Using a Pointer Domain

Can two domain names point at the same space?

Yes. This is available as an option to an existing hosting account. Each additional domain costs a small fee in addition to the regular fees for the primary domain. To exercise this option, you decide which domain you want to be primary and which domain(s) will be secondary. The primary domain will need to be hosted using one of our regular hosting packages. The secondary domain name(s) will be set up using our pointer domain option, which can be found under additional domains on the Hosting Packages table. Once you have ordered your Pointing Domain option, EasyStreet will email the information you need to complete the pointing. The following instructions assume that you have received that information.

Configuring the pointer domain

1. Login to the WebSiteOS account for the pointer domain
2. Click on the Website Management link in the upper left navigation panel which looks like this:

   

3. In the bottom section of the left navigation panel, click on the words Domain Pointing which will launch your Domain Pointing control panel.

   

4. Your domain pointing control panel has a simple interface that looks like this:

   

5. In the box that says Point your Website at this URL: put in the full URL to which this domain will point, including any subfolders. It should be in the format http://www.domain.com/ or http://www.domain.com/subfolder/.
6. If you want to hide the destination URL from the end user, check the box that says Show pointed URL in Address/Location Bar (note: this is not recommended).
7. Do not put anything in the Forward all Email to this address box. You email is not hosted on this server. This setting should be left blank.
8. Click the Apply button for changes to happen immediately. Then click okay.
9. Your changes will not take effect if the pointer domain has not yet been setup in EasyStreet's DNS server.

What URL shows in the user's browser?

Usually the end user will see the URL of the destination (primary) domain. Here are the technical options for a pointer account:

1. Point the pointer domain at the top level of another web site:

   This option works well in situations where the same people would be accessing both sites and should be seeing the same content no matter which URL they type in.

   Under this option, anyone typing in the secondary domain, http://www.secondarydomain.com would end up on the web site for the primary domain, http://www.primarydomain.com. The address that would show in the address bar of the user's web browser would be the primary domain http://www.primarydomain.com

2. Point it at a sub-folder of another web site:

   This option works well when the users visiting the two sites should see different content. This option is recommended for a short-term or promotional events, or for situations where there might be different developers for the primary and secondary sites.

   Under this option, anyone typing in http://www.secondarydomain.com/ would end up at an address like http://www.primarydomain.com/subfolder/. The full destination address, including subfolder, would be reflected in the address bar of the user's web browser. User's connecting directly to the primary domain at http://www.primarydomain.com/ would see different content than those connecting via the secondary domain.

3. Hide the destination URL from the end user

   This option is available, but makes use of frames to hide the destination URL from the user. Some web site navigation might not work well using this option, so it is not recommended.

Pointer domains work using an Apache redirect, so very old browsers might not automatically redirect. If the user's browser is unable to automatically redirect, a link is provided to the new URL.