Creating Subdomain Issues

RadMan

Verified User
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
209
Location
Canada
Using the "Subdomain Management" feature in the users control panel, I created a subdomain called "toronto.pacelawfirm.com" for a client I host.

Why is it that when I try to go to access the site via browser: http://toronto.pacelawfirm.com/ I continuoulsy get a "Cannot Display????? ...

I see the folder in the public_html directory but I'm not looking to create a subfolder (http://pacelawfirm.com/toronto/index.php) I can do that using any ftp program without using the subdomain feature in the control panel..

I'm looking to create a true subdomain with a path like this: http://toronto.pacelawfirm.com/index.php

(Yes, admin has allowed the creation of an unlimited number of subdomains to this customer)

Anybody got some ideas??????...
 
The error I get is server not found. Which means you should check DNS for the added subdomain.

If there's a zonefile for the added subdomain, then restart BIND and see if that makes a difference.

If both zone files are on both machines, it should work.

Jeff
 
I saw that when I tried to view it using FireFox... IE shows it as a apge not found...what do you get when you follow this link:

http://pacelawfirm.com/toronto/index.php

"toronto" which is the subdomain title that I created when creating the subdomain using the "Subdomain Management" feature..
 
Of course I see it; it's not a content issue; it's a DNS issue. Please reread my post above I edited it :).

Jeff
 
Jeff...

If there's a zonefile for the added subdomain, then restart BIND and see if that makes a difference.

If both zone files are on both machines, it should work.

What both machines???... We are talking about a single domain on a single server... What the 'ell is "BIND" anyways????

Does a server admin have to go through all this with every user that tries to dreate a subdomain????

To take this issue one step further, if one tries to refer to the "help files" when creating the subdomain, please advise where the novice user would find this information re DNS issues if the DNS option for users is turned off...

Why are the DNS features turned off you ask???,, For the simple reason that there are tons of website owners that don't understand them, nor do they want to, and all they are looking for is a simple solution...

All I wanted to do is to create a subdomain using the existing feature in the control panel.. I don''t want to reconfigure the server, change the DNS, alter the paths or check something called BIND which I know nothing about... Furthermore, the average website owner wouldn't know what the hell to do neither, nor should he have to.. :eek: ...

If the function/feature is created, then then all one should have to do is follow the existing instructions (which are simple stoopid :) ), insert a subdomain title and have it work just like these simple stoopid instructions indicate: http://www.site-helper.com/subdomains.html

Ed
 
Last edited:
Hello,

bind is named, the program that runs the dns for a domain.

Your DirectAdmin box has a copy of bind/named running, which does the lookup for your domain and subdomain.

The reason your subdomain isn't working is because your DirectAdmin box, the location your website resolves to, isn't actually in control of your dns settings. This is because the dns servers set at your registrar for pacelawfirm.com are:

ns1.webnames.ca - 65.39.140.92
ns2.webnames.ca - 64.85.60.137

Those IPs do not exist on your DA box, thus your DA box has no control over the dns lookups.

I can tell that DA *did* setup the subdomain's dns correctly becuase if I do manual query to the IP your domain resolves to, it works fine, but it's a manual lookup, which isn't normal.
Code:
[root@server]# dig toronto.pacelawfirm.com @204.15.197.36 +nocomments

; <<>> DiG 9.2.1 <<>> toronto.pacelawfirm.com @204.15.197.36 +nocomments
;; global options:  printcmd
;toronto.pacelawfirm.com.       IN      A
toronto.pacelawfirm.com. 14400  IN      NS      ns2.buckagb.net.
toronto.pacelawfirm.com. 14400  IN      NS      ns1.buckagb.net.
ns1.buckagb.net.        14400   IN      A       204.15.197.34
ns2.buckagb.net.        14400   IN      A       204.15.197.35
Anyway, as we can see, there is a dns server mismatch.

So what I'm guessing you'll want to do, is go to your registrar for your domain, and change the ns1/ns2 values to point to the ns1/ns2.buckagb.net nameservers instead of the webnames.ca servers, which DA has no control over.

John
 
Thanks John..

Didn't realize that the customer played around with his DNS settings ...

Will have to find out how he does that as I'm hosting his sites on my servers and my IP numbers differ from his... :rolleyes:
 
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