domain parking/domain pointing

[Duende]

Hi all,
Could someone please take pity on me and explain the difference between domain parking and domain pointing.

I am on the single domain plan. Jim said I can park up to 10 domains on it. What would you see if I park a domain on me site.

Is domain pointing available on the single domain plans and if it is just how does that work. As I understand it you would have the domain point to just one folder on your site and work kind of like a subdomain.

Duende

[TechWeasel]

You've got the basics down:

Parking redirects traffic from one top level domain (tld) to a different site, but makes it look like you stay at the "parked" domain. (Ie: domain.org redirects to domain.com but always looks like you're at domain.org)

Pointing is generally just like a subdomain using a tld. A user going to a pointed tld would be redirected to a subfolder of another site, but behave like a unique site. (Ie: domain.org goes to domain.com/subfolder/ but always looks like you're at domain.org)

You may be out of luck with just the single domain account - with the web host manager I've noticed you can "park" a domain on top of a subdomain - which should have the same effect as a pointer, but I don't think you can accomplish the same thing through just the control panel.

Anyone on a single domain account have advice? Alternately has anyone actually tried the "pointer" workaround above?

[Duende]

Thanks for the reply TechWeasel,

I don't think I have the basics down all that good. When I first signed up for my domain I left it parked at Go Daddy. While there it only displayed one page supplied by Go Daddy. They also have domain forwarding for domains parked there but you have to pay extra for masking to make it look like you stayed on the domain otherwise once forwarded you could see you were no longer on the domain.

If I park a domain here om my site at Page-Zone I have no idea what I will see.

I kinda have a feeling that domain pointing might do what I would like but doubt that I can do it. When I tried it in Cpanel it just about bit me.

I think I know a lot less than you are giving me credit for.

[TechWeasel]

Originally posted by Duende
When I first signed up for my domain I left it parked at Go Daddy. While there it only displayed one page supplied by Go Daddy. They also have domain forwarding for domains parked there but you have to pay extra for masking to make it look like you stayed on the domain otherwise once forwarded you could see you were no longer on the domain.

If I park a domain here om my site at Page-Zone I have no idea what I will see.

No problem Duende,

When registrars use the term "parked" they generally mean "you will see a 'this site is coming soon!' page." That's a different use of the term altogether.

Next, pointing/parking is only used in situations where you own two or more domain names, but only want to manage one site (a good example is wanting the domain.com, domain.net, and domain.org domains to all mirror each other).

From you post it sounds like you may just own one domain, and want it to go to your website. If that's true, you don't want domain parking or pointing.

Let's try this a different way: What are you trying to do? If you tell us in detail what you are trying to accomplish, it'll be easier to give advice!

- tW

[Duende]

Thanks again for your reply TechWeasel. Jim just answered my first question (domain parking) in another thread.
Domain parking/add-on?

And if by add-on he meant domain pointing he answered my second question but I'm not sure that was what he was talking about. Somewhere on about page 14 or 15 of this forum Jim indicated that sime things we see in our Cpanel weren't functional. At that time domain parking was one of them but that has changed.

I was hoping that I could use domain pointing to point a domain to a single folder on my site. The result would be like hosting another domain on my site. I guess that is what the multi-domain plans are for.

Even if I can't do what I would like I still think Jim gives us a pretty good bang for for our bucks.

[brucecan]

Hey, can I jump in here and ask for some clarification too on the same topic? At least I think it's the same topic. I'm a rank beginner.

I want to be able to register domain names as the whim hits me and then point them to subdomains of my site. Meaning, I'd like to purchase xyz.com, but have users directed to xyz.mysite.com.

I've mastered creating subdomains, and I've figured out how to change DNS at my registrar, but that's as far as I've gotten.

Can anyone tell me how to accomplish the forwarding?

Thanks,

Bruce

[TechWeasel]

Hi Bruce,

What type of account do you have?

If you have access to Web Host Manager you can select "park or point a domain" under "DNS Functions", this will let you park additional domains on top of subdomains.

I don't think you can do this through cPanel... the only other solution I can think of is to manage the pointing through your domain registrar (some registrars call this "masked forwarding").

[brucecan]

I wasn't very clear I'm afraid.

What I want to do with my Hosting 2 plan is create one main account and create a bunch of subdomains under it, each representing a branch of my business. I want to register various domain names which might be typed in by people looking for my services, and direct them to the appropriate sub-business. I don't want to mask where they end up, I want the linkage/branding exposed.

For example, I have brucecannon.org and want to use it as a portal for my various business endeavors. I've also registered donationbox.org and I'd like to forward it to interactivegiving.brucecannon.org, a site which will offer custom interactive donation boxes for galleries and museums. And so on for all my various little businesses.

So I think I just specify PZ's name servers at my registrar to bring people to brucecannon.org, the main account I've set up, and that the linkage to my actual folder is made through the name.

And I understand how to create subdomains in either of the control panels.

I don't understand though how to specify a subdomain address, either at my registrar or at PZ.

I reviewed your suggestion of "parking or pointing a domain" in WHM, but this appears to be designed to mask the actual source of the page. This would be much better than nothing but what I ideally want is unmasked forwarding to a subdomain.

Sorry if this is still pretty muddled, I've got a lot to learn yet!

Thanks for your advice,

--Bruce

[TechWeasel]

Okay, so if I understand correctly when someone types in "www.interactivegiving.com" you want them to redirect to "donationbox.brucecannon.org" and that's what you want to appear in their browser, not "www.interactivegiving.com" correct?

Assuming that's the case you just want simple "domain forwarding".

The Easy Solution:
Some domain registrars let you do this for free, some don't. They may have a "domain forwarding" option where all you have to do is type in your subdomain address, and check that you don't want the address "masked" or "cloaked."

Let's start with checking out that route. I have a "complicated" solution too but it involves editing your .htaccess file and using "Mod_Rewrite" so let's exhaust our "easy" options first. :-)