Hosting with external DNS?

#1

I thought that I could do this through the web panel, but haven’t been able to figure it out. Here’s my problem:

I want to use Dreamhost to host a subdomain whose DNS servers I don’t control. Let’s say that it’s called http://theater.harvard.edu for argument’s sake. The harvard.edu admins are willing to change the A-record for the subdomain to point to a Dreamhost ip address. Is there a way to make Dreamhost recognize this, or should I get a static ip/extra domain name for the site and redirect to that?

Thanks.

#2

You can do that, with the caveat that, unless you have a static IP address, DH could change your address in a reconfiguration, which would necessitate a modification of that A-record.

Generally, the process from the DH side is described in this DH WIki article on hosting a subdomain when the DNS is controlled elsewhere

Practically speaking, your IP address should rarely, if ever, change - but you should be aware of the possibility. Good luck!

–rlparker

#3

That’s exactly what I needed, thanks. I wish Dreamhost Wiki pages would come up more easily in Google search results. Although that wiki page needs to be edited – it has two sets of instructions, and the second one is much clearer.

#4

Good deal! I’m glad you found the information useful. :slight_smile:

Thanks for the observation on the wiki page’s construction, and I agree that it could be more clearly organized.

Note, however, the in keeping with the “step by step” nature of the article, the first set of instructions deals exclusively with the hosting of a domain only, while the second set of instructions is specifically for a subdomain without the domain being hosted.

It probably should either be two articles, or a two-part article with a different title. You (or me, or somebody) should change it! :wink:

–rlparker