Knowledgebase

Subdomains... What are they?

If we visit "www.xdnet.co.uk" you are using a Subdomain of xdnet.co.uk.

Certain countries, such as the UK, have top level domains consisting of two "parts", e.g.: ".org.uk" or ".co.uk".

The domain "xdnet.co.uk" is a "real" domain, not a subdomain of "co.uk". But "sales.xdnet.co.uk" would be a subdomain.

Machine Names

Subdomains can be used for other computers/servers other than that which the "real" domain is assocaiated with.

In this case, the term "machine name" is sometimes used instead of "subdomain".

Example:
A company could have two servers called "backup.myservers.com" and "dev.somefirm.com". The two computers would serve different content and information, in this example on being a BackUp server used to store copies of information, the other being a "Dev" or Development server, used to test new software and scripts before going live.

Subdomains For Load Balancing

Many busy sites use subdomains for Load Balancing. In which they run multiple (different) servers with identical information and data. When a user visits the website they are automatically redirects users to less busy or more appropriate servers to get the content from.

Example:
This arrangement is used by PHP.net, when you visit PHP.net you are automatically sent to the server nearest or close to you, for instance if you live in the UK it is likely you will be directed to one of PHP.net's UK servers (they currently have 3) for your url will read something like: uk3.php.net which is displaying a copy of the site without having every single user of PHP.net using the same server, which would cause slow loading.

Sorting Information

For most people, however, subdomains are a simpe way to organize information within their website. An on-line auction site  could use the subdomains such as "paintings.MyAuction.com", "vases.MyAuction.com", as this will enable them to clearly seperate their information into related groups.

Example:
An example of a site that uses subdomains for this purpose is About.com. You will notice they use different subdomains for all of the topics they cover (e.g., "antiques.about.com" and "autorepair.about.com").

Of course, About.com could have used subdirectories instead (e.g. About.com/antiques/), but the use of subdomains makes it easy for them to move a topic to it's own dedicated server if it turns out to be very popular, and therefore require more resources.

For a large, busy site like About, this "scalability" could prove to be an important benefit.

However, for the large majority of websites subdirectories/folders work perfectly; This is why they don't need huge numbers of subdomains offered by some webhosts, which is why XDnet chooses to offer more limited numbers, as they are simply not needed, if you need more Just Ask!

Finally...

Subdomains are a suprisingly diverse feature which can be used in many ways, and best of all they don't cost anything, no registration fees no annual payment, Subdomains can be created whenever you like via your cPanel.

Don't know how to create Subdomains in cPanel? Click to find out how!

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