DNS - Linking multiple domains to one site/server

Infamous Flame

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May 24, 2008
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Hello,

To give a background:

Domain A is the primary domain which points to my webserver, was set up by my host, and works ok. I access it through ftp, or through the File Manager under domains>domaina.com

Domain B is an old domain (still fully valid), that i want to use to point at my server, either just to display exactly the same as Domain A (aka have both domains act as if they were identical sites), or to display a different site, hosted on the same server.

Domain C is another old domain, which i want to do the same with.

Now, under cPanel with previous hosts, I would use add-on domains, or parked domains (can't remember which off the top of my head). How do I do this under DA is basically my question?

I see a 'domains' option, which has domaina.com, but I am not allowed to create additional domains.

I also see a 'DNS management' option which is the A/CNAME/MX records etc. I have a vague understanding of DNS records (enough to redirect my mail to google apps for instance) but am struggling to find what to do. I tried creating an A record for Domain B, and pointed it at the same IP as Domain A was pointing at (again, Domain A was listed as an 'A' DNS record). However, after allowing for propagation, trying to visit domainb.com gives:

ns2.domaina.com returned (SERVFAIL)
ns1.ewanmclean.com returned (NORECORDS)

Does anyone know how I would do this using the DNS records, and/or whether I will have to ask my host to add another domain onto my package?

Thank you for your time, and I hope I have included enough information to allow you to help me.
 
In the control panel add the old domains to the domain pointers area.

As far as dns is concerned it is probably best to list your real domains then we can do lookups on them to see why they are not working correctly. If you do not want to list them then do the following.

Make sure that the domains are setup with the name servers on the new server.

Once you have them pointing to the right name servers on the new server you should have no problems creating A records.

A records = ip to hostname
Cname = hostname to hostname
Mx = Used for mail routing
 
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Thanks, I've got the old domain pointing to the correct nameservers, and have the A record pointing to the same IP as the new domain is (which I know works) but I still get errors. NS1 gives 'SERVFAIL' and NS2 gives 'NO RECORDS FOUND' or 'SERVFAIL' (used to say no records, but as of two minutes ago seems to say servfail too).

www.ewanmclean.com is new domain
www.ifws.co.uk is old domain which I just pointed at a google apps site (good enough use for it).
www.crystalshift.co.uk is the one I'm struggling to get working.
 
Generally that means your nameserver isn't serving the records for the domain.

Jeff
 
Hi,

I got this working the way I wanted (sort of), just by trial and error with the DNS stuff.

New problem: my site died earlier today. The only thing I can say is that I recently modified the DNS to allow www.ewanmclean.com to work as well as normal ewanmclean.com

Perhaps the problem started when I did that, and has now propagated.

Screenshot of my settings included. OpenDNS CacheCheck says the nameservers have failed, which would be supported by the fact that I can get to it via IP address, but not domain. Help! :)
 

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The only thing I can say is that I recently modified the DNS to allow www.ewanmclean.com to work as well as normal ewanmclean.com

You don't have to do that. www works by default. Now you have 2 records for www. One is an A record and the other one is a CNAME. You can see it in the image you provided. Delete the CNAME.
 
I'm no expert or anything; but it wasn't working by default, that's why I had to try it myself :(

I'm deleting the www CNAME (which I only put in just before I posted this thread).

Any other ideas?

Edit: Site now working. If it breaks again in a few hours, it can be assumed that the www CNAME is necessary.
 
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The reason www was not working at first was probably because you had just switch it to another server and the old dns cache had not cleared. With ANY dns changes you should wait at least 24 hours before assuming its not working.

You can always nslookup the dns server for the domain to see if the dns on the server is set up correctly and responding. If it does then the problem is somewhere else.

www does work by default. You just didn't wait long enough.
 
Once you use CNAME for any record in your zone file, all others are ignored.

Jeff
 
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