Need advice on perfect domain vs hosting structure

[DutchG]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to the world of DA. I don't know all the differences between admin,reseller & user levels, yet. I hope you can help me with some question about the perfect domain and hosting structure for my needs.

Really appreciate it!

Sorry if my question is not at the right place on the forum. Again: I'm not yet too familiar with the admin/reseller/user structure.

Regards,
DutchG

/********************/
BASIC INFO

• I have a new VPS, with DA.
• I do not have clients that are going to use DA (I'm the only client for DA)
• I have one big application that will be moved to the VPS
• I have around 40 domain connecting to this application.
• For every domain the content is 100% served by the application.
• No email is needed for a domain

CURRENT HOSTING SETUP (shared hosting)

• Application sits in one directory with current hosting provider
• All 40 domains point to this directory
• Works like a charm, when looking at the structure (speed is main reason to move to VPS instead of shared )

THE QUESTION

• Now I need a good structure to implements in DA.
• As far as I understand, I need to add one main domain at user level in DA.
• The rest of the domains are pointed to the main domain (alias, right?)
• The application-code will be in the public_html of the main domain
• The application database will be at a MySQL-database, situated under the main domain

Above is how I understand it now. But is it the only way? Is it efficient?

Why do I need a main domain? There is no main domain for the app, because all 40 domains are equally important.

Can I create a MySQL database and directory OUTSIDE of all domains and point ALL domains to that area?

/********************/

 

[zEitEr]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to the world of DA. I don't know all the differences between admin,reseller & user levels, yet.

Hello,

You'd better start reading
+ http://www.site-helper.com/
+ http://admin.site-helper.com/
+ http://reseller.site-helper.com/

Above is how I understand it now. But is it the only way? Is it efficient?

Who knows but you how much would it be efficient in your particular case?! You said nothing about what kind of application you're talking about? Is it a CMS?

Why do I need a main domain?

And why? What is a main domain in your understanding? Is it a hostname?

 

[DutchG]

Thanks for replying, Alex!

About the app: is serves related content for related domains. Domains are just pointed to the app and the rest is done by the app. It determines the domain and wil serve the appropiate content. Its a CMS, but without the 'management' part of CMS. And its just for my sites. Not for clients, etc.

About the 'main' domain. Maybe 'first' domain is a better explanation.
To create a 'place' where I can put my app-code, I need to add a 'first' domain @user level. That will create a place in the filesystem where I can put the app code (say "/home/admin/domains/firstdomain.com/public_html/").

After that I need to add 39 domain pointers to that 'first' domain. I cannot point a domain to a specific spot at the filesystem (say "home/admin/appcode/"), or can I? If yes: how?

Again thanks for the help and the time you take.

 

[Arieh]

DirectAdmin is designed for normal shared hosting use, where a domain is always needed (though there have been people asking about this before). In your case you could just pick one domain, at the end it won't make a difference.

If you don't want your app to be bounded to one of the domains, because it might go away in the future; you could create a random domain like maindomain.idontexist, it wont resolve but that doesn't matter because it would be only there for the public_html folder.

The other domains you just point to that maindomain. Optional you can remove dns records for this fictional domain so your nameservers won't respond to queries for this domain.

I think this is a good solution when you don't want to differ from the normal DA use, there are other ways around it but you could run into problems and its not worth the trouble.

But maybe I'm overlooking something and someone else knows another way.

 

[zEitEr]

@DutchG,

I think, you've got full answers to all questions of yours, haven't you?

@Arieh,

I would do the same in case I'd need it.

 

[DutchG]

@Alex. Thanks for your help.


@Arieh: thanks for your to the point answer & suggestion. It's good to know, it's best to stick to DA's main structure. A newbie could get into trouble easily when trying to do 'advanced' stuff, is my own experience.

So 1) just pick a domain out of the existing 40 or 2) just create a random, fictional domain.

I'm going to explore both your solutions. Thanks for your help!