multiple domains on one acocunt

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#1 Mon, 09/24/2007 - 14:33
hescominsoon

multiple domains on one acocunt

can i put multiple domains on one single account?

aka i want foo.com as the account I then want to add bar.org and tick.com also on the account. Can virtualmin pro do this?

Mon, 09/24/2007 - 14:39
Joe
Joe's picture

Of course.

Assuming foo.com already exists, select it in the dropdown list of virtual servers. Click Create Virtual Server, and then click "Sub-server". The form will shrink a little bit (since no new user will be created, and a few other bits will be inherited from the parent server). Fill it out, and now the administrator of foo.com will be the owner of bar.org.

These new virtual servers will then live in the domains subdirectory of the foo.com home. (/home/foo/domains/bar)<br><br>Post edited by: Joe, at: 2007/09/24 14:39

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Mon, 09/24/2007 - 14:50 (Reply to #2)
hescominsoon

then how do sub domains work?

Mon, 09/24/2007 - 15:18 (Reply to #3)
Joe
Joe's picture

We've deprecated the "sub-domain" account type to avoid this kind of confusion. A sub-domain is just a name. You can create a sub-server that has a sub-domain name, or you can create a whole new parent server that uses a sub-domain name. Virtualmin doesn't care about names.

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Mon, 09/24/2007 - 15:36 (Reply to #4)
hescominsoon

i actually find this more confusing though i understand the concept..<G>

Mon, 09/24/2007 - 15:55 (Reply to #5)
Joe
Joe's picture

Yeah, you're not alone.

A lot of (former cPanel users, in particular) are confused by the lack of sub-domain accounts. I'm not real sure how to solve that problem. It's just an incorrect use of the term--"sub-domain" has no meaning in the context of accounts (or shouldn't, because it has meaning in the context of domain names, and that meaning makes no sense in the account type context). In usability testing with non-technical people, the current way seems to be much more intuitive...we'd like to be intuitive to both former cPanel users and users with no prior control panel experience, but I don't know how to do that better than currently.

Here's the problem (actually one of many):

A sub-domain account type leads people to believe that the only way to use a sub-domain name for a virtual server is to create a sub-domain account (it's right in the name, so it's obviously the way to do it!). But then, they want to make a sub-domain for every user on their system--for example, sales.domain.tld, marketing.domain.tld, calendar.domain.tld, etc. all managed by different people.

So, they create a bunch of "sub-domain" accounts (it's a sub-domain, so it's gotta be a sub-domain account), and then get angry when they can't figure out how to give out separate accounts to all of those site managers. We never could convince folks that a sub-domain was a special, and limited, type of sub-server...and had nothing to do with DNS sub-domains. And, I can't blame folks for being confused--it's a confusing concept.

So, we made it go away, and hope that people coming from cPanel will read the documentation about coming from cPanel here:

http://www.virtualmin.com/documentation/id,virtualmin_for_cpanel_users/

I'm not sure what else we can do. ;-)

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Mon, 09/24/2007 - 16:10 (Reply to #6)
hescominsoon

i'm not a cpanel or former cpanel user. I've been in the web business in one form or another for nearly 20 years and sub-domain is a well understood term..:) I understand how you are doing things..i just have to adjust my marketing a bit..:)

Mon, 09/24/2007 - 16:11 (Reply to #7)
Joe
Joe's picture

<div class='quote'>sub-domain is a well understood term</div>

Yeah, that's what I thought, too. ;-)

The problem is, apparently, that we all understand it differently!

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Mon, 09/24/2007 - 16:16 (Reply to #8)
Joe
Joe's picture

I guess I should ask why your marketing materials would need to be changed based on the term &quot;sub-domain&quot; now having only one meaning in Virtualmin (that meaning being &quot;a third, fourth, etc. level name within a domain name hierarchy&quot;)? That might help me understand why our use of the term is confusing.

We're really trying to get usability right, and this is a sticking point for a lot of folks (fewer than &quot;sub-domain&quot; account types were, but still a large number). I just don't know how to fix it. ;-)

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Mon, 09/24/2007 - 16:21 (Reply to #9)
hescominsoon

at least when i talk to client they understand a sub-domain as foo.bar.com or user.bar.com. That's a sub-domain. bar.com and foo.com are two different domains entirely. At least int he world of webhosting i have been in a sub domain as outlined above and a domain as outlined above are very well understood and detailed out. Most web-hosts market according to the above parameters. With virtualmin they are all rolled into one package which creates the confusion..and now also changes how i have to market things. See with say plesk you can limit the number of sub-domains(foo.bar.com) independently of top level domains(bar.com and foo.org). if i am reading this correctly this is no longer the case with virtualmin. I'm not sure i like that idea of allowing folks to stack as many top level domains as they like onto their accounts which is what this configuration apparently does since apparently sub-domains and top level domains are now in one giant pool. This is not good IMO.

Mon, 09/24/2007 - 16:35 (Reply to #10)
Joe
Joe's picture

Ah, I see! You think we call an account a domain! We don't. It's a &quot;virtual server&quot;. (Yes, licensing calls it domains...but that's going away.)

<div class='quote'>I'm not sure i like that idea of allowing folks to stack as many top level domains as they like onto their accounts which is what this configuration apparently does since apparently sub-domains and top level domains are now in one giant pool.</div>

Hehehe, we wouldn't like that idea either.

You can limit the number of sub-servers in Virtualmin, and you can force accounts to only have sub-servers within the parent servers domain (so you can make it impossible for a virtual server owner to create sub-servers that have a completely different name). All that you're wishing for exists.

In fact, our model is actually more restrictive. It sounds like the model you're used to allows virtual server owners to be able to stack up as many sub-domains as they want and only limits second level domains (foo.com, bar.com, etc.). Virtualmin can limit both, or prevent one type from being created at all. It can also limit alias servers separately (which could be forced into the parent domain or allowed to be unrelated domain names).

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Mon, 09/24/2007 - 16:38 (Reply to #11)
hescominsoon

actually no...the model i am used to allows you to limit both sub-domains and top level domains per account..&lt;G&gt;

Mon, 09/24/2007 - 16:47 (Reply to #12)
Joe
Joe's picture

Ah. I see. Yeah, we don't care what the server is called. It's just a name...if it has different content it gets counted as a server. If it has the same content, it is an alias.

So, we disagree on whether names matter. We don't think they do. ;-)

BTW-Sub-domain accounts still exist in Virtualmin. They're just disabled by default. They can be limited separately from sub-servers. But I think they're a bad idea.

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Mon, 09/24/2007 - 16:51 (Reply to #13)
hescominsoon

how do i turn them back on and how do i limit them?

Mon, 09/24/2007 - 16:55 (Reply to #14)
Joe
Joe's picture

System Settings:Module config:Defaults for new domains. Option is labeled &quot;Allow creation of sub-domains?&quot;

It's limited in the Server Templates just like sub-servers and alias servers.

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Sat, 04/09/2011 - 09:38
lex

If I've already created two different top-level servers, is it then still possible to make one of them a sub-server of the other, so the user has one login and can work on all his servers?

Sat, 04/09/2011 - 09:44 (Reply to #16)
andreychek

You can, but not as long as both as top-level servers.

You can solve that by going into Server Configuration -> Move Virtual Server, and move one of the domains to be a Sub-Server of the other. At that point, it would then be possible to use the same login to manage both.

-Eric

Sat, 04/09/2011 - 10:47 (Reply to #17)
lex

Thanks, just done it, and seems to work perfectly!

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