Subdomains are handy if you want to separate content from your main website or if you want to easily categorize items on your website (for example, blog, forums, shop, etc.).
Local vs remote services
Subdomains can be local (i.e., hosted on the same account) or remote (i.e., pointed to an external service).
If you operate subdomains locally, you don’t have to perform any additional tasks. In contrast, if your subdomains point to an external service, you need to know how to update the subdomain’s IP address.
There are two scenarios:
- Your domain points to Skystra nameservers (local)
- Your domain points to external nameservers (remote service)
Update subdomain IP address (local)
Log in to your cPanel control panel, as explained in this article.
Click the Zone Editor under the Domains section:
Locate the domain in question, and click the Manage button on the right-hand side:
Find the subdomain in the list manually, or use the search field at the top to find it. In our example, we’ll update the webmail.skystraconnect.com subdomain:
Next, click the Edit button next to your subdomain to adjust the IP address:
Finally, change the IP address entry under the Record column, and click Save Record to save the changes:
That’s it! Allow a couple of hours for the DNS changes to propagate globally once the record is updated.
Update subdomain IP address (remote)
If your domain points to external nameservers, this means that you’re not using Skystra as your DNS provider, so the changes can’t be performed on our end. You will need to locate your DNS provider’s control panel and complete the change there, depending on their set up. It is different for every DNS provider, so we’re not able to provide detailed instructions in this section.
However, please note that different providers use different naming schemes for subdomains. For example:
1) blog IN A 127.0.0.1
2) blog.mywebsite.com. IN A 127.0.0.1
These are both valid, but it depends on the provider which one is used. Make sure to check the existing subdomains to understand the format before creating new subdomains records.