WenderHost

When I'm setting up a new website for a client with an existing website, I will commonly want to point a temporary URL to the new website for use during development and testing. For example, I might use something like http://newclient.wenderhost.com to point to an account that I setup as http://newclient.com. This is commonly known as an account alias or a temporary domain. If you're using a WHM/cPanel server, setting up an account alias is easy:

1. If you haven't already, be sure to start by creating an account in WHM for your client's domain. We'll use http://newclient.com as our example.
2. Login to the cPanel for a domain whose DNS already resolves to your WHM server. The most logical choice would be your reseller domain. In my case, I would login to the cPanel for http://wenderhost.com.
3. Create a subdomain for your client's site from the cPanel you accessed in step two.
4. Login to your WHM control panel. Choose DNS Functions > Park a Domain. Select your client's domain for the "Domain to park on top of." Type in the subdomain you created in step three as the "Domain to park." Click "Submit" and now you have a temporary domain that points to the new account.

3 Responses to “HowTo: Setup a WHM Account Alias”

1. Janet says:

   April 24, 2008 at 11:24 pm

   Thanks so much Michael. I'm new to WHM and these instructions just made my life so much easier.

   Reply
2. Derrick says:

   April 28, 2009 at 1:17 pm

   Michael,

   thanks for this info. very hard to find. i was having a hard time using root relative links with the usual ~username url. Hopefull this will work and give me a bonified root testing site.

   Thanks

   Reply
3. Indiana Web Design says:

   June 11, 2009 at 1:50 pm

   In regard to setting up the sub domain in cPanel, what do you put for Doc root, just whatever it generates? Or does it matter?

   Thanks

   Reply