How To Join Domain Names Together

How To Park A Newly Registered/Transferred Or Existing Domain Name

In this section I will explain how you park a domain name, perhaps because it is currently an ADD-ON Domain Name and you want to turn it into a PARKED Domain Name. Or it could be that you have newly registered the domain name. Whatever the reason, this section will show you how to park that domain name.

If you need to know how to obtain an EPP (Domain Name Transfer) Code and/or turn a domain name into an ADD-ON Domain Name read the previous section.

A Parked Domain is a normal domain name (i.e. www.software.com) that points/links (redirects) to your main domain name (i.e. www.computers.com) only - It has no web space folder or bandwidth of its own because it shares the same web space and bandwidth allocated to your main domain name.

A parked domain name is typically set up when you want a .co.uk and a .com for example to go to the same web space. So if you have www.computers.com as your main domain name and www.computers.co.uk as your parked domain name, visitors who type www.computers.co.uk into their web browser will be sent to the same web space that www.computers.com is using and therefore see the same website content (the same web pages, video and so on).

PARK A DOMAIN NAME

Once you have transferred a domain name to, or registered a new domain name with, your web hosting provider that domain name will normally be dormant. It will not be pointing/linking (redirecting) to your main domain (domain name/web space) until you request your web hosting provider to do so.

Simply inform them that when the domain name transfer or registration is complete you would like that domain name (i.e. websiteownershelp.com) to be pointed/linked (redirected) to your main domain (i.e. websitecreationhelp.com) so that when someone types that, transferred/registered, domain name into their web browser it goes to your main domain. This process is known as Parking A Domain Name (see PARKED DOMAIN above).

The only reason for leaving this task to your web hosting provider is when you know absolutely nothing about the technicals, otherwise I would encourage you to carry on with this lesson (below) so that you know how easy it is to park a domain name.

Begin by logging into your website's Control Panel and then click on the PARKED DOMAINS link (Fig 1.0) from within the DOMAINS section. This will take you to the Parked Domains control panel (Fig 1.1) where you can then set up your domain name for parking.

In this example I have typed websiteownershelp.com into the DOMAIN NAME edit box (Fig 1.1) to add that domain name as a Parked Domain. At this time, that domain name is dormant (not pointing anyway and not parked). It will only be parked when I click on the ADD DOMAIN button.

Fig 1.0  Click on the PARKED DOMAINS button to continue




Fig 1.1  Click on the ADD DOMAIN button to continue




Fig 1.2  The domain name has been parked - Click on the GO BACK link to continue

With the domain name now parked, anyone typing www.websiteownershelp.com into their web browser will be shown the content of www.websitecreationhelp.com but will still see www.websiteownershelp.com in the Address Bar edit box. This is because the websiteownershelp.com domain name is pointing/linking (redirecting) to the same web space - To the public_html folder of www.websitecreationhelp.com.

NAME  SERVERS

The creation of the parked domain name was very easy due to the fact that the control panel, together with settings from my web hosting package, told the parked domain name which name servers (ip addresses/domain name servers) it should use. Where your web space lives on the internet basically.

Forget the technicals! The reason why I point out the name servers, which are allocated to your web space (web hosting package), is because in other web hosting packages (control panels) you may be asked for specific name servers (two of them) as well as the domain name. For example. The name servers allocated to my web space are ns15.net-hosted.com and ns16.net-hosted.com.

I know this because 1) my web hosting provider told me so in an email when I purchased my web space for websitecreationhelp.com and 2) because they are listed in my WHOIS record for www.websitecreationhelp.com.

Because websiteownershelp.com is being parked in the same web space it will have to use the same name servers as websitecreationhelp.com. My web hosting provider set up websitecreation.com and my web space for me, with those name servers, and when I ordered websiteownershelp.com they automatically set it up whereby it could use the web space (name servers) of websitecreationhelp.com.

This means if you have a domain name, perhaps from another registrar/provider, that you want pointing (redirecting) to a particular web space you need to know the name servers of that web space. You would then change the current name servers details of the domain name to point to the new name servers (new web space), with the web hosting provider's permission and help. In other words, you cannot just find a web space's name servers and then attach/assign your domain name to those name servers.

