Title: Problem adding sub domains Last modified: August 20, 2016 --- # Problem adding sub domains * [ScottJSA](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scottjsa/) * (@scottjsa) * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-sub-domains/) * Hi all, * I was hoping someone could offer some advice on this one. * I had a single WP install (www.example.com) and decided to upgrade to multi site version because I want different themes in different sub domains, but cross-site logins, and easy management (before I discovered multisite functionality, I setup a 2nd install on a sub domain dir.example.com). * The setup went fine and was able to get the main site working on the non-WWW version of the domain fine (redirects in place from the www version) – all is good. * However, setting up a new site (dir.example.com and forum.example.com) it doesn’t work. * I think the issue is my hosting package. It allows sub domains to be setup as different hosting packages. For the single install of dir.example.com I originally setup a new hosting package for it, but deleted it after the multi-site upgrade. * I’ve setup a wildcard DNS entry for my root domain (A record “*” and IP address is the same as root/www), but trying to access dir shows an Apache holding page( which I think is a legacy from the previous subdomain setup as a different package). forum.example.com 301 redirects to example.com/forum and shows a 404 page from the main blog (this is default behaviour for the host – Fasthosts in the UK). * So *something* isn’t working – I’m assuming it’s down to the DNS – I followed the instructions here: [http://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network](http://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network) during the initial setup. * So my questions; * 1. Has anyone setup a multisite install with Fasthosts at all and know where the problem might be? * 2. Given that I can setup subdomains via my cpanel, would I be better just doing that and setting the A records for root and www versions (of the subdomain) to the same IP as my main install, rather than using the wildcard solution? * 3. This is my first time installing multi site and I’m a DNS newbie – are there any blatantly obvious things that I’m missing here? * Further info; * In my config file, I added: * ``` define('MULTISITE', true); define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true); $base = '/'; define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'example.com'); define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/'); define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1); define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1); ``` * My htaccess: * ``` RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L] # uploaded files RewriteRule ^files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$1 [L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d RewriteRule ^ - [L] RewriteRule . index.php [L] ``` * I’d appreciated any help you can offer. Thanks, Scott Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total) * Thread Starter [ScottJSA](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scottjsa/) * (@scottjsa) * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-sub-domains/#post-3067719) * Just to add to this, I’ve been chatting with my hosting company’s support desk to no avail. * I’ve setup separate subdomains for both forum.example.com and dir.example.com, with root and WWW A records for each set to the same IP address as [http://www.example.com](http://www.example.com). * The sub domains are resolving and showing an apache server test page. A header checker shows the correct IP address, but 403 forbidden response. * The hosting is shared hosting, which is suspect may be at the crux of the problem, but I’ve read that multi-site setup can be fine on shared hosting. * What I’m trying to figure out is where the process is failing. Sub domains are resolving properly. Multi site is working properly as far as I can tell. Is this a server issue that’s simply not passing the subdomain request to the WP install? * Scott * Moderator [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/) * (@ipstenu) * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-sub-domains/#post-3067774) * > Given that I can setup subdomains via my cpanel, would I be better just doing > that and setting the A records for root and www versions (of the subdomain) > to the same IP as my main install, rather than using the wildcard solution? * Actually … See fi you can make a subdomain called * * Thread Starter [ScottJSA](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scottjsa/) * (@scottjsa) * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-sub-domains/#post-3067792) * I can setup a wildcard DNS via “advanced DNS” options in my control panel. * I can also setup a subdomain via the main domain in control panel. However that method requires me to assign a subfolder to hold the content and when setup the subdomain automatically 301 redirects to that sub folder. Via this option, I can’t add * as the subdomain name. I think this is basically just a quick and easy way for their customers to setup a SD without managing a new site. * The third option is to setup a SD via a new hosting package, which works and lets me manage the DNS of the subdomain. However, I was advised by the hosting company not to do this (as it would conflict with the main domain DNS settings if I already have those subdomains setup). * The exact advice was: * > If you create the sub-domain/directory on the parent package and use a 301 > redirect back into the parent root directory. You’d need to remove the existing > sub-domain so the DNS records go back to default. * Which I’ve done. The effect that has is; * dir.example.com 301s to example.com/dir (server does this automatically). I then 301 example.com/dir to example.com which just shows the main site as you’d expect. * TBH, I’m not sure the hosting company are familiar enough with the setup to understand what is needed, and I don’t have the knowledge to be able to explain it well. * Scott * Thread Starter [ScottJSA](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scottjsa/) * (@scottjsa) * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-sub-domains/#post-3067793) * BTW if it helps, the site is: jobseekersadvice.com and the SD I’m trying to setup are forum. and dir. * Thanks, Scott * Moderator [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/) * (@ipstenu) * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-sub-domains/#post-3067821) * > I can setup a wildcard DNS via “advanced DNS” options in my control panel. * Yes. I said _subdomain_ 🙂 These are totally different things. * > I can also setup a subdomain via the main domain in control panel. However > that method requires me to assign a subfolder to hold the content and when > setup the subdomain automatically 301 redirects to that sub folder. Via this > option, I can’t add * as the subdomain name. I think this is basically just > a quick and easy way for their customers to setup a SD without managing a new > site. * Why not? What happens if you DO put in *? * If you have to manually name your subdomains, just assign it to the folder where WP is installed. (so instead of /public_html/subdomain/, just point it to /public_html/) Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total) The topic ‘Problem adding sub domains’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [A records](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/a-records/) * [dns](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/dns/) * [Fasthosts](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/fasthosts/) * [htaccess](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/htaccess/) * [multi-site](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/multi-site/) * [sub-domains](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/sub-domains/) * In: [Networking WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/multisite/) * 5 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/) * Last activity: [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-sub-domains/#post-3067821) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics