ThunderHosting

Changing your main domain and adding domain aliases

Change the main domain of your ThunderHosting web hosting, switch from a free subdomain to your own domain, and add domain aliases that show the same website.

Each hosting has one main (primary) domain. You can change it at any time, for example when you started on a free subdomain and now want to use your own domain. Domain aliases let extra domain names show the same website.

Change the main domain

  1. Open the hosting dashboard and click Change main domain on the Overview tab (or on the Domain / DNS tab).
  2. Choose how you want to connect the new domain (see below).
  3. Confirm with Change main domain.

You can connect the new domain in four ways:

  • Use a domain I already control (DNS): the main domain is renamed immediately. Then point the DNS to ThunderHosting or keep external DNS and add the records shown on the Domain / DNS tab.
  • Use a domain already in this organization: pick a domain you registered or transferred with us. Managed DNS is applied automatically.
  • Register a new domain: search for a name, choose the period and the registrant, then pay. After registration the domain becomes the main domain of this hosting.
  • Transfer a domain in: enter the domain and the Auth/EPP code from your current registrar, confirm the registrant and pay. After the transfer the domain becomes the main domain.

Your website files, mailboxes and databases stay where they are. Mail addresses follow the main domain, so check your mail clients and the DNS records after the change.

Free subdomain after the change

If your hosting started on a free subdomain on hts.one or onthunderhosting.com, it stays attached as an extra hostname after you change the main domain. On the Domain / DNS tab you can:

  • Switch back to free subdomain: makes the free subdomain the main domain again.
  • Remove free subdomain: deletes the free hostname and its DNS record from the hosting.

A free subdomain cannot be transferred out. It only works while it stays on ThunderHosting.

Add a domain alias

A domain alias points an extra domain name at your website: it shows exactly the same content (same document root). This is useful for spelling variants or other extensions, for example example.ch as an alias of example.com.

  1. Open the Domain / DNS tab of the hosting dashboard.
  2. In the Domain aliases card, click Add alias.
  3. Enter the alias domain and confirm.
  4. Make sure the alias domain also points to your hosting in DNS (with ThunderHosting DNS or with the records shown in the dashboard).

You can remove an alias at any time with the delete icon in the list. The number of aliases depends on your plan: 2 with Solo Spark, 5 with Smart Space and 20 with Business Pack.

Additional domains and subdomains

To host a separate website on a subdomain (for example blog.yourdomain.com), add it on the Domain / DNS tab under Subdomains; the DNS record is created for you with ThunderHosting DNS, and you can then install WordPress on it. For a separate website on another domain, use Plesk (Open Plesk (SSO) on the Overview tab). Your plan includes 1, 3 or 5 domains and 1, 5 or 10 subdomains for Solo Spark, Smart Space and Business Pack respectively.