Why Hosting Companies charge for subdomains ?

S

SeoGuy

New member
Adding multiple and infinite sub-domains is a matter of:

add what I marked in bold at httpd.conf
and to add a wildcard in the DNS.

<VirtualHost *>
ServerName www.example.com
ServerAlias example.com *.example.com


What are the reasons, that maybe I'm ignoring, so that Hosting Companies charge for subdomains or limit the subdomain to a fixed number ?
Control Panels limitations ?
Something else ?

I'm speaking of a situation where
httppoint.example.com/httppoint.gif and example.com/httppoint.gif point to the same file on the server so basically the configuration is like the one I posted before.
So once done is done forever without having to hack the server again...or rebooting apache...
 
SeoGuy said:
httppoint.example.com/httppoint.gif and example.com/httppoint.gif point to the same file on the server
Click to expand...

thats not a subdomain, thats wildcard DNS !

subdomain in the most natural sense is like you'd buy from CentralNIC under one of their domains say uk.com ...
uk.com is the domain, mystuff.uk.com is the subdomain.
www.mystuff.uk.com would be a http HOST for the subdomain

subdomains as per the wierd-and-wacky-world of things like CPanel are simply host mappings to a sudirectory - example xyz.mystuff.uk.com redirecting to mystuff.uk.com/xyz

Why do hosts charge for them ? they use resources, they require either someone knowing what they're doing with the config files or a control panel to assist, they can a pain-in-the-a to debug sometimes, a feature.

Why not charge for them ? Clients use them often in preference to hosting multiple domains (which they woudl pay more for) ...
 
They are a pain to debug. I transferred clients over to a new server, and no subdomains worked at all! I had to manually go in and reset each one and wait for dns to propagate. They are sometimes a mystery because of the way Cpanel handles them (as said above)
 
Sub-domains can be handled in SO many different ways. It would really depend on the host's pricing structure and support structure. Support is a huge factor.
 
dynaweb said:
Sub-domains can be handled in SO many different ways. It would really depend on the host's pricing structure and support structure. Support is a huge factor.
Click to expand...


I agree - also many hosts want to deter their clients from giving subdomains to other people
 
They usually charge for sub domains because it causes more traffic on their DNS servers, other than that I don't really see a reason to charge for them (besides the httpd.conf reason).
 
Well every subdomain have Virtual Host entry in httpd.conf. And every request is counted as a HIT on the site. So that increases the number of request for apache..
So company charge them to that people avoid subdomiains.
Isnt that Simple!!!! :)
 
You should know that for each virtual host whether it is a domain or not, you have to put a log directive to track the logs so whatever program can use it to produce bandwidth usage, site stats, etc.

However, the more directives you put, the more server load it will get and thus the server will eventually run out of file descriptor.

Also, the more subdomains you have, the more dns queries you'll get.

If you are offering unlimited domains for just one account, he can use it to make 'unlimited' number of virtualhosts, and you will probably have to get another server for other customers real quick.
 
I used to work at a unix based hosting company. They used to charge $25 for subdomains. It was just because there was one guy handling it manually and he felt they were a pain in the ass to undo. Same with mapping domains.

That could be why some other companies charge as well.
 
I just don't see why hosts charge. It literally takes 20 seconds to set up.

MOD NOTE: Post edited for promotional content.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
dubs said:
I just don't see why hosts charge. It literally takes 20 seconds to set up.
Click to expand...
And so technician time is worth nothing ! I wish I could find soem decent ones that would work for nothing even on lots of 20 seconds jobs ...
 
the only reason that hosts charge extra for this is so that they can get some $$ from you. it doesn't take long to add subdomain names and its not really a hassle. most hosting companies charge you for subdomain names because their hosting services are soo cheap that the only way for them to actually make money off you is from the "extra services" that you buy. Like for example ipowerweb is cheap, but they had a renewal fee for me every year (which was insane) and thats how they got their extra money.
 
It depends of the software that particular host use. Some Control Panels does not allow site administrators to create subdomains by their own. Other host are not effective in managing the features they offer. There are too many reasons.

Some people wants to you "unlimited" subdomains. I have spoken with a guy who was wondering why search engines did not index his 15,000 subdomains :)

So I can suggest you to find a provider that will allow you to create a number of subdomains you need free of additional charge but do not expect every host to offer "unlimited subdomains"

Best Regards
Dimitar
 
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