Hi, I'm another jerk who wants to host multiple domains on a single hosting account. I'm new to ASP development, so I just want to make sure I'm doing the right things. I have the following questions, let's assume my main domain name is domain.com for argument's sake: 1) what is the best way to host an additional domain (domain2.com) so that someone can type in domain2.com and get my second site and be search engine friendly? The two options I've seen so far are URL Rewriting and URL routing, both of which are managed through IIS if I'm not mistaken. Edited for clarity: I'm looking for something similar to virtual hosts in Apache. Where all of the redirecting is handled server-side, so search engines don't get confused, etc. 2) what are the downsides to doing option 1? 3) If I do option 1 correctly, will I be able to host multiple ASP sites using the single site account? I'm assuming I take care of this through the control panel when I set up the ASP application root paths. Thanks for your help, and sorry for being a noob. -Robert
1) what is the best way to host an additional domain (domain2.com) so that someone can type in domain2.com and get my second site and be search engine friendly? The two options I've seen so far are URL Rewriting and URL routing, both of which are managed through IIS if I'm not mistaken. Edited for clarity: I'm looking for something similar to virtual hosts in Apache. Where all of the redirecting is handled server-side, so search engines don't get confused, etc. Actually this is the only way in IIS that is setup as a shared hosting environment. You can either use the IIS 7 URL Rewirte module or directly code a 301 permenant redirect script on your web pages. http://www.webconfs.com/how-to-redirect-a-webpage.php 2) what are the downsides to doing option 1? The downside is the complexity of it if you are new to ASP and ASP.Net coding. But bear in mind that this forum is very useful when you have coding/programming questions, and we'll certainly do our best to help you along. 3) If I do option 1 correctly, will I be able to host multiple ASP sites using the single site account? I'm assuming I take care of this through the control panel when I set up the ASP application root paths. First you still need to setup the domain pointer feature. This is free by the way. The domain pointer will create the proper DNS zone records and Internet headers on the system. Once that is done you are free to create as many additional domain names as you want.
Thanks for the reply Ray. I think I'm going to go with URL Rewrite. I'm assuming URL Rewrite meshes well with search engines?
Yes it does. Infact, in IIS 7 URL Rewrite module there's a 301 switch to help you perform a 301 redirect with very little coding.
