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HomeHomeGetting StartedGetting StartedInstalling DNN ...Installing DNN ...Do forwarded/masked domain names fool DNNDo forwarded/masked domain names fool DNN's portal alias system?
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6/13/2006 5:19 AM
 

I've managed to successfully install DNN running on a GoDaddy-esque hosting environment and all seems to be running just fine (as far as I can tell anyways).  The problem that I'm running into, however, is having DNN recognize the two parent portals as seperate portals.  I have two domain names that point at the same directory (http://www.mydomain.com/dnn) but regardless of which domain I'm visiting that directory from, DNN only shows me the portal for the one.

Looking through the domain name registrar's system through which the two domain names are registered, I see that they are both being "Forwarded" to the correct domain and that the second domain is being "Masked" so that users will still see the correct domain even though it's sending the traffic to the other domain.  Does anyone know if these "Forwarded" domain names don't allow DNN to appropriate decide which portal to display to the users?  Do I need to go into the DNS records on the registrar's system directly and modify the A and C Names manually so that I'm circumventing the "Forwarding" mechanism?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

-b-

 
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6/13/2006 10:37 PM
 

 

   OK, I have a slightly better feel for the concept of a "Forwarded" domain name vs. an "Aliased" domain name.  Please, if anyone has a better grip on this and could add your feedback, I'd appreciate it greatly.

   I appears as though most of the secondary domain registrar companies are offering up their free "Forwarding" service that can be added to your domain name via their online administrative tools.  The "Forwarding" basically takes users from one domain name to another.  For example:

   *   Domain Name #1:  http://www.I_WAS_REGISTERED_FIRST.com

   *   Domain Name #2:   http://www.I_WAS_REGISTERED_SECOND.com

   If you setup a hosting account and have domain name #1 setup to direct traffic there, it is "Aliased" to that hosting environment.  When you use a script in that directory to pull up the domain name, it will display "www.I_WAS_REGISTERED_FIRST.com".  Now, you go and register a second domain that you want to direct to the same directory, only you use their free "Forwarding" service.  You type in "www.I_WAS_REGISTERED_SECOND.com", but the script on the page will still display "www.I_WAS_REGISTERED_FIRST.com".  The cheap part about the whole process is that it seems that most of the hosting companies' "economy" hosting packages don't allow you to "Alias" multiple domain names to a single hosting point.

   So, when I use domain name #1 and look at the DNN portal that's setup for it everything seems to work just fine.  I type in "www.I_WAS_REGISTERED_FIRST.com/dnn" and I get taken to DNN Portal #1.  However, when I type in domain name #2, "www.I_WAS_REGISTERED_SECOND.com/dnn", I still see DNN Portal #1.  All of the DNN portal aliases are correct, but the DNN script seems to see them both as coming from the same domain name because of the "Forwarding".

   Can anyone double-check me on this?  I can't get anyone on the host's tech support line to give me anything but a confused silence on the other end of the phone.  And they certainly make no attempt at assisting with the DNN application.  I'd really like to keep the "economy" hosting price, but still have multiple domain names pointing at DNN and displaying their correct portals.  Suggestions?

-b-

 
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6/15/2006 3:10 AM
 

OK, now I'm in a real jam.  The host that I'm using here (XSiteReg.com) doesn't allow multiple domains to be aliased to a single Windows hosting account.  So unless I can figure out a way to get DNN to recognize a "Forwarded" domain name and alias it to the correct portal there's *no* way to setup more than one portal per instance of DNN in their hosting environment.

Please... *anybody*!  If there is a way to have DNN recognize a "Forwarded" domain name I'm in dire need of the suggestion.  Otherwise the 11.75 months of my 12-month hosting contract that I just got into is going to be worthless as I'm going to have to switch to another provider who allows multiple domains to be aliased directly to a single hosting location.  HELP!  PLEAD!  BEG!  :)

Thanks.

-b-

 
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6/15/2006 4:03 AM
 

Did you get an IP address allocated - I think (and this is just a think OK) you should be able to setup a wildcard entry - and try pointing you dns www records to that IP - and see how that goes.. Maybe DNN will pick it up - but I feel that it really needs the IIS entry in there too, so you're stuck.

But to be honest, if someone has set up only one account, it doesn't sound very positive.I'm trying to think if by having your own IP address and the ww records allocated would make a difference or if you really do need to put them into IIS.

Based on this nightmare - I'd be moving to another provider.. and read the fine print.. I hate seeing people caught out like this since it's not really the fault of the hosting company if that's their policy - but nevertheless a nuisance.

Nina Meiers


Nina Meiers My Little Website
If it's on DNN, I fix, build, deploy, support,skin, host, design, consult, implement, integrate and done since 2003.
Who am I? Just a city chic, having a crack at organic berry farming.. and creating awesome websites.
 
New Post
6/15/2006 5:06 AM
 
nina wrote

Did you get an IP address allocated - I think (and this is just a think OK) you should be able to setup a wildcard entry - and try pointing you dns www records to that IP - and see how that goes.. Maybe DNN will pick it up - but I feel that it really needs the IIS entry in there too, so you're stuck.

But to be honest, if someone has set up only one account, it doesn't sound very positive.I'm trying to think if by having your own IP address and the ww records allocated would make a difference or if you really do need to put them into IIS.

Based on this nightmare - I'd be moving to another provider.. and read the fine print.. I hate seeing people caught out like this since it's not really the fault of the hosting company if that's their policy - but nevertheless a nuisance.

Nina Meiers

   Thank you Nina very much for the reply (great tutorial videos too, FYI).  I've tried playing around with the DNS records for the domain names, but the problem lies with the hosting side of things.  IIS needs to have the website/directory setup to be looking for all of the appropriate domain names in order for them to get picked up and I've just gotten verification from my host that they do *not* allow that kind of multiple-domain aliasing to occur in their environment.  So I'm fairly well stuck there.

   I also just got off of the phone with the tech support line for GoDaddy's hosting service and they are telling me the same thing.  They say that only one domain name can be directly aliased to any one windows hosting account.  I've seen many people posting on here about using GoDaddy for their hosting provider.  Is anyone out there who has successfully aliased/forwarded their multiple domains to work with DNN under GoDaddy's system?  Or does everyone purchase a seperate hosting account for each DNN portal they create?

   Please let me know if this is possible or if I'm stuck looking for another provider.  Thanks again.

-b-

 
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