30.10.2024

What is a Subdomain?

A subdomain is a prefix added to your main domain name to help organize or separate different sections of your website. Subdomains are useful for hosting different types of content, such as a blog, an online store, or a separate application, under the same primary domain. In this article, we will explain what subdomains are and how to create and manage them.

What is a Subdomain?

A subdomain is a domain that is part of a larger domain. For example:

Primary domain: example.com
Subdomain: blog.example.com

Here, blog is a subdomain of the main domain example.com.

Subdomains allow you to manage different sections of your site independently. For example, you might have:

store.example.com for an eCommerce store.
help.example.com for documentation or customer support.

How to Create a Subdomain

To create a subdomain, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log in to Your DNS Management Panel

Most domain registrars and hosting providers allow you to manage DNS settings. Log in to the control panel of your domain registrar.

Step 2: Add a New DNS Record

Find the DNS Management or DNS Zone Editor section.
Add an A record or CNAME record to create the subdomain:
- A Record: Points the subdomain to an IP address.
- CNAME Record: Points the subdomain to another domain.

For example:

Host: blog
Type: A
Value: 123.456.789.0 (your server’s IP address)

Step 3: Configure the Web Server

If you are managing your own web server (e.g., Apache or Nginx), you need to configure it to handle requests to the subdomain. On Nginx, this might involve creating a new server block:

server { listen 80; server_name blog.example.com; root /var/www/blog; }

On Apache, you would create a new virtual host:

<VirtualHost *:80> ServerName blog.example.com DocumentRoot /var/www/blog </VirtualHost>

Step 4: Test the Subdomain

Once everything is set up, the subdomain should be accessible via the browser. Type the subdomain into the address bar (e.g., http://blog.example.com), and you should see your subdomain live.

Conclusion

Subdomains are a flexible way to organize and manage different sections of your website. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can create subdomains, set up DNS records, and configure your server to handle traffic for each subdomain. Subdomains help you better manage content, services, or applications under one primary domain.