We have a batch create server option in Virtualmin. What would also be very helpful is a batch create alias server. I have a client who registered 40+ domains names for a few projects they are working on, and it would nice to be able to park them all quickly and easily by setting them all up as aliases to a parked.mydomain.com server I have setup.
I'd really love to see some special options for such "domain name parking" one day, but for now, just creating aliases servers seems to work quite well. Being able to create them as a batch would be very useful. It would even be useful when creating non-parked sites, particularly when we have a customer that registers multiple TLD's for their site. For example, I have a customer I'm about to move onto my Virtualmin system who has .com, .net., .org, .info, .biz., .name, .mobi, .tv, and .us version of their domain name. Plus, they have an alternate spelling for their main domain for all of these as well!
BTW, if you do consider adding any "Domain Name Parking" features, I have several ideas for it. If not, maybe one day a custom Virtualmin (if that's an option) would be nice to write.
Comments
Submitted by JamieCameron on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 18:55 Comment #1
You can actually create alias domains from a batch file - the format has to be like :
alias1.com:Alias one:::targetdomain.com::targetdomain.comalias2.com:Alias two:::targetdomain.com::targetdomain.com
This way you can have a real .com domain, and aliases for .net, .org, .tv and so on.
Is there anything that a 'parked domain' can do that you can't with Virtualmin aliases? I'm not so familiar with what domain parking means in other products..
Submitted by novoops on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 19:32 Comment #2
You can actually create alias domains from a batch file...
Is this done from Virtualmin > Add Servers > Batch Create Servers, as it would be done to create non-alias domains as a batch?
This way you can have a real .com domain, and aliases for .net, .org, .tv and so on.
So, if I understand correctly, if I have a "target" domain which is already setup, such as parked.mydomain.com, I could batch create all the aliases, with a file containing one line per alias domain. I'm also assuming it will work if we enter the "batch lines" in the field for them, rather than just use an actual file, and that it will just ignore any options other than those needed for alias domains. Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this.
Submitted by JamieCameron on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 19:49 Comment #3
Yes, the "Batch Create Servers" page is the place to mass creation alias domains too.
You can either select a file, or just enter the lines of text. If the 7th field is given (the target domain name), most of the rest don't matter. You can just leave them empty as in my example.
Submitted by novoops on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 20:11 Comment #4
Is there anything that a 'parked domain' can do that you can't with Virtualmin aliases? I'm not so familiar with what domain parking means in other products..
I'm not basing it on any other products either, and no, there's nothing that a parked domain could do that a Virtualmin alias can't do.
I see it as more of a business concept than a different type of hosting. With a separate "domain parking" module, I imagine we could offer this as a service to our customers without having to let them create other domain aliases (I guess it would have to be allowed in account plans as well). Plus, a simplified module for parking would be easier for some of them to understand, rather than having to explain to them how to park it by creating a alias server to parked.mydomain.com.
The actual "parked" domain page(s) I handle via .php on the parked.mydomain.com website.
Submitted by novoops on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 20:30 Comment #5
Yes, the "Batch Create Servers" page is the place to mass creation alias domains too.
FWIW, it seems to work, but I needed to enter each line as...
aliasdomain.com:description:::::parked.mydomain.comWhen I included parked.mydomain.com in the 5th field Virtualmin complained because parked.mydomain.com is a sub-server of mydomain.com, not a top level server.
Also, I didn't realize that I needed to make sure I disabled all options other than "Setup DNS zone" and "Setup website for domain". It appears, that with just these 2 options set an alias domain was setup in the same manner as it would have been if I selected "Create Virtual Server > Create Alias Server". At least I hope so.
I guess that's why a "parked" option might be nice. It would remove an ambiguity as to what was done; only a minimal setup for a domain as an alias, that's it.
Submitted by novoops on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 21:17 Comment #6
Hmmm....
When I created a "parked" domain by creating an alias server for parked.mydomain.com, it only setup DNS and a webalias (for parked.mydomain.com) for it.
However, when I created some using Batch Create Servers as discussed above, it also setup directories for each alias server under parked.mydomain.com/domains, as well as a logs/ and users/ directories for each domain.
Seems like Batch Create Servers is setting up a bit more than necessary. Anything we can do about this?
Submitted by JamieCameron on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 23:52 Comment #7
Were these new domains actually created as aliases? It sounds like they may have been created as sub-servers, if they have a directory for mailboxes.
Submitted by novoops on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 23:56 Comment #8
Were these new domains actually created as aliases? It sounds like they may have been created as sub-servers, if they have a directory for mailboxes. The were created using the Batch Create Server using entries such as:
alias.com:description:::::parked.mydomain.comThe only options checked were to setup DNS and website.
Submitted by JamieCameron on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 13:51 Comment #9
Ok, that is a Virtualmin bug - it shouldn't be creating the directory for alias domains in this case. I will fix it in t he next release.
The extra directory is quite harmless though..
Submitted by novoops on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 13:56 Comment #10
So can I just delete it, or will that cause any problems?
Submitted by JamieCameron on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 15:02 Comment #11
You shouldn't delete it, as that will cause Virtualmin to complain if you run validation for that domain. However, it won't actually break anything.
Submitted by Issues on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 16:18 Comment #12
Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.