7. gigi
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    Aug 22nd, 2009 at 09:23 | #7

    It does not work if you don’t have a dedicated IP on the destination host, since all you type in is the IP of the destination shared server, and how will that server know to proceed specifically to YOUR shared account, if the IP doesn’t belong to you specifically.

    I have tried this and unfortunately I was redirected to a dead page which is presented when you type in my shared account’s IP in the browser.

    Need to have dedicated IP on the destination..

  8. J_p
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    Jun 20th, 2009 at 23:05 | #8

    Got it sorted – had to create the domain and then the sub domain for it.

    • Skyfall
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      Jun 21st, 2009 at 04:27 | #9

      I guess it depends on the host, glad you got it sorted 🙂

  9. J_p
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    Jun 19th, 2009 at 16:14 | #10

    Hi Skyfall.

    Thanks for replying – I’m having a bit of a problem understanding this though.

    For example, if I have my main website (mywebsite.com) on my primary hosting, and I want a blog on secondary hosting with the sub domain name of blog.mywebsite.com, would I have to create the domain mywebsite.com on my secondary hosting and then create the subdomain .blog for it?

  10. Skyfall
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    Jun 19th, 2009 at 14:24 | #11

    @J_p
    The parent domain should be set up on your main hosting account and then all you should have to do is set up the subdomain on the server where you want the subdomain pointed, you should not have to set up the parent domain.

  11. J_p
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    Jun 19th, 2009 at 12:57 | #12

    Hi.

    I have a question about step 1:

    1. Set up the domain hosting as normal on the destination host in anticipation of the move.

    Would I have to set up an add-on domain with the name of the original domain hosted elsewhere, and then create the required sub-domain for it?

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Last modified: April 5, 2024 @ 3:49 pm