Will the domain mapping plugin work if a user adds a came to the unmapped domain such as test.website.com instead of adding an A Record pointing to IP of site?
Will the domain mapping plugin work if a user adds a came to the unmapped domain such as test.website.com instead of adding an A Record pointing to IP of site?
I've always used A Records myself and haven't really tried CNAMES. I'll have to run this by one of the developers but just to check, have you given that a try as yet?
Yes, as long as the domain name hits the server and your webserver is setup to direct it to the WP install then the domain mapping plugin will handle it, whether it's a CNAME or A record.
How would we set this up? Despite how many articles I read on cname setup, I can't get it right.
Example: The install URL for the site on our WP install is soccer.wpinstall.com and the domain we want to map would be soccersite.com, registered with go daddy. I've gone to go daddy and added the following CNAME, which probably isn't right: " (host) www | (points to) soccer.wpinstall.com | TTL 1 hour"
I'm probably way off base on the how to set the CNAME record up and not clear on if we would need to make any other changes ....
Hi Tracy,
soccer.wpinstall.com is a subsite, not CNAME.
CNAME is a subdomain pointed at your main domain. It should not be an existing subdomain blog in use anywhere.
I much prefer CNAME's as we can move from server to server without having to tell all of our clients to edit their A records if the server IP changes... it's going to happen as we grow we will need to move to new servers and the CNAME gives us the ability to change the IP of our domain, and BAM all of our clients using CNAME's will be updated.
Hence, I understand, but the cname tutorials I've been reading say to add a cname record pointing to the unmapped domain on the install / sub site ... I've read the google tutorial previously and in their example they tell you to add a cname pointing to ghs.google.com, the sub site, which is what I'm attempting to do by adding a cname to our sub site soccer.wpinstall.com ....
Given my example, how would a cname entry at go daddy be formatted correctly if mine is incorrect? Any feedback appreciated.
Tracy- I did a video on youtube yesterday that is 6:30 long and has some unrelated info in it- but it shows you exactly how to do this using the domain mapping, and godaddy--- maybe it will be helpful? http://youtu.be/3xi5da3Gq9c ignore the KW stuff- just focus on the CNAME stuff when we talk about the piggyback blog.
@arranginpixels: That's exactly why we would like to switch to cnames and why any business that wants to scale should use them imho. :)
If this is your motivation, the domain mapping plugin here is not designed for cname automatic setup while it's possible. As you see in the installation and instruction, it suggests the user to use A record and pointing to an IP.
Thanks for the video. The changes we have made at go daddy are what you have done in the video .. ..... so it looks like we're ok on that end ... not sure what we're doing wrong. We've been using A Records for years, but yes our goal is to migrate to cnames ...
My original post may not have been clear, to clarify:
We have a multi site install at wpinstall.com and would ilke to map one of the sub sites, soccersite.wpinstall.com to soccersite.com. Usually we would just map the soccersite.wpinstall.com to soccersite.com in the soccersite.wpinstall.com dashboard > tools > domain mapping and then we would add an A record at go daddy for soccersite.com pointing to IP address of install..... pretty standard.
To use the CNAME method: We have mapped the soccersite.wpinstall.com to soccersite.com in the soccersite.wpinstall.com dashboard > tools > domain mapping. Then we have gone to godaddy where soccersite.com lives and has it's nameservers parked at go daddy with all default go daddy dns values. We've edited the CNAME record at go daddy for soccersite.com so that the HOST name for WWW "Points To" soccersite.wpinstall.com ....
This is one of those things that is very simple but I'm struggling to get it right.
We've edited the CNAME record at go daddy for soccersite.com so that the HOST name for WWW "Points To" soccersite.wpinstall.com
Try to change soccersite.wpinstall.com with your server cname domain. If you have not created a cname for your main domain, go to wpinstall.com DNS Management and add a cname (for example host.wpinstall.com) and point it to wpinstall.com .
Then change this
WWW "Points To" soccersite.wpinstall.com
to
WWW "Points To" host.wpinstall.com
Also, dedicated IP on your wpinstall.com will make it easier.
Do you have a catch all *.domain.com pointing to your IP? you would need *.wpinstall.com pointing to your IP. ALSO on your server you have to let it know that you accept all traffic for *.wpinstall.com
Basically you need * A records pointing to your IP
Hopefully thats the trick.
We are successfully using the CNAME option on the WPMU domain mapping plugin.
