What Is a Subdomain?
The first part of a complex domain name, separated by a period. This allows you to create subgroups within the domain name. The subdomain is derived from the main domain, so only the owner of the main domain can create additional subdomains for it. These subgroups are individual subdirectories of the domain, so they can be given a more memorable address. If the main domain is example.uk, then both test.example.uk and subdomain.example.uk are subdomains.
Important to know if the hosting is also ordered from Rackhost:
Subdomains, when added to hosting, reduce the limit of domains that can be added to your hosting plans. For this reason, we recommend that you consider how many domains and subdomains you want to add to your hosting plan when choosing a plan. If you have chosen a plan that is not right for you, you can always upgrade to a larger plan.
A subdomain can be created and linked to a hosting as follows:
- First login to your Rackhost account
- Select the DNS zones menu item
- Click on the “Edit records” button in the row of the selected domain name
- In the following interface you can create a new subdomain in the field “A, CNAME, SPF, TXT records” by clicking on the button “New record”
- Then specify the values of the subdomain:
- The hostname field will contain the prefix of the subdomain, which will be placed before the main domain. In many cases it is also worth setting up a www version of the subdomain. Just type www. before the prefix.
- For the type, select type “A”.
- For IP or hostname, enter the IP address of the hosting domain to which you want to connect the subdomain. If it is the same as the hosting of the main domain, the IP address will be the same.
- It is important that you allow 1 hour after changing the subdomain settings for the records to be properly updated in the systems.
- You will then need to add the subdomain to the hosting you wish to use. This can be done by clicking on the “Add Domain” button that appears in the Web Hosting menu of the user account, at the end of the row of the selected hosting, after clicking on the “Options” button. Here, you must enter the subdomain (without www) in the “Use external domain” option and then click on “Create”.
- Now you have successfully created the directory in the hosting where you can upload the contents of your website.
If you have any problems or need help at any point during the setup process, our customer support team is ready to help.