Confused by Hostgator - All I want to do is set up a dozen sites.

12 replies
Hi Guys,

I have a number of reseller hosting packages and in an effort to spread my sites around I have recently acquired a basic (Aluminium) reseller hosting account with Hostgator.

I am very confused.

I want to set up a dozen or so sites with them but it is not clear at all how to do this.

With my other hosting companies I just add a new domain name and everything is kept quite separate, one domain from another.

With Hostgator it keeps mentioning something called Addon Domains.

Is this what I need to use to put up a separate site?

It talks about sub-domains and I don't want that.

I did try to create an addon domain to see what would happen and it wouldn't let me do it anyway.

I have tried following some of their tutorials, but damn it is a lot more confusing that my other hosting accounts.

I have heard good reports of Hostgator and this is why I signed up. But man it does seem unnecessarily confusing.

All I want to do it set up a number of sites. What am I doing wrong?

Cheers.
#confused #dozen #hostgator #set #sites
  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Are you sure you signed up for a reseller account? Sounds like you have the multiple domain account that uses add-ons. Could be you were set up for the wrong account.

    Get on live chat with hostgator and find out what you have. If you have the reseller you can set all of your site up using the WHM panel which is why I love the reseller accounts.

    Each site will have it's own cpanel and I think that's what you want. There are videos and written instructions on setting up your WHM and then adding your sites - it may seem confusing right at first but it's easy to do.

    kay
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  • Profile picture of the author Steadyon
    I will look into it again - thanks.

    It looks like they sent me a non reseller email, when in fact I signed up for a reseller account.

    It looks a little clearer when I log into the WHM panel.

    It still would be a lot clearer if they sent through some better email when you signed up. Other hosts seem clearer so far.
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  • Profile picture of the author vrobert42
    With my hosting account I use one domain as the main, and one directory folder. All other websites work under that root folder, folder inside a folder. Add a new domain name directed to the folder in a folder for each website.
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  • Profile picture of the author gcot
    I have a Baby Croc account with Hostgator which is the minimum account you can have to use the Add On domain feature. I have about a dozen domains hosted this way using the Add On Domain feature.

    It's rather simple to do once you've done it once and each domain looks and acts as a regular domain (not a domain redirect) and while it's doesn't have its own Cpanel you still have access to all the features of your main account (stats, email accounts, Fantastico Deluxe, etc) and each domain can have it's own FTP account.

    Check out

    Go to Hostgator and click on Support/Knowledgebase and the 2nd post is an explanation of how to use the Add On feature.

    Hope this helps,

    Gilles Côté
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    • Profile picture of the author Nathan Hangen
      My only gripe about a shared hosting account is that addon domains force you to create a subdomain for each one. I HATE this feature. 1and1 didn't do this...I thought cPanel would be a benefit, but they said the script in cPanel forces this action.

      I'm not a fan.
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  • Profile picture of the author Elliott
    if you have a reseller account, it would be on a domain you registered somewhere. You would then log in to www.yourdomain.com/whm (that's for Web Host Manager). It looks much like any cpanel interface, but has a lot more functions. In there, you have to create "packages" - these are hosting packages - you define the memory and bandwdwidth for the package, because you will be making a separate hosting account for each domain you have. Then you just create as many accounts as you want, one for each domain.

    It's a lot easier than it sounds when described this way!

    So the first thing you need to do is make sure it really is a Reseller account they set you up with. Then, if you have any questions they will help you, they usually provide good support. Or Google for something like "whm tutorials" - there are plenty online.

    Or PM me I will help with it . (As time allows, as I still work a job, too)

    Elliott
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Exactly - I think some here are confusing "multiple domains" accounts which require using add-ons with a reseller account where each site stands alone on it's own domain. The term "reseller" is misleading as many of us don't resell the hosting - but want multiple sites that are stand alone sites.

      Steadyon - Sounds like HG is sending a generic email to new users. I seem to recall last time I signed up for a new reseller acct I receive more than one email from them. If you're familiar with WHM you won't have a problem setting up your sites.

      kay
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      • Profile picture of the author dannycapri
        I got confused by reseller accounts as well.

        Have not used Hostgator, but this is my understanding of Reseller accounts and hosting:

        Hosting multiple domains on a 'standard' account can be achieved via the 'Addon Domains' option, but, from a security point of view, all these sites exist as a 'single' account. This is also true of any backups that are taken, and a single control panel is used for all of the sites.

        Generally speaking, the 'Addon Domains' option really only makes sense if there are two or three sites to be hosted that are all owned by the same person.

        A resller account lets you create truly independent hosting accounts, each with their own control panels. They are separate entities from a security and backups point of view.

        A reseller account is a more technically elegant and robust way of hosting more than one site, that may belong to separate organisations.

        Hope this makes sense.
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  • Profile picture of the author jrianto
    Hi Steadyon,
    You don't really need a reseller account if all you want is just to host a dozen sites with HostGator. You can get their baby account and host as many sites as you wish, each as an independent sites using it's own domain names.

    What you do is you log in to Cpanel. Then under Domains, click on Addon Domains. There you can "add" more domain names (websites) to be hosted under your account.

    When you are adding a new domain/website, you will define it's home directory right? So for example when you add domain2[dot]com into your account, Cpanel will suggest to create a folder at /public_html/domain2[dot]com

    Once you created that add-on domain, all you need to do is upload all the files for domain2dotcom website, into your public_html/domain2[dot]com folder.

    Your website should then be accessible immediately. Make sure you've pointed domain2.com DNS Servers to point to Host Gator's name servers.

    That's it.

    You only need a WHM or Reseller account, if you want to give or sell many accounts to many people so that each people can access their own Cpanel to manage their hosting account.

    If it's all YOU and nobody else, don't waste your money for a reseller account.
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  • Profile picture of the author brand-all
    I second that. It's dead easy on the Hostgator Cpanel.
    Just do as jrianto says and you'll be ok. the baby croc deal also gives you unlimited domain capability and massive bandwidth.
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    • Profile picture of the author shukes
      Hi,

      I have a little question on addon domains, I currently have a SEO hostgator account and have set up 5 accounts each with several addon domains, except when I try and add data to the addon domain and drop the files into the public-html folder of the addon domain, the file name cahnges to a (dot)xhtml file type and when I try and load the website in my browser I get the index of/ command and a list of all the files within the directory.

      If I do the same for the main account domain, the file type remains a (dot)html file type and I do not get the index of/

      Has anybody any ideas?

      Kind Regards

      Peter
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  • Profile picture of the author bobt57
    I am a big fan of Hostgator and like the reseller account, not because I want to resell hosting but because I can set up individual sites with separate accounts, separate cpanel's and adjust storage and bandwidth to fit the purpose of the site, but thats just my personal preference. Also if one site gets messed up (usually self inflicted) it does not cause problems with the other sites.

    Thanks
    Bob T
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