Multi-domain - Put several domains on the same web hosting

Procédure

The Multi Domains section of the LWS Panel connects other domain names to your shared hosting. An alias domain displays the site of your main domain; an independent domain gets its own folder and can therefore display a separate site. An alias domain does not display the site of an independent domain: if your alias shows the LWS welcome page, the section “Alias domain: which site is displayed?” explains why.

What is Multi-domain Web Hosting?

Multi-domain web hosting lets you install several independent sites on the same shared hosting plan. Each domain you add falls into one of these two types:

• Alias domain: the added domain displays the same site as your main domain (for example monsite.com showing the site of monsite.fr).
• Independent domain: the added domain has its own folder on the hosting account, and therefore its own site.

The “Multi domains used” counter, at the top of the Multi Domains page, shows how many domains you have added and how many your plan allows.

How do I access the multi-domain configuration of my web hosting?

1. Log in to your client area

   Log in to the administration page of your domain name.

   

2. Click “Manage”

   In “Domain(s) & Hosting(s)”, click the “Manage” button found behind the relevant plan.

   

3. Open “Multi Domains”

   Click the “Multi Domains” button in the “Domain management” section.

   

How do I add a domain to my hosting?

1. Choose the domain type

   In the “Connect a domain to your hosting plan” box, choose the “Domain type”:

   • “Alias domain”: the added domain will display your main domain’s website;
   • “Independent domain”: the added domain will have its own website, in its own folder.

   

2. Enter the domain name and add it

   Type the domain name in the “Domain to add” field (for example myotherdomain.com), then click the green “+ Add” button.

   Once your domain name has been added to your hosting, the change will take effect on the server within 15 minutes.

3. Point the domain to your hosting

   If the domain is on your LWS account, its DNS zone is configured automatically: there is nothing for you to do.

   If the domain is with another provider, change its DNS zone at that provider using the addresses shown in “Multi-domain IP”, at the top of the page:

   • a A record for the www subdomain or for @ (root domain), with the IPv4 address;
   • a AAAA record, with the IPv6 address.

   If these records already exist, modify their value rather than deleting them. For DNS zones managed with LWS, the procedure is detailed in Managing advanced DNS zones (A, CNAME, MX, SPF...).

Alias domain: which site is displayed?

An alias domain displays the site of your main domain. In the “Multi-domain listing” table, its “Directory” column shows “/”: the alias displays what is published at the root of your hosting space.

An independent domain, on the other hand, has its own directory, such as “/domain-name”. The site published there (for example a WordPress installed for that domain) is displayed only under that domain: an alias domain does not display the site of an independent domain.

The table does not let you change the directory of a domain that has already been added: it only offers the red trash icon, which removes the domain from the hosting account.

Specific feature of the independent domain

If you add a domain to your hosting in “Independent domain” mode in order to have a separate site, a folder with exactly the same name as your domain name will automatically be created on your FTP space. It is shown in the “Directory” column of the table.

You then only need to publish your website in that folder, by connecting via FTP to your main account or with the LWS Panel file manager. The auto-installer can also install a CMS directly on a domain added through Multi Domains.

Protection mode

In the Multi Domains section, you can enable the Protection Mode option to allow or prevent access to the data of each added domain through the main domain. According to the panel window, in the case of an independent domain, it allows the accessible data to be clearly separated from it via the URL.

To adjust it, click “Modify” next to “Protection mode”, choose “Disable” or “Enable” under “Operating mode”, then click “Confirm”. The panel recommends enabling it (“Enabled (recommended)”).

Frequently asked questions

How do I add a second domain to my hosting plan?

Add a free Let's Encrypt certificate to your domains or subdomains

Related articles

• My domain name displays my hosting welcome page
• How do I publish a site via FTP with FileZilla, Cyberduck or WinSCP?
• How do I install a CMS with the LWS auto-installer?
• How do I create subdomains on the LWS Panel?
• Redirect a domain name to another web address
• How do I move WordPress to a new domain name?