Create and manage addon domains and domain aliases

If you have purchased a plan WordPress hosting, PrestaShop hosting, semidedicated hosting, or a dedicated server, you can add additional domains to your account.

From cPanel, you can manage your account by adding addon domains, and you can also create domain aliases (or parked domains). Let’s see what differences there are between these two functions and how to create them.

Addon domains and aliases: differences

An addon domain is a separate domain that you can use to create another website. The difference between having two separate domains with two hosting plans and having an addon domain is that by creating one (or more than one), you can manage it from the same cPanel account, the same you use to manage the main domain.

By creating an alias, however, you allow those who visit your site by typing another address. For example, if your site is www.mysite.com you can create an alias like this www.myothersite.com.

This way, those who visit the address www.myothersite.com will see your main website (www.mysite.com).

To create an alias you must have registered a second domain that you want to use as an alias. Creating an alias can be useful if you want your website tobe visible from more than one domain, or if you use a CMS that can map multiple domains (for example wp multisite with the domain mapping plugin) and show different content for different domains, while managing it with the same CMS.

The alias domain is also called parked domain precisely because it has no content, but its purpose is to point to the same folder as the main domain.

The steps for creating an additional domain and alias varies depending on the cPanel theme you are using. Let’s see how to do it with the themes paper lantern and jupiter.

Create an additional domain and alias (paper lantern theme)

If you are using the paper lantern theme you will see in the “Domains” section of cPanel the following: Addon Domains and Aliases.

How to add an addon domain

Depending on the plan you have activated, you may have a maximum number of addon domains that you can create. After logging to cPanel, you will see a statistics section on the main page on the right sidebar. In this section, you can check the number of additional domains you can create on your account.

To create an additional domain, you will need to scroll down to the Domains section of cPanel and click on Addon Domains.

From here, you will need to fill in the New domain name field by entering the name of the addon domain you want to create. After doing this, the Subdomain and Document Root fields will be filled automatically. You can choose whether to leave them as they are or change them.

You can choose if you want to create an FTP account associated with the domain you are creating. If so, check the box next to “Create an FTP account associated with this Addon domain”.

After selecting the box, you will need to fill in the data that will allow you to access the server via FTP. The username is automatically created based on the cPanel username, but you can also change it. You are also prompted to choose a password.

After filling in all the fields, click on Add domain to complete the creation of the additional domain.

Modify addon domains

If you want to change the root of your addon domains or the folder associated with it, just follow these steps.

Access the cPanel Addon Domains section, here you will see the available addon domains.

Locate the addon domain you want to change and click on the pencil icon under Document root, as you can see here:

Type the path of the new folder you want to associate with the additional domain and click Edit.

Addon domain redirect

From the Addon domains section, you can also set up the redirection of your addon domains. To do this, click on Manage redirection as you see indicated in this screen:

In the next screen, enter the address to which you want to redirect the domain and click on save.

Disable redirection

If you want to disable the redirect, click on Manage redirection and then on the button disable redirection.

Remove an addon domain

To remove an addon domain, go to the Addon domains section and click on the Remove button you see next to the domain you want to delete.

How to create an alias

From the cPanel main page, scroll down to the Domains section and click on Aliases.

In the Domain field, you will need to enter the domain you want to use as an alias and then redirect to your main site. Click on Add domain for confirmation.

As I explained at the beginning, you can set as alias domains those you have registered.

After creating the alias, you will need to configure the domain nameservers to point to the server. You can follow our tutorial to modify the name servers.

Remove an alias

To remove the alias of a domain, access the Alias ​​management from the Domains section of cPanel, locate the alias you want to remove, and click on the Remove button.

In the next window, you will have to confirm the operation by clicking on Remove. Remember that the removal is permanent.

Creating Addon domains and aliases (jupiter theme)

If you are using cPanel’s jupiter theme, in the “Domains” box you will not see the Addon Domains and Aliases sections, but a single interface named “Domains” as shown here:

This “Domains” interface allows us to create:

• domains;
• subdomains;
• addon domains;
• Domain aliases.

Create an addon domain

Let’s see how to create an addon domain from cPanel.

Firstly go to Domains > Domains as indicated here:

You will then need to click on Create a new domain to proceed:

You will then see the interface that allows you to create an addon domain. In order to do that you’ll just need to follow these steps:

1. In the “Domain” field, enter the domain name.
2. Remove the check next to “Share document root (/home/user name/public_html” with …)
3. Enter the directory you want to use or leave the default one.
4. You can also change the subdomain that is always created automatically.
5. When done, click “Submit” to confirm the creation.

Below you see the screenshot with the fields that need to be filled in:

Create a domain alias (parked domain)

After logging in to cPanel click on Domains to access the interface, as shown here:

On the screen that opens, you will see the list of domains associated with your account.
Click on Create a new domain as shown here:

To create an alias, simply follow these steps:

1. Enter the domain name to be used as an alias in the “Domain” field.
2. Make sure the “Share document root (/home/user name/public_html” with …) option is checked.
3. Click on “Submit” to confirm the creation.

The steps we have just gone over are shown here below: