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Your cPanel account can host content under multiple domain names and hostnames. cPanel calls these subdomains, addon domains, parked domains, and aliases — the names sound similar but each does something distinct. This article explains the differences and walks through setup for each on your ipxcore cPanel account.

The four types, in plain English

• Subdomain: a hostname underneath your primary domain. blog.yourdomain.com is a subdomain of yourdomain.com. Each subdomain serves content from its own folder.
• Addon domain: a completely separate domain (e.g., secondsite.com) hosted on the same cPanel account, with its own files, email, and statistics.
• Parked domain (alias): a separate domain that points to the same content as your primary domain. Useful for catching yourdomain.net when you also own yourdomain.com.
• Redirect: not really a domain — just an HTTP redirect from one URL to another. Covered in our URL redirects article.

Adding a subdomain

1. Open cPanel.
2. Under Domains, click Subdomains (or Domains on newer Jupiter UI).
3. Enter the subdomain part (e.g., blog for blog.yourdomain.com).
4. Pick the parent domain.
5. cPanel auto-fills the Document Root as public_html/blog. Accept it unless you have a specific reason to change.
6. Click Create.

The subdomain is now live. Upload files to public_html/blog/ and they'll be served at https://blog.yourdomain.com. AutoSSL provisions a certificate within a few minutes.

Adding an addon domain

Use this when you've registered a separate domain and want to host it on the same cPanel account. Each addon domain feels like its own site — separate files, separate email, separate stats.

1. cPanel → Domains → Create A New Domain.
2. Enter the new domain (e.g., secondsite.com).
3. cPanel auto-fills:
   • Document Root: public_html/secondsite.com
   • Subdomain: secondsite.yourdomain.com (the internal cPanel reference; you usually ignore this)
4. Click Submit.

Important: you also need to point the new domain's DNS at your ipxcore IP. Either change its nameservers to all1.dnsroundrobin.net / all2.dnsroundrobin.net, or add an A record at the registrar pointing to your cPanel server's IP. See our DNS records article for detail.

Adding a parked domain (alias)

Use this when you own multiple TLDs of the same name (yourdomain.com, yourdomain.net, yourdomain.co) and want them all to show the same site.

1. cPanel → Aliases (or Domains → create as alias).
2. Enter the domain to alias.
3. Click Add Domain.

Now yourdomain.net serves the same content as yourdomain.com. You should also redirect aliases to the canonical domain via .htaccess to avoid duplicate content penalties from Google. Detail in our redirects article.

Wildcard subdomains

If you want any unspecified subdomain (e.g., customer1.yourdomain.com, customer2.yourdomain.com) to resolve, set up a wildcard subdomain:

1. Subdomains panel.
2. For the subdomain field, enter * (a single asterisk).
3. Click Create.

All unspecified subdomains now resolve to the same document root. Useful for SaaS apps that map customer subdomains dynamically. Note: AutoSSL doesn't cover unlimited wildcard subdomains — you'll need a paid wildcard cert for HTTPS on dynamic third-level subdomains.

Limits per plan

Your hosting plan limits how many of each type you can add:

• IronHOST: 1 domain only (no addons), 10 subdomains
• BronzeHOST: 10 addon domains, 50 subdomains
• CopperHOST: 20 addon domains, unlimited subdomains
• SilverHOST/GoldHOST: unlimited everything

Hitting a limit means upgrading the plan. Plan changes are instant and prorated.

Common pitfalls

• "Domain not resolving." DNS isn't pointed at your server. Either change the addon domain's nameservers, or add an A record at its registrar pointing to your IP.
• "AutoSSL skipped my new domain." AutoSSL runs every few hours by default. Manually trigger it from cPanel SSL/TLS Status to issue immediately. See our AutoSSL article.
• "Subdomain shows the parent site." The public_html/subdomain/ directory is empty — cPanel falls back to serving the parent. Upload at least an index.html or index.php.
• "My addon domain shows another site's content." Two domains point at the same document root. Check Subdomains and Aliases pages and remove duplicates.