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Domain Mapping for Dummies

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I am even having a hard time knowing for sure what is meant by:

If your domain name includes a sub-domain such as “blog” then you can add a CNAME for that hostname in your DNS pointing at this blog URL.

If you want to redirect a domain you will need to add a DNS “A” record pointing at the IP address of this server

Any chance we could have it in simpler English, maybe even an article on what to do if you want to map a domain through cpanel, etc.

My main issue is that all this takes time to resolved so if I am not doing it right I need to try something, leave it for awhile, and then see if it works later. Then I second guess myself on if I waited to little to try something new, etc.

So….what does the user have to do besides enter their custom domain?

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 1:29:24
  • wpcdn
    • Syntax Hero

    Hi,

    I’ll answer in reverse order:

    If you want to redirect a domain you will need to add a DNS “A” record pointing at the IP address of this server

    That just means that if you want to redirect the domain itself, you follow this step. So, if it’s yourdomain.com, and you want that to point to your site at mysite.multisitedomain.com, you change the A record of yourdomain.com to the IP address listed in the plugin. (And, of course, you also enter the domain in the plugin.)

    If your domain name includes a sub-domain such as “blog” then you can add a CNAME for that hostname in your DNS pointing at this blog URL.

    If you wanted to keep the top level of the domain where it is, but you wanted to point a subdomain, you would just use a CNAME in this fashion. So, if you just wanted to map blog.mydomain.com to the site you have on the multisite installation, you would just CNAME blog.mydomain.com to my site.multisitedomain.com.

    The procedure for CNAME is different depending on your registrar and/or control panel software, but it’s usually pretty straightforward.

    HTH

  • Eric G.
    • The Crimson Coder

    So for the first one it is ONLY if I want my custom domain to REDIRECT to the subdomain on the Multisite?

    The second one is ONLY if I wanted my custom domain with a subdomain to EQUAL the subdomain on the Multisite.

    So the question is…I have two domains in my cpanel. One is the primary for the Multisite set-up. The other I want to point to a subdomain on the primary. What do I do?

    Am asking for two reasons. 1) I don’t know 2) Seems like 99% of my clients would want to do the same thing and if my understandings above are correct, neither of those would apply to them, only causing more confusion.

  • wpcdn
    • Syntax Hero

    The second one is ONLY if I wanted my custom domain with a subdomain to EQUAL the subdomain on the Multisite.

    It would still redirect to it, just as a top-level domain would.

    So the question is…I have two domains in my cpanel. One is the primary for the Multisite set-up. The other I want to point to a subdomain on the primary. What do I do?

    Okay, let me make sure I understand:

    One of your cPanel domains is the-primary-domain-for-multisite.com. The other is my-domain-that-i-want-to-point-somewhere.com.

    So the main domain stays the way it is. The other domain can map to subdomain.the-primary-domain-for-multisite.com.

    Seems like 99% of my clients would want to do the same thing and if my understandings above are correct, neither of those would apply to them, only causing more confusion.

    I’m not sure what you mean about neither option applying to them. I don’t see a third option.

    I think most people will want to do the top-level mapping. Mapping a subdomain isn’t as attractive.

    So, let’s say I’ve registered widget-heaven.com, and I’m not happy with my mass-market web hosting provider. I get a site on your multisite (widget-heaven.your-multisite-network.com). I map my domain there so no one knows I’m on a subdomain of a multisite.

    I’m not sure if I’m explaining my thoughts well. Sorry. :slight_frown:

  • Philip John
    • DEV MAN’s Apprentice

    Hiya!

    Any chance we could have it in simpler English, maybe even an article on what to do if you want to map a domain through cpanel, etc.

    Add to the list :wink:

    Let’s see if I can put it simply for you here though…

    Domain Mapping allows you to map a domain onto a sub-site. This can be done in one of two ways;

    1. map a domain mapping

    2. map a sub-domain

    Consider this scenario; you have installed a multisite network at examplems.com and you have these sub sites;

    – sub1.examplems.com

    – sub2.examplems.com

    – youare.examplems.com

    – lovely.examplems.com

    You also own these domain names;

    – examplesub.com

    – lovely.com

    You want to map the following;

    1. examplesub.com maps to sub1.examplems.com

    2. two.examplesub.com maps to sub2.examplems.com

    3. lovely.com maps to lovely.examplems.com

    4. youare.lovely.com maps to youare.examplems.com

    In order to do so you would create an A record for 1 and 3 and a CNAME for 2 and 4.

    The simple rule is – if you are mapping a domain name, use an A record. If you are mapping a sub-domain use a CNAME record.

    Hopefully that illustrates it a little better for you.

    I’ll get an article done sometime though to illustrate this better.

    Thanks!

    Phil

  • thinkmarketact
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    @phil

    Basic question about mapping after reading your recent comment.

    my setup

    shared hosting and if you go to my IP my site doesnt load.

    so…

    i have a WPMU at mysite.com

    I have a client who just signed up and his sub domain is client1.mysite.com

    the client has his own domain at clientsite.com

    the client wants the content on client1.mysite.com to show on his domain

    the client would create an a record to my ip right? but what if my ip doesnt load my site?