Domain Mapping System | Create Microsites with Alias Domains (multisite optional)

FAQ

What is Domain Mapping?

Domain Mapping is the process of adding multiple domains to a single website. Depending on your Content Management System or coding framework, mapping multiple domains to your site may be a more simple or more complex process. With WordPress, it’s very easy to map multiple domains to a single WordPress installation using either multisite or a plugin like Domain Mapping System.

What is a mapped domain?

A mapped domain in WordPress is a domain that has a specific page or group of pages associated with it. A mapped domain is usually not the website’s primary domain, but is usually an Alias or Addon Domain that is mapped to the primary site domain.

The mapping then takes place at the website level, as the website should be configured to serve content for both the mapped domain and primary domain.

How do I add multiple domains to a WordPress website?

There are a few steps to map multiple domains to your WordPress website, including:

1. Configure your DNS Records.
2. Setup your server with an Alias or Addon Domain.

The next step would be mapping content properly for your mapped domains.

Read more in our Documentation.

How do I map a domain in WordPress?

There are 3 steps to mapping a domain in WordPress:

1. Configure your DNS settings.
2. Set up your server properly for an Alias or Addon domain.
3. Install Domain Mapping System and map domains to the desired content.

Once you’ve followed these steps, you should then be able to navigate your website with the content being served for your mapped domains.

Read more in our Documentation.

How much does Domain Mapping cost? Is it free?

Yes! Domain mapping is free in WordPress. You can map unlimited domains to your WordPress website depending on your server configuration. To create Microsites with Domain Mapping System and access other powerful features, please see our pricing.

What are DNS Records?

DNS stands for Domain Name System. The purpose of DNS is to translate your server’s IP address into a friendly, easily-legible name that humans can remember. It’s much easier for humans to remember a name than it is a string of numbers.

DNS Records direct the different types of traffic for a domain name to the proper server(s). Each DNS Record corresponds to a different type of service or traffic your domain might receive.

For example:

A records are set for “hosts” and standard website traffic
CNAME records are set as “Aliases” or Canonical records
MX records direct email traffic
TXT records provide many useful options, like domain ownership verification and enhanced security options

This is not a complete list. You can review all the different DNS Record Types.

Where is my DNS hosted?

Your DNS is hosted where your Name Servers are pointing. Your Name Servers are specified with your Domain Name Registrar.

If you’ve just purchased your domain, your DNS host will be your Domain Registrar. If you need to configure a website or email for your domain, you will need to change your DNS settings with your DNS host.

What is a DNS Zone?

A DNS Zone is where your DNS is managed. A DNS Zone is specified by your Name Server records.

Your DNS zone is where you should manage DNS records to publicly identify different services for your domain on the internet. E.g. – If you need to set up a website or email for your domain, you can set up A Records, CNAME Records, or MX Records within your DNS Zone.

If you are unsure where your DNS zone is set, contact your Domain Name Registrar or run a test of your Name Server records on a website like https://whatsmydns.net/.

How do I configure DNS for WordPress?

To set up DNS for your WordPress website, you must point your DNS A record to your website hosting server. For example, if your website hosting server has IP address 123.456.789.0, go to your DNS Zone (specified by where your Name Servers are pointing), and modify the A Record.

The A Record is commonly denoted by an “@” symbol or by typing in the full URL in your DNS settings. You should also configure an A Record or CNAME record for the WWW version of your site, with CNAME being the preferred option if you want all website visitors to navigate to your site without WWW in the URL.

Why isn’t my site appearing after configuring DNS settings?

When you change your DNS settings, it takes up to 24-48 hours for those changes to propagate across the internet. This is called propagation time, and it’s a standard delay that Internet Service Providers around the world need in order to detect DNS changes. Frequently, DNS changes can propagate within a few hours to most locations.

If you already have a website, it’s recommended to clear your browser cache after making DNS changes, as sometimes browsers will cache an old copy of a website from the previous server.

What is website caching?

Caching is a mechanism by which a browser stores data temporarily in order to serve it more quickly in the future.

There is usually a limited time frame associated with a caching script, which determines when the cache should be refreshed automatically. E.g. – Every 4 hours or 8 hours.

You can force the browser cache to be cleared manually, and the process is slightly different depending on your browser and the version of the browser. To find the latest process, run a Google search for “How to clear browser cache for” and then enter your browser type.

What is server caching?

Caching is a mechanism by which a server stores data temporarily in order to serve it more quickly in the future. Server caching is managed by Apache or NGINX, depending on your server configuration.

There is usually a limited time frame associated with a caching script, which determines when the cache should be refreshed automatically. E.g. – Every 4 hours or 8 hours.

You can force the server cache to be cleared manually, and the process is slightly different depending on your server access rights, server interface (cPanel, managed hosting, etc), and tools available to you (Command Line Interface access – CLI, etc).

For the latest process based on your hosting or server configuration, contact your hosting company or try running a Google search for “How to clear server cache on” and then enter your hosting company and/or the brand of your server interface (cPanel, etc).

