I have a client who wants me to build him a simple website. He is an acquaintance of my Mom's and she told him that he could host it on her account because she has unlimited domain hosting with her host. When I went to transfer the domain it wouldn't allow me because he only bought the domain 5 days ago and they require a 60 day wait. I went to check out another hosting option because my Mom and I have been discussing a reseller account since we have so many accounts all over the web. They also require a 60 day wait. Now I am stuck. Will I be forced to have him host with Go Daddy (who he registered the domain through) or are there other options. Thanks for any advice you can give.

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Kellie Stotsky
The Essential Virtual Assistant
www.theessentialva.com

You shouldn't need to transfer the domain, just change the nameservers. It should allow you to do that.

Transferring a domain is different than changing the hosting for a domain. Transferring would mean that you purchased it from Register.com and you now want to manage it through GoDaddy.com. The 60 hold is becoming more common although they really aren't supposed to be doing that - but that's another story.

On the other hand if it was purchased at Godaddy.com and happens to be hosted there too, it would have nameservers identified like NS001.Godaddy.com NS002.Godaddy.com. The domain name can still be managed at Godaddy.com and be hosted by, say, HostGator.com - in which case you would go into your manager and change the nameservers to something like NS99.hostgator.com and NS100.HOstgator.com (these are examples - I have no idea what their exact nameservers are).

I hope this made sense and if you were already aware of all of this, then forgive my being verbose.

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Jeanne
NowAssistingYou.com
Virtual Assistant :: Web/Blog Design & Hosting :: Writer

Jeanne is right - you can go into his account on GoDaddy and update the nameservers to point wherever you want.
GoDaddy actually violates ICANN terms with their '60 day wait' rules and are being investigated currently because of this - but it's a sep. issue from what you've asked about here.

When you go into his registration account, go to 'my domains', then click on the domain you wish to update DNS for. Then, you'll see a little menu of highlighted icons just at the top there inside the control panel - select 'Nameservers' - and where there are two fields for nameservers enter the new ones. Click through to 'OK' and you're done.
It does take a while to update across the net, but the site should show up on your server within about 24 hours max.

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Where would I upload my site content to then? With the hosting account we currently use, any add-on domains are in a file under the main domain. For instance it would show up at www.maindomain.com/addon-domain. Would the best route be to create a subdomain under my main domain and then just have it point there? Or is there a better option?

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Kellie Stotsky
The Essential Virtual Assistant
www.theessentialva.com

Remember, first of all, that hosting and domain management are completely separate.

If your mother's hosting company allows for multiple domains on one account, then it will take you through a "wizard" of sorts to set up a new domain. On HostGator, for instance, there is an icon that you click to set up a new hosted domain (I believe the icon actually says "addon domain."

• It then asks for the new domain - we'll call it xyz.com
• It also asks you to name the subdirectory/subdomain - this is the subdirectory under which the new domain will reside on your mother's account. Let's say your mother's domain name is abc.com. You could create the subdirectory /xyz/ under her account. So technically there will be http://abc.com/xyz I think at the same time it creates a subdomain under your mother's account so you will also have http://xyz.abc.com
• It thirdly asks for a password for that addon domain.

Using an FTP tool like CuteFTP, you can then upload files using the new addon account name xyz.com and the password you created for the account. HOWEVER - you will not be able to do this until you have changed the nameservers as we discussed earlier! If you are itching to upload in the meantime, you can upload to the subdirectory under your mother's account - because that and the addon domain are one and the same.

In other words - there will be three ways to access this addon domain - via the actual domain name once the nameservers are changed - via the subdirectory (abc.com/xyz) - or via the subdomain (xyz.abc.com).

Again, I hope this made sense.

What you described above sounds like redirecting a domain, which is different from what I think you actually want to accomplish. If you simply redirect - then anyone typing in xyz.com will land on a page that shows abc.com/xyz (or xyz.abc.com) as the url. xyz.com will not show up in the URL area. You have to create an addon domain.

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Jeanne
NowAssistingYou.com
Virtual Assistant :: Web/Blog Design & Hosting :: Writer

I think I get it. I was under the impression that you have to manage the domain with the same host that you host the content. I will see what I can do. I understand totally what you are saying. Thanks for all of your help.

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Kellie Stotsky
The Essential Virtual Assistant
www.theessentialva.com