Title: CNAME problem Last modified: September 1, 2016 --- # CNAME problem * Resolved [chrisv2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chrisv2/) * (@chrisv2) * [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cname-problem/) * I’m having a problem in native 4.5.2 (no plugin installed, fresh install so no old mapping cleanup needed). * Please note, my WP install is on a shared IP host and not at a dedicated IP address. * Here’s what I did: * 1. Went to registrar and set up a CNAME pointer for [http://www.foosite.com](http://www.foosite.com) to map to chrisv2.myWPnetwork.com * 2. In network admin for chrisv2.myWPnetwork.com, I set the site address to [http://www.foosite.com/](http://www.foosite.com/) * The result is that when I put [http://www.foosite.com](http://www.foosite.com) into my browser, I get sent to my hosting company’s default page. So, it is making it to my hosting company but **not** going all the way to my WP installation and to the desired network site. * If my WP installation was at a dedicated IP address, would this issue be solved? Or am I missing something else? * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/) Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) * Plugin Author [Ron Rennick](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmuguru/) * (@wpmuguru) * [9 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cname-problem/#post-7463267) * Check your hosting control panel to see if you can either park a domain or create a domain alias (different terminology for the same thing). If you can do either then you need to park or alias the domain you want to map onto your WP install. * Thread Starter [chrisv2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chrisv2/) * (@chrisv2) * [9 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cname-problem/#post-7463273) * Thanks Ron – is domain parking always a requirement — or *if* I had my multisite sitting at a dedicated/static IP address would it work without parking the domain at my hosting company? * Plugin Author [Ron Rennick](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmuguru/) * (@wpmuguru) * [9 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cname-problem/#post-7463284) * It only works without parking on a dedicated IP when the WP install is in the default virtual host for that IP address. * Thread Starter [chrisv2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chrisv2/) * (@chrisv2) * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cname-problem/#post-7463290) * ok, understood and thank you Ron. So, to summarize: * 1. I have WP multisite up and running as the single hosted site in my hosting account, and also with a static IP address. * 2. I (think?) I have to also edit wp-config.php and add: `define('COOKIE_DOMAIN','');` * 3. Customer requests and receives a new blog instance in the multisite network:` customer.mymultisite.com` * 4. Customer registers a domain `www.foosite.com`, and at registrar he sets a CNAME record to point www to `customer.mymultisite.com` * 5. I go into admin for `customer.mymultisite.com` and set the URL to `www.foosite. com` * Then, everything works as expected – all URIs using `www.foosite.com` will work. If this is correct, then I’m home free. I will give it a shot if you don’t think I’m missing anything. * Plugin Author [Ron Rennick](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpmuguru/) * (@wpmuguru) * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cname-problem/#post-7463329) * > 2. I (think?) I have to also edit wp-config.php and add: * Do not do that. * For 3-5: You would be better to create a standard CNAME that is used by all your subsites (ex. cname.mymultisite.com). When you edit the URL in #5 the customer. mymultisite.com disappears. * Thread Starter [chrisv2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chrisv2/) * (@chrisv2) * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cname-problem/#post-7463337) * Ron, forgive my ignorance here…but when someone new comes to my multisite and they click on “register”, then they are picking a name when they register. BillyBob12 signs up at the site and he is going to get a new site called `billybob12.mymultisite. com` * So, how can I have a single CNAME that’s used by all subsites? * Also, I tried (hard!) to not add that `define('COOKIE_DOMAIN','');` to my `wp- config.php` but without that line of code I was not able to log into the newly mapped subdomain site. WP login was giving me a “browser does not support cookies” error. * Is there some bad side effect I am going to have by having that define statement in my config file? * It is actually working now! The remaining issue I am having is that `www.foosite. com` is mapping perfectly to `customer.mymultisite.com` — but `foosite.com` will not map; it goes to the default page at the registrar. I tried adding a CNAME record for `*.foosite.com` to point to customer.mymultisite.com and still no luck. * Thread Starter [chrisv2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chrisv2/) * (@chrisv2) * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cname-problem/#post-7463339) * Upon further reading, the mapping of the root TLD (`footsite.com`) to another domain is a non-trivial problem. Looks like I am going to end up using Amazon Route 53 as a DNS service since they’ve added an “alias” record type that can handle this. Normal DNS like at GoDaddy will only allow the root TLD to map via an A record to a real IP address. * That’s an “ok” solution but down the road if I were to move to a different hosting service (i.e. different static IP address), I’d have a bunch of unhappy customers who will have to go back into their registrar and change the A record. * Apparently, using Route 53 to handle all DNS services will make the client side of the equation a lot easier. I hope. * Thread Starter [chrisv2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chrisv2/) * (@chrisv2) * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cname-problem/#post-7463341) * OK. I’ve been on this for 20 hours straight and I think I finally figured it out. My goal was to enable CNAME only mapping, handling both `www.foosite.com` and `foosite.com` — with no worry about a dedicated/static IP address and with the goal of the clients to ONLY have to update their nameservers at the registrar, not have them try to deal with CNAME or A records. Oh, and I’m on a CPanel host so I have no access to Apache config, or logs. * I should probably write this up somewhere but the net is: * 1. Amazon AWS Route 53 handles the DNS, create a hosted zone for the client’s registered domain (`foosite.com`) with a www CNAME pointing to `www.mymultisite. com` * 2. Set up an S3 bucket in Amazon AWS for the (non-www) client’s `foosite.com` and statically map that to `www.foosite.com` * 3. Back in the Route 53 hosted zone, create an A record for the (non-www) `foosite. com` and specify it as an Alias, pointing it to the bucket created in step 2. This assures that both `www.foosite.com` and `foosite.com` will end up pointing to `www.mymultisite.com` (look mom, no static IP address needed! 😉 ) * 4. In the multisite network, go to the client’s site in network admin and edit the site URL, changing it to `www.foosite.com` * 5. In the CPanel account that hosts `mymultisite.com` specify an add-on domain called `foosite.com` and point it to public_html (or wherever you have WP installed). This effectively creates a virtual host record in Apache config, for the incoming mapped site. * I also tried it in Godaddy and got it to work, but not the root TLD (only www), whereas I am confident that Amazon’s Alias mechanism is handling both www and non-www nicely via the bank shot to the S3 bucket. * With this setup, all I have to do is tell my client to change their nameserver designation at their registrar to the AWS nameservers I give them — and BAM, it works. Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) The topic ‘CNAME problem’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping.svg) * [WordPress MU Domain Mapping](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/reviews/) * 8 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [chrisv2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chrisv2/) * Last activity: [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cname-problem/#post-7463341) * Status: resolved