I have read so many posts on creating parent portals but its all so very confusing.

1st - I see alot of posts that say you have to create an alias but I have 2 parent portals working without the use of an alias.

2nd - I set up another parent portal exactly like I did with the 2 mentioned above but it keeps directing back to the host/main portal.  I've tried creating an alias under the host portal and that didnt work.  I tried creating an alias under the parent portal but that didnt work.  (side questions, should the alias be created on the host or parent portal?) 

My hosting provider said they resolved the parent dns to the host dns - is resolving the same as pointing?  What about redirecting?  How do I know what termanology to use?  Is it all the same?

So bottom line, I have to parent portals working as they should and 1 that I've tried everything I've read in these posts but it always displays the host portal when I enter the parent url in the address.. is there something that I've missed ?  any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Thanks

Thanks so much for the response, here's the situation:

1. www.hostporal.com - works
2. www.secondportal.com - no alias just a parent portal - works
3. www.thirdportal.com - no alias just a parent portal - works
4. www.fourthportal.com does not work (redirects to the hostportal) so I deleted it.  (The hosting provider said it has been "resolved " to the hostportal.)
5. Then I created a child portal www.hostportal.com/fourthportal and created an alias under the hostportal like alias=www.fourthportal.com - that did not work. so I deleted the alias
6. Then I created an alias under the child portal (www.hostportal.com/fourthportal) like alias=www.fourthportal.com - and that did not work

So what might I be missing with the setup of fourthportal if it redirects to hostportal with each scenario listed above?

Is it possible that its not working correctly (i.e. redirecting to host) because its not ASP.Net 2?