Multisite Subdirectory domain mapping with Bluehost

  • Resolved cdavis85

    (@cdavis85)


    14 years, 4 months ago

    After searching the forums for days and waking up multiple times in the middle of the night with failed epiphanies, I can’t seem to figure out this relatively simple (I’m sure) issue with mapping my sub directory WordPress site with domain.

    A little background info:

    1. I purchased two add-on domains from GoDaddy and added them to my Bluehost cPanel (youphoto.co & youphotography.co). You cant purchase .co via Bluehost
    2. Root domain is spunmediagroup.com (WP is installed here with multisite enabled)
    3. 3. Sub directory WP site is spunmediagroup.com/youphoto
    4. When I added the two add-on domains to Bluehost, it automatically created the following directories /youphoto/ & /youphotography/ off of my root directory (public_html & www)
    5. It also created the following A Records are under the root domain youphoto-co, http://www.youphoto-co, youphotography-co http://www.youphotography-co

    I have installed the WP Domain Mapping plugin and added the following domains to my WP sub directory site (http://www.youphotography.co, http://youphotography-co.spunmediagroup.com, http://youphotography.co, http://spunmediagroup.com/youphoto)

    Not sure if it matters in sub directory installation, but I have added a * to the A record for the root domain (spunmediagroup.com). I haven’t added anything to the CNAME or A records for any other domain b/c quite frankly, I’m not sure what to add or where to add it!

    Right now I have a static html “Under construction” page dropped into the public_html/youphoto/ directory. If i change the name of that directory, I can view the wp subdirectory site. I understand that WP creates virtual folders and that by having those folders under the public_html directory, its probably overwriting the virtual folders. I haven’t deleted anything b/c I’m afraid of blowing up the internet (no not really, just not really sure what to do).

    As elementary as it sounds, I want to type youphotography.co (or youphoto.co) into the address bar and view my wp sub directory site – without the URL changing to something funky like spunmediagroup.com/youphoto.

    So my question is…What do I delete, What do I add, and where do I do it?

    Thanks soo much in advance!

Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
  • Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    14 years, 4 months ago

    I understand that WP creates virtual folders and that by having those folders under the public_html directory, its probably overwriting the virtual folders.

    Yes, you cannot have BOTH the folder AND the site name.

    Get rid of the folders.

    Thread Starter cdavis85

    (@cdavis85)

    14 years, 4 months ago

    I tried that before, but I get a 500 Internal server error.

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    14 years, 4 months ago

    How did you park the domains?

    To quote Otto:

    When you buy a new domain, you will need to edit its DNS settings to actually point to your server IP or CNAME or whatever you do to make the domain connect to your server. For me, I just give it a new A record with my server IP in it. Easy.

    http://ottopress.com/2010/wordpress-3-0-multisite-domain-mapping-tutorial/

    Thread Starter cdavis85

    (@cdavis85)

    14 years, 4 months ago

    The domain is actually an “add-on” domain and I can manage it thru my cPanel. The IP of the add-on domains both point to the server IP of the root domain. Do the domains actually need to be unassigned from the cPanel and parked instead?

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    14 years, 4 months ago

    I think so, yes.

    Thread Starter cdavis85

    (@cdavis85)

    14 years, 4 months ago

    You’re correct – all mapped domains must be “parked” instead of “add-on”.

    Thanks for the help!

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    14 years, 4 months ago

    Different hosts have different definitions 😉 S’why we drink! You’re welcome!

    Thread Starter cdavis85

    (@cdavis85)

    14 years, 4 months ago

    Sorry to reopen, but the actual redirects seem to be working correctly (as in they display the WordPress site i am developing) but when the site is viewed from the WP dashboard, nothing is displayed (My Sites > You Photography > Visit Site)

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    14 years, 4 months ago

    when the site is viewed from the WP dashboard, nothing is displayed (My Sites > You Photography > Visit Site)

    Where’s it going?

    Thread Starter cdavis85

    (@cdavis85)

    14 years, 4 months ago

    The pesky host added folders off of the root directory once the domains were parked. Obviously they were empty directories, but the fact was they were overwriting the virtual folder created by WP. That was essentially the original problem:

    I understand that WP creates virtual folders and that by having those folders under the public_html directory, its probably overwriting the virtual folders.

    *sigh* – patience is such a virtue!

    numberonebestsupertech

    (@numberonebestsupertech)

    14 years, 4 months ago

    I use WP quite a lot, and I am sorry, but I have never heard of WP having “virtual folders.” Could someone tell me if this is inaccurate.

    When I go to those 2 websites, they look the same. So I am assuming from what you said that you made them “parked” domains. When ever you add a domain as “parked” it does NOT create a subfolder for any thing. It just simply redirects the the main hosted account (as long an you don’t change anything, like zone files).

    I think you should contact Bluehost and double check to see if there really are “virtual” folders. I just tried on one of my accounts with my Bluehost Control Panel in the domains section, and it did NOT create any folder at all.

    If those 2 domains are really “parked” they should show the same page as your main domain, and they don’t. So, did you just change their nameservers, say within the last 24 hours? If so then what is displayed on the internet could be from the old server, and all you have to do is just wait for them to resolve. Generally no more than 24 hours. But, if you changed them some time ago, then definitely contact Bluehost.

    Thread Starter cdavis85

    (@cdavis85)

    14 years, 4 months ago

    The actual nameservers were not changed, but both domains were changed from add-on domains to parked late yesterday (could be while the folders were still showing up on the root?). I’m fairly new with WP Multisite and wasn’t sure if that affected how the domain mapping worked – clearly it does!

    By saying “virtual folders”, I’m referring to the sub directory site that is created in WordPress (ex. mydomain.com/newsite). If I look at the www folder via FTP, there is no folder created called /newsite/ under the root directory. – thus I was calling it “virtual”. I am assuming this would be the same if a new site was created using sub domain (ex. newsite.mydomain.com). If calling them virtual is the wrong nomenclature, please clarify for myself and anyone reading so no one is confused by my posts. Definitely don’t want to that!

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    14 years, 4 months ago

    If you use Multisite, and you have subfolders (so you have a site named domain.com/sitename) there’s NO folder named sitename on your server. WordPress virtually makes one with it’s WordPressy magic. Or rather the same way it handles your permalinks.

    When you’re parking domains, they often make you physical folders, like when you make a named subdomain instead of wildcards. Like if I made a subdomain gaga.domain.com, then cpanel would automatically make a folder public_html/gaga 🙂

    When using WP to handle subdomains and subfolders, you don;t need the physical folder.

Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

The topic ‘Multisite Subdirectory domain mapping with Bluehost’ is closed to new replies.