Adding Subdomains in Plesk Obsidian

Understanding and Utilizing Subdomains in Plesk Obsidian

Subdomains serve as powerful organizational tools within your web hosting environment, essentially acting as additional third-level domain names. If your hosting package includes this feature, leveraging subdomains can significantly enhance your website's structure and functionality. They offer a flexible way to manage various sections of your site or host entirely separate web presences without the need for additional domain name registrations.

There are several compelling reasons to utilize subdomains:

• Logical Site Organization: Subdomains help you logically segment and organize the various components and content of your main website, making navigation intuitive for visitors.
• Cost-Effective Hosting: They provide an economical solution for hosting additional websites, microsites, or distinct parts of a larger website on the same server, thereby avoiding the expenses associated with registering new, standalone domain names.

A Practical Example of Subdomain Usage

Consider a scenario where you operate a website, your-product.com, dedicated to showcasing and selling your primary product. To provide specialized information related to customer service inquiries or to facilitate online order tracking, you could establish a distinct subdomain named "orders." This setup would allow your customers to directly access this specific information by navigating to orders.your-product.com, ensuring a streamlined user experience.

Importantly, subdomains are treated with the same level of functionality and access to tools as additional domains within Plesk Obsidian. This means you can apply a comprehensive suite of services and features to your subdomains, including robust SSL/TLS protection for enhanced security, utilize the intuitive Sitejet Builder for content creation, access detailed web statistics for performance monitoring, and much more, ensuring that your subdomain-hosted content is just as robust and secure as your main domain.

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Add a Subdomain in Plesk Obsidian

Setting up a new subdomain for a specific site division or a completely separate website within Plesk Obsidian is a straightforward process. Follow these steps to successfully configure your subdomain:

1. Navigate to the Websites & Domains section within your Plesk control panel. This is where all your domain management tools reside.
2. Click on the Add Subdomain button to initiate the creation process.
   
3. You will be prompted to specify the details for your new subdomain:
   1. In the Subdomain name field, enter the desired prefix that will be appended to your main domain name. For example, if you want "blog.yourdomain.com", you would type "blog".
   2. In the Document root field, define the exact location on your server where all files and subdirectories pertinent to this subdomain will be stored. While you can opt for the default directory, often named `httpdocs`, specifying a unique, descriptive directory is generally recommended for better organization and management.
4. Once you have entered the necessary information, click OK to confirm and create the subdomain.

Upon successful creation, your new subdomain name will be prominently displayed within the list of domains at the bottom of the screen, indicating it is ready for use.

Now that your subdomain is established, you can proceed to upload your web content to its designated directory on the server. For detailed instructions on content upload, refer to the Website Content section, specifically the Uploading Content Using FTP subsection.

Implementing Wildcard Subdomains for Flexible Routing

Plesk Obsidian also supports the creation of wildcard subdomains, a feature that provides exceptional flexibility in how visitors access your site. By entering an asterisk (*) symbol as the subdomain name during creation, you instruct Plesk to redirect any subdomain name that has not been explicitly registered to this designated wildcard subdomain.

This functionality is particularly useful for catch-all scenarios or for applications that require dynamic subdomain generation. You have the flexibility to create wildcard subdomains at any level of your domain hierarchy; for instance, you could configure *.mystore.example.com. For a more comprehensive understanding of wildcard subdomains and their specific implementation details, please consult the dedicated section on Adding Wildcard Subdomains (Linux).