Tech query; sub-domain=>IP info, please ??

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Posted by smallhagrid, 04-07-2014, 08:12 PM
Background: One of my domains came up for renewal & Godaddy had raised it's rates, so I found a really cheap transfer deal & went for it. My very, very, very BAD !! Found out belatedly that I could not point my domain at anything BUT this registrar's hosting which I did not want to pay for. So I lost that domain for at least 60 days. Here's what I am trying to ask about: I've got another domain and would like to have a sub-domain of that point to the IP/account of the one I lost. Both are on shared hosting and at different IPs. I have searched & read a bunch of stuff but none of it is specifically about what I seek. If possible I'd like to do something like this=> Subdomain.mydomain.com => 123.456.789/~account I know an A record can point to an IP, but how could it point to a specific account within that shared IP ?? Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Posted by thedediguy, 04-07-2014, 08:35 PM
You need to make an a record, create the subdomain at the registrar end and the host end, point the subdomain to the ip of the server >> The server will know where to look if you created the subdomain on the server too
Posted by foobic, 04-07-2014, 08:42 PM
No. An A record points a subdomain to an IP address - nothing more. What you need to do is create the A record on the host where mydomain.com is hosted and then create an add-on domain for subdomain.mydomain.com on the 123.456.789 hosting account. The add-on domain sets up the virtualhost config you need to link them up. DNS sends traffic to the shared IP, virtualhosts control which website is returned. Edit: Which is pretty much as thedediguy already posted, but I'm guessing you don't already have mydomain.com hosted on the second server so an addon domain seems more appropriate. Last edited by foobic; 04-07-2014 at 08:48 PM.
Posted by smallhagrid, 04-08-2014, 07:08 PM
Please be patient with me, as I may not ask this well=> Query: Will the above method work for a hosting account that has no domain name or nameserver pointing to it ?? The account already exists on the 2nd hosting, but has become detached - that is what I seek to remedy so that it may be accessed via URL at least for a while. Thanks. Last edited by smallhagrid; 04-08-2014 at 07:09 PM. Reason: eye kent spill tu gud
Posted by foobic, 04-08-2014, 08:57 PM
In the interest of clarity, let's call the two domains lostdomain.com and livedomain.com. Then the two shared servers: serverA is currently hosting livedomain.com, serverB is "detached" - no nameservers pointing to it. You say there's an account on serverB - which domain name is that for? If it's lostdomain.com, you need to go into that account (on serverB) and create either an addon domain or a parked domain for sub.livedomain.com. Addon if you want the content to be different to the existing site on serverB, parked if it's the same. Having no nameservers pointing to serverB doesn't matter - you'll have the A record on serverA sending visitors there. Also bear in mind that what you're trying to do also depends on the content - many CMSs when they're accessed on the "wrong" domain name will redirect you to the "right" one. Last edited by foobic; 04-08-2014 at 09:08 PM.
Posted by smallhagrid, 04-08-2014, 09:28 PM
Thank You Very Much Chris !!! Yes - serverB is lostdomain.com, and your proposed & beautifully described solution looks perfect for what I wish to do. I will not be using anything terribly complex there - and it will mostly be just for my own usage, at least for a while anyhow. Now that I have a clear idea of what must be done - it will get done !!! My Sincerest Thanks to You for helping me.
Posted by smallhagrid, 04-09-2014, 10:31 PM
Hi Foobic. (As per your suggested method...) I've created an addon domain as sub.livedomain.com on serverB, and an A record on serverA named accordingly with serverB's IP. Waited a while and still get 'server not found' - which may be OK - but I never did this before so I've no idea. 2 questions, please...: - Will it likely take some long propagation time for sub.livedomain.com to get around like the usual 1 - 3 days for a new or changed domain ?? - Do I need to make any addition or changes at the domain registry DNS records as well to help this along somehow ?? Thanks Again !!
Posted by foobic, 04-09-2014, 11:05 PM
If it was set up fully before testing, there should be no propagation delay because sub.livedomain wouldn't be cached anywhere. You could test that again by creating a new subdomain sub2.livedomain.com. But once you get a "server not found", your resolver will have cached the NXDOMAIN failed lookup so you'll have to wait for that to expire. Theoretically the expiry should be controlled by the SOA nx value though I'm not sure how well that's implemented. Reckon on a few hours up to 24 perhaps. The other thing to check is that you haven't accidentally created an A record for sub.livedomain.com.livedomain.com - easy to do... Nope.
Posted by smallhagrid, 04-10-2014, 10:00 PM
I am baffled and still may have done something wrong...and it's been about 24 hours by now. If I try to visit http://sub.livedomain.com/ - it still says server not found. If instead I go to http://123.456.789/~lostdomain/sub.livedomain.com/ - I get right there, but that is not via domain name. If I look into the whois data for sub.livedomain.com there is nothing showing the added A record's IP, instead it is showing all the data normally associated with just livedomain.com . Just checked it via dnssy.com and all passes except for this: "No nameservers found at parent nameserver. Fail" I'm starting to think that maybe this is too far beyond my understanding... Thanks !!
Posted by foobic, 04-11-2014, 12:57 AM
Best guess you never actually managed to create the A record. Did you perhaps do something like: or did you use or The first is wrong - it will create the record sub.livedomain.com.livedomain.com. Either of the other two should work. To avoid the propagation delays while testing you may want to try nslookup - IIRC it's included with most Windows versions. (where ns.livedomainshosting.com is one of the nameservers you've been given for livedomain.com). That should query the authoritative nameserver directly.
Posted by smallhagrid, 04-11-2014, 06:43 PM
Thanks Again Chris. It all LOOKS to be correct, but did not start working after more than 2 days waiting - so I considered other ideas and found... Frankly, with no monetary gain intended here, just something for my own usage - I see nothing to lose in using this for zero cost, so I'll try it. Worst case scenario is I end up right where I was at the start, right ?? Thanks.