The idea of separate domain names and separate web spaces (name servers) is to allow the flexibility of pointing/redirecting a domain name to another web space (as long as you know their name servers details of course) and have permission from the web hosting provider. So you can have your web spaces with one or more web hosting providers and your domain names with different registrars and switch (point/redirect) between them.

Fig 1.3  Click on the MANAGE REDIRECTION link to continue

If you want to point/redirect the parked domain name to a folder within your public_html folder, of your main domain name (web space), you can do so by clicking on the MANAGE REDIRECTION link (above). This will take you to the Parked Domain Redirection part of the control panel (below) where you then need to enter the URL (path name) of that folder.

The URL is made up as http:// plus Main Domain Name (i.e. www.websitecreationhelp.com) plus Forward Slash / plus Folder Name (i.e. members plus another Forward Slash /. So http://www.websitecreationhelp.com/members/. When you have entered the folder's URL into the URL edit box click on the SAVE button to continue.

Fig 1.4  Enter the URL of the folder where you want your parked domain name redirecting to

In the above example I have entered http://www.websitecreationhelp.com/members/ into the URL edit box because I want websiteownershelp.com to point/redirect to the members folder that resides in the public_html folder of www.websitecreationhelp.com. Within that members folder is an index web page, called index.htm, that websiteownershelp.com will display whenever someone types www.websiteownershelp.com into their web browser.

If the index web page was not in that folder its content would be exposed - People would be able to view, and download, the other folders/files inside that members folder. So always put an index file inside the redirection folder. In this case I also password protected the members folder. Therefore websiteownershelp.com has now become a members website.

On thing to note here is that websiteownershelp.com will not be displayed in a web browser's Address Bar edit box. websitecreationhelp.com/members/ will be displayed instead - The redirection path name (location). So it might be better to create websiteownershelp.com as an ADD-ON Domain Name and then password the created websiteownershelp.com folder.

Anyway. After clicking on the SAVE button (Fig 1.4 above) the parked domain name will be redirected to the URL of your redirection folder. The next control panel window will conform this - Simply click on its GO BACK link to continue.

Fig 1.5  Click on the GO BACK link to continue

As explained above. When you redirect a parked domain name to a folder, within your main domain name's public_html folder, that parked domain name loses its unique identity. For example. In the above example websiteownershelp.com starts out as parked only, so in a web browser it displays as http://www.websiteownershelp.com, but as soon as it is redirected to a folder it displays as http://www.websitecreationhelp.com/members/ inside a web browser.

If I redirect websiteownershelp.com to http://www.websiteownershelp.com/members/ it will display as http://www.websiteownershelp.com/members/, but on other web hosting packages it might display as http://www.websitecreationhelp.com/members/. Why? Well it all comes down to Masking (hiding the true domain name) and whether or not your web hosting provider supports it.

MASKING / CLOAKING / FORWARDING

Masking, also known as Cloaking and Forwarding, is the terminology used to describe an URL whose true identity is being hidden from a web browser's Address Bar edit box. For example. If your web hosting provider supports masking/cloaking/forwarding, which they might do but not switch on by default (therefore you may need to request it), it means you can have the URL of a redirected parked domain name for example (i.e. http://www.websitecreationhelp.com/member/) displayed as the URL of a main domain name (i.e. http://www.websitecreationhelp.com).

So in the above example, if masking is supported and switched on, I could have the parked domain name www.websiteownershelp.com displayed as www.websiteownershelp.com even though it is being redirected to http://www.websitecreationhelp.com/members/.

One reason why a web hosting provider might not support masking/cloaking/forwarding, or switch it on by default, is because of security reasons. Phishing (Credit Card Fraud) websites for example often use masking to disguise their true website (domain name url) identity. Therefore, it is not a bad thing to have no masking support.

In some ways it proves you are honest; You are allowing people to see the redirection URL. Basically. Masking started out as a good idea for the honest website owner but soon fell into the hands of the criminal.