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adding DNS "A" record

I feel so ignorant reading through the domain mapping post…maybe I am WAY overthinking this.

Can someone please please just give me the complete dummy step by step instructions on how to use the domain mapping plugin…

Here is what I have…

in the wordpress plugin I have the “custom domain” as http://arizonahousingfordisabled.com/ (this domain is hosted at godaddy)

I have the “Original Blog Address” as

http://ahd.bizsitesnow.com/ (this is my mu site)

now when I put in either url I get a parked godaddy page so I think that part is working correctly right?

Now at godaddy i have tried modifying and/or adding both the “cname” and “a” record in every which way I can think of…still just a parked page.

Is it possible for someone to just tell me exactly what I need to put in the “hosts” and “points to” fields in godaddy for either “cname” and “a” record????

Thanks so much I have been at this for hours!

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 7:09:11
  • chelgeson10
    • Flash Drive

    Ok so I have an update…I already had a “a” record set up so I modified it to now have the host “@” (or mapped domain arizonahousingfordisabled.com) point to my ip address of the mu install.

    The problem is now I am seeing the apache test page (My wordpress mu install is hosted with a hostgator reseller plan and controlled with cpanel).

    From what I have read I have seen to test the ip address in the address bar of the browser…when I do that it takes me to this apache test page, so is this my problem? How do I fix that?

    Thanks

    Cody

  • chelgeson10
    • Flash Drive

    Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Thanks so much for all the feedback and help!

    I have two different installs for wordpress mu…one is set up for no user sign ups, just to put all my sites in one so I can manage them all in one place…this would be ok to manually “park the domain”…to clarify, as stated above, the mu site address is http://ahd.bizsitesnow.com/, so in addition to ” *” I would set up a subdomain for ” ahd “?

    The other site I really need to be automated, I want users to be able to map their domain and I dont want to have to add a subdomain every time they want to do it…so drmike, setting up wildcard domains would do the trick? setting this up would allow the user to change the ip adress of their “A” record and then the domain map would work?

    Thanks so much guys…just learning this ip, dns, stuff.

  • Andrew
    • Champion of Loops

    Hiya,

    so in addition to ” *” I would set up a subdomain for ” ahd “?

    No need to setup the subdomain if the wildcard entry is in place.

    so drmike, setting up wildcard domains would do the trick?

    If you have a wildcard in place that would send any request coming in via the IP to your WPMU install then yes, that would work.

    This is something you should discuss with your host though.

    Thanks,

    Andrew

  • chelgeson10
    • Flash Drive

    I spoke with host gator this morning and they informed me that in order to map the domain…I would need to manually add a subdomain, and have the user either change their nameserver or change their ” a ” record IP address at their host.

    They confirmed that there is no way to have this “automated” on their shared servers.

    They also said that the wildcard (putting an ” * ” in for subdomain) is only to allow wordpress mu to create the user site.

    Kind of a bummer, that means that when users want to map their domain I have to manually add a subdomain…bummer

    If anyone has any additional insight/suggestions I would love to hear them!

    Thanks

    Cody

  • drmike
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    If you have a wildcard in place that would send any request coming in via the IP to your WPMU install then yes, that would work.

    Never tried it actually. To be honest, it’s really known as a blackhat SEO trick and many hosts frown upon it. (Which is why I was surprised to see it on a public forum like that.)

    Wouldn’t CNAME’ing the mapped domain onto the old subdomain work?

  • Andrew
    • Champion of Loops

    Never tried it actually. To be honest, it’s really known as a blackhat SEO trick and many hosts frown upon it. (Which is why I was surprised to see it on a public forum like that.)

    Erm, I was actually just referring to a catch-all vhost.

    Thanks,

    Andrew

  • drmike
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    Heh, so was I.

    Spammers like it because domains don’t have to be listed in whatever hosting management program the hosts use. You can create some silly little site for your adverts, give it a silly little name like momandpops.tld and redirect evilspam.tld to it.

    It’s a little more detailed than that but it’s a well known trick.

  • chelgeson10
    • Flash Drive

    Just wanted to update everyone….

    I spoke with hostgator armed with the knowledge you all gave me (thank you so much for all the help!!!!), and they do in fact give the option to have give a dedicated IP address to any domain name I choose for only $2 extra a month. So I now have a dedicated IP address set up for the MU install and everything works perfectly!!!

    Thanks again so much for all the help!

    Cody