So it looks like the go daddy end is ok, when I use intodns.com it shows an A Record of http://www.soccersite.com -> soccersite.wpinstall.com -> [ 999.999.86.206 ] which is the correct IP address of wpinstall.com (dedicated IP) where we would usually point an A Record towards... so we need to change something on the server side, which is probably where I've been missing something ...
I was going to add a cname for primary domain of wpinstall.com previously as that was one area I was considering to be the issue, but I first wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing on Godaddy's end before we made more changes .... Hopefully establishing a cname for the primary domain of wpinstall.com is where I was off base ...
I have added a CNAME record on our server for wpinstall.com of host.wpinstall.com and pointed it towards wpinstall.com. Waiting an hour or so to see what happens .... I have also updated go daddy so that the cname record for soccersite.com is pointing towards host.wpinstall.com ....
Thanks guys, will update in a few hours to see if there are any changes ...
What happens when you ping soccersite.wpinstall.com ? I'm assuming these are fake domain names as when I ping - it does not resolve.
The CNAME on primary domain is puzzling to me, I'm not sure that will help.
Does soccersite.com need to display the content on wpinstall.com? or is it different content? If it is different content it sounds like the path above will show the main site instead.
Lastly- in godaddy- you will want to do a domain Forward or Redirect for the non-www to http://www.soccersite.com so that the non-www traffic will make it to the site.
That is a fake name. Soccersite.com needs to display the content for soccersite.wpinstall.com .... We use non-www on the site, so we've skipped the last step ....
So I think using a fake name is complicating this, let's get a real domain to work with, which I should have done always since it's just a test domain anyways ...
I've created screenshots and laid out what we are doing so this should be much more clear. Feel free to tell me which kindergarten level mistake I'm making! :)
Responses (20)
WPMU DEV Fanatic — 15th November 2011 #
Hi Tracy,
I've always used A Records myself and haven't really tried CNAMES. I'll have to run this by one of the developers but just to check, have you given that a try as yet?
-David
Member — 15th November 2011 #
I just set one up but am not even sure I'm doing it right, so figured I would ask ....
Developer — 17th November 2011 #
Yes, as long as the domain name hits the server and your webserver is setup to direct it to the WP install then the domain mapping plugin will handle it, whether it's a CNAME or A record.
Member — 17th November 2011 #
How would we set this up? Despite how many articles I read on cname setup, I can't get it right.
Example: The install URL for the site on our WP install is soccer.wpinstall.com and the domain we want to map would be soccersite.com, registered with go daddy. I've gone to go daddy and added the following CNAME, which probably isn't right: " (host) www | (points to) soccer.wpinstall.com | TTL 1 hour"
I'm probably way off base on the how to set the CNAME record up and not clear on if we would need to make any other changes ....
Lifetime Member — 17th November 2011 #
Hi Tracy,
soccer.wpinstall.com is a subsite, not CNAME.
CNAME is a subdomain pointed at your main domain. It should not be an existing subdomain blog in use anywhere.
More info for creating CNAME records on various hosting platforms:
http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=58317
Cheers,
Hence
Member — 17th November 2011 #
I much prefer CNAME's as we can move from server to server without having to tell all of our clients to edit their A records if the server IP changes... it's going to happen as we grow we will need to move to new servers and the CNAME gives us the ability to change the IP of our domain, and BAM all of our clients using CNAME's will be updated.
Member — 17th November 2011 #
Hence, I understand, but the cname tutorials I've been reading say to add a cname record pointing to the unmapped domain on the install / sub site ... I've read the google tutorial previously and in their example they tell you to add a cname pointing to ghs.google.com, the sub site, which is what I'm attempting to do by adding a cname to our sub site soccer.wpinstall.com ....
Given my example, how would a cname entry at go daddy be formatted correctly if mine is incorrect? Any feedback appreciated.
Member — 17th November 2011 #
@arranginpixels: That's exactly why we would like to switch to cnames and why any business that wants to scale should use them imho. :)
Member — 17th November 2011 #
Tracy- I did a video on youtube yesterday that is 6:30 long and has some unrelated info in it- but it shows you exactly how to do this using the domain mapping, and godaddy--- maybe it will be helpful? http://youtu.be/3xi5da3Gq9c ignore the KW stuff- just focus on the CNAME stuff when we talk about the piggyback blog.
Member — 17th November 2011 #
FYI that is about the 3:20 mark in the video
Lifetime Member — 17th November 2011 #
great video @arrangingpixels . Tracy, the video might cover your question?
