What is Multiple Domain Hosting?

Wednesday, 16 February 2011

A multiple domain hosting plan is a type of hosting plan which allows multiple domain names to be attached and allocated to separate portions of the hosting.  This can be accomplished on webhosting services which provide the appropriate software and hardware requirements to allow clients to partition their hosting plan to be shared between the domains.  The several domains can also share all of the resources of the hosting plan but access information only available within a certain folder available somewhere within the hosting.

Hosting options which provide multiple domain hosting can be used by clients to host multiple websites and with some configurations, resell resources and provide a hosting service for other customers often known as reseller hosting.  Multiple domain hosting plans can come in a variety of different options.  It is important to understand that there are well known services which offer multiple domain hosting options under different names such as shared hosting or various plan options.  There are also hosting companies which may offer unlimited disk storage as well as unlimited data transfer while providing the ability to host unlimited domain names.

Why you need Mupltiple Domain Names?

A customer really needs to understand why they need multiple domain names hosting before purchasing a plan.  Typical uses of multiple domain name hosting can be using the hosting service to park domains (selling domain names), hosting several websites, aliasing a single website and to resell resources under a reseller hosting account.  Some hosting companies will have a limit to how many domains can be connected to a single hosting account.  A customer needs to understand these limits before they purchase a plan when they are planning to host more domains than are available with their hosting option.

Multiple domain hosting is different from having multiple subdomains.  A subdomain is a folder or portion of the hosting where another website is stored and can be accessed through various means.  With multiple domains hosting completely unique websites can be attached to a single hosting plan under a single price.  It is important to understand when a hosting company is trying to market their services as unique domains or subdomains which can really confuse consumers.  Some hosting companies also misuse the term "multiple domains" in their hosting plans to make it possible to redirect multiple domains to a single hosted website.  It is up to the client to understand what the hosting company is trying to sell them before they make a purchase.

Multiple domain hosting can have several benefits for customers which need to be able to host several websites under a single hosting plan.  That does not go without consequences though as most hosting services which offer the multiple domains option will lack proper memory resources to cover several websites when they are accessed by a large number of website visitors.  This means that access to the sites may be restricted depending on the amount of resources available.  It is up to the client to choose the options in multiple domain hosting that are appropriate for their needs.