Is Domain Mapping System compatible with caching plugins?

Yes. Some plugins may require additional configuration. Please reference our Documentation regarding Integrations & Compatibility.

What is an Alias Domain?

Definition
An Alias Domain is a domain name that can be used as an alternate name for another domain.

For example, if you have two domain names pointing to your website, you can “map” the second domain as an “Alias” of the primary domain. Website visitors will see the Alias in their URL bar when navigating the site.

Relevance to WordPress
When you have a WordPress website (or website of any kind), you can assign Aliases to your website. However, not all servers are ready “out-of-the-box” to map domains to a single website and require additional configuration.

Furthermore, your WordPress website needs some extra configuration to “map” each alias to a specific “post” in WordPress (or group of posts).

Posts can include any default post type that comes out of the box with WordPress, like Pages, Posts, Products, etc, or any Custom Post Type created by other plugins or themes.

End Goal: Multiple domains on a single WordPress site
At the end of the day, the purpose of creating an Alias domain on your server is to map multiple domains to a single WordPress installation.

Domain Mapping System let’s you handle the mapping of domains to specific posts after you’ve set up your server properly.

​​What hosting companies are supported?

Many hosting companies don’t support mapping multiple domains to your WordPress website. This is usually because managed hosts prefer to have control over how many domains are pointing to their servers.

Please see our Documentation for a list of hosting companies we’ve found that are compatible with domain mapping and Alias Domains.

Why does my website show „Your connection is not private“?

This error means that your website does not have an SSL certificate properly configured. When you point a domain to a website hosting server, the server needs to have some kind of SSL certificate installed on it in order for the website to be secure. If the server doesn’t have an SSL certificate properly configured for your website, it will give an insecure website error on your browser.

Why isn’t my Alias domain secure?

By default, hosting servers will generally support securing the primary domain registered on a server with an SSL certificate out-of-the-box.

Once you’ve added an Alias domain to your server, you should be able to add an SSL certificate for that domain, which is necessary to secure each domain.

For more information about securing multiple domains on a single hosting server, see our Documentation.

Are multisite networks supported?

Yes – multisite networks are 100% supported in both the Free and PRO versions of the plugin. Just install the plugin, configure the proper settings, and activate it on your network. Then, all your network sites can map their own domains.

Read about the steps to configure multisite in our Documentation.

Ich habe einen Fehler gefunden! Was nun?

Please contact support to report the bug with any relevant screenshots/videos/notes.

Ist Domain Mapping System kompatibel zu WooCommerce?

Zum Teil – du kannst momentan Produkte und Produktarchive zuordnen. Vollständige Unterstützung ist geplant.

Ist Domain Mapping System kompatibel zu Page Buildern?

Ja, du kannst jeden beliebigen Page Builder benutzen.

Ist Domain Mapping System kompatibel zu WPML, Polylang oder anderen Plugins für Mehrsprachigkeit?

Bisher nein. Aber es befindet sich auf unserer Roadmap!

Ist Domain Mapping System kompatibel zu SSL/HTTPS?

Definitiv. Das/die auf dem Server installierten SSL-Zertifikat(e) müssen natürlich für beide Domains eingerichtet sein. Wenn du einen Domain-Alias hinzufügst, werden viele cPanel-Server automatisch SSL-Zertifikate erstellen.

• Warnung: Entweder alle oder keine deiner Domains müssen ein SSL-Zertifikat haben. Es ist nicht möglich, Inhalte einer sicheren Website über eine nicht sichere Domain anzuzeigen.

Warum werden individuelle Stile, Schriftarten oder Icons nicht angezeigt?

CSS-Dateien könnten deine primäre Domain hart kodiert beinhalten, was bedeutet, das viele Server Cross-Domain-Ressourcen wegen der CORS-Konfiguration (Cross-origin Resource Sharing) blocken. Diese Beiträge enthalten weitere Informationen, wie du CORS konfigurierst und dieses Problem verhinderst:
CORS-Setup on Apache servers
CORS-Setup on Nginx servers

Warum bin ich nicht auf dem WordPress-Dashboard angemeldet, wenn ich zugeordnete Domains besuche?

Das WordPress-Anmeldesystem speichert deinen Anmeldestatus mittels Cookies, welche mit der primären Domain der Website verbunden sind. Es gibt derzeit keine Möglichkeit, deine WP-Administration über eine andere Domain zu verwalten.

Ist Domain Mapping System DSGVO-konform?

Yes. You have complete control over your data. Contact us any time to remove your data or choose NOT to opt-in upon activating the plugin. If you choose to opt-in so we can improve our product, we use Freemius to store user data, which is GDPR ready.

Ich bin ein Entwickler und möchte an Domain Mapping System mitwirken. Wo kann ich das?

We really appreciate your input! We currently don’t have a public repo, but you can contact us directly with any feature/code suggestions, and we can give you a branch to work on or integrate your suggestions into a future release 😊