Lifetime Member — 17th November 2011 #
@arranginpixels: That's exactly why we would like to switch to cnames and why any business that wants to scale should use them imho. :)If this is your motivation, the domain mapping plugin here is not designed for cname automatic setup while it's possible. As you see in the installation and instruction, it suggests the user to use A record and pointing to an IP.
I'd suggest you to look at this
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/
or this
http://wpebooks.com/professional-domain-mapping/
Member — 17th November 2011 #
Thanks for the video. The changes we have made at go daddy are what you have done in the video .. ..... so it looks like we're ok on that end ... not sure what we're doing wrong. We've been using A Records for years, but yes our goal is to migrate to cnames ...
My original post may not have been clear, to clarify:
We have a multi site install at wpinstall.com and would ilke to map one of the sub sites, soccersite.wpinstall.com to soccersite.com. Usually we would just map the soccersite.wpinstall.com to soccersite.com in the soccersite.wpinstall.com dashboard > tools > domain mapping and then we would add an A record at go daddy for soccersite.com pointing to IP address of install..... pretty standard.
To use the CNAME method: We have mapped the soccersite.wpinstall.com to soccersite.com in the soccersite.wpinstall.com dashboard > tools > domain mapping. Then we have gone to godaddy where soccersite.com lives and has it's nameservers parked at go daddy with all default go daddy dns values. We've edited the CNAME record at go daddy for soccersite.com so that the HOST name for WWW "Points To" soccersite.wpinstall.com ....
This is one of those things that is very simple but I'm struggling to get it right.
Lifetime Member — 17th November 2011 #
We've edited the CNAME record at go daddy for soccersite.com so that the HOST name for WWW "Points To" soccersite.wpinstall.comTry to change soccersite.wpinstall.com with your server cname domain. If you have not created a cname for your main domain, go to wpinstall.com DNS Management and add a cname (for example host.wpinstall.com) and point it to wpinstall.com .
Then change this
WWW "Points To" soccersite.wpinstall.com
to
WWW "Points To" host.wpinstall.com
Also, dedicated IP on your wpinstall.com will make it easier.
Member — 17th November 2011 #
Do you have a catch all *.domain.com pointing to your IP? you would need *.wpinstall.com pointing to your IP. ALSO on your server you have to let it know that you accept all traffic for *.wpinstall.com
Basically you need * A records pointing to your IP
Hopefully thats the trick.
We are successfully using the CNAME option on the WPMU domain mapping plugin.
Member — 17th November 2011 #
So it looks like the go daddy end is ok, when I use intodns.com it shows an A Record of http://www.soccersite.com -> soccersite.wpinstall.com -> [ 999.999.86.206 ] which is the correct IP address of wpinstall.com (dedicated IP) where we would usually point an A Record towards... so we need to change something on the server side, which is probably where I've been missing something ...
I was going to add a cname for primary domain of wpinstall.com previously as that was one area I was considering to be the issue, but I first wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing on Godaddy's end before we made more changes .... Hopefully establishing a cname for the primary domain of wpinstall.com is where I was off base ...
I have added a CNAME record on our server for wpinstall.com of host.wpinstall.com and pointed it towards wpinstall.com. Waiting an hour or so to see what happens .... I have also updated go daddy so that the cname record for soccersite.com is pointing towards host.wpinstall.com ....
Thanks guys, will update in a few hours to see if there are any changes ...
Member — 17th November 2011 #
Hey Tracy-
What happens when you ping soccersite.wpinstall.com ? I'm assuming these are fake domain names as when I ping - it does not resolve.
The CNAME on primary domain is puzzling to me, I'm not sure that will help.
Does soccersite.com need to display the content on wpinstall.com? or is it different content? If it is different content it sounds like the path above will show the main site instead.
Lastly- in godaddy- you will want to do a domain Forward or Redirect for the non-www to http://www.soccersite.com so that the non-www traffic will make it to the site.
Member — 17th November 2011 #
That is a fake name. Soccersite.com needs to display the content for soccersite.wpinstall.com .... We use non-www on the site, so we've skipped the last step ....
Member — 17th November 2011 #
So I think using a fake name is complicating this, let's get a real domain to work with, which I should have done always since it's just a test domain anyways ...
I've created screenshots and laid out what we are doing so this should be much more clear. Feel free to tell me which kindergarten level mistake I'm making! :)
Thanks again for your feedback and help!
http://bit.ly/vFQkIm
Member — 17th November 2011 #
Thanks for the feedback guys, spending way too much time on this, delegating it. :)
Become a member