This article provides suggestions for the Banned Subdomain Prefixes field of WHMCS administrative settings-as part of WHMCS Initial Setup.

Who should read:

• clients with Reseller Hosting with WHMCS
• WHMCS admins

What Are "Banned Subdomain Prefixes"?

Providers may offer a complementary subdomain of an existing domain as an alternative for clients who do not provide or register their own domain. Specifically, this practice is common with Shared Hosting services. 

or services which users can opt for using a Banned Subdomain Prefixes prevent Orders from being created for Products (typically Shared Hosting)

For providers, there are often some subdomains which should be reserved and not for general use by clients.  Banned Subdomain Prefixes is a list that prevents client Orders with Products using any subdomain that exists on the list. Instead, clients can be notified of the invalid selection and reselect the prefix immediately, preventing any delays to the order.

By configuring the Banned Subdomain Prefixes during initial WHMCS setup, providers are also able to avoid potential issues that could arise from creating accounts on the server for users assigned to certain subdomain prefixes (often required by the server software). An  example would be "www" prefix, which is often reserved for public web files (as in "www.communitydomain.com") or "ftp" which is used by most File Transfer Protocal softwares (as in "ftp.communitydomain.com"). In either of those scenarios, most hosting providers will be facing issues if these subdomains are not reserved for their typically designated roles.

Commonly Reserved Subdomains

We have compiled a list of subdomain prefixes that are commonly used for other purposes. This list is in not fully-inclusive and users should make changes as necessary for their custom requirements.

about
abuse
access
account
accounts
acme
activate
activities
activity
ad
add
address
adm
admanager
admin
administration
administrator
administrators
admins
ads
adsense
adult
advertising
adwords
affiliate
affiliatepage
affiliates
afp
ajax
all
alpha
analysis
analytics
android
anon
anonymous
answer
answers
ap
api
apis
app
appengine
appnews
apps
archive
archives
article
asdf
asset
assets
auth
authentication
avatar
backup
bank
banner
banners
base
beginners
beta
billing
bin
binaries
binary
blackberry
blog
blogs
blogsearch
board
book
bookmark
bookmarks
books
bot
bots
bug
bugs
business
buy
buzz
cache
calendar
call
campaign
cancel
captcha
career
careers
cart
catalog
catalogs
categories
category
cdn
cgi
cgi-bin
changelog
chart
charts
chat
check
checked
checking
checkout
client
cliente
clients
clients1
cnarne
code
comercial
comment
comments
communities
community
company
compare
compras
config
configuration
confirm
confirmation
connect
contact
contacts
contactus
contact-us
contact_us
content
contest
contribute
contributor
contributors
coppa
copyright
copyrights
core
corp
countries
country
cpanel
create
css
cssproxy
customise
customize
dashboard
data
db
default
delete
demo
design
designer
desktop
destroy
dev
devel
developer
developers
devs
diagram
diary
dict
dictionary
die
dir
directory
direct_messages
direct-messages
dist
diversity
dl
dmca
doc
docs
documentation
documentations
documents
domain
domains
donate
download
downloads
e
e-mail
earth
ecommerce
edit
edits
editor
edu
education
email
embed
embedded
employment
employments
empty
enable
encrypted
end
engine
enterprise
enterprises
entries
entry
error
errorlog
errors
eval
event
example
examplecommunity
exampleopenid
examplesyn
examplesyndicated
exampleusername
exchange
exit
explore
faq
faqs
favorite
favorites
favourite
favourites
feature
features
feed
feedback
feedburner
feedproxy
feeds
file
files
finance
folder
folders
first
following
forgot
form
forms
forum
forums
founder
free
friend
friends
ftp
fuck
fun
fusion
gadget
gadgets
game
games
gears
general
geographic
get
gettingstarted
gift
gifts
gist
git
github
gmail
go
golang
goto
gov
graph
graphs
group
groups
guest
guests
guide
guides
hack
hacks
head
help
home
homepage
host
hosting
hostmaster
hostname
howto
how-to
how_to
html
htrnl
http
httpd
https
i
iamges
icon
icons
id
idea
ideas
im
image
images
img
imap
inbox
inboxes
index
indexes
info
information
inquiry
intranet
investor
investors
invitation
invitations
invite
invoice
invoices
imac
ios
ipad
iphone
irc
irnages
irng
is
issue
issues
it
item
items
java
javascript
job
jobs
join
js
json
jump
kb
knowledge-base
knowledgebase
lab
labs
language
languages
last
ldap_status
ldap-status
ldapstatus
legal
license
licenses
link
links
linux
list
lists
livejournal
lj
local
locale
location
log
log-in
log-out
login
logout
logs
log_in
log_out
m
mac
macos
macosx
mac-os
mac-os-x
mac_os_x
mail
mailer
mailing
main
maintenance
manage
manager
manual
map
maps
marketing
master
me
media
member
members
memories
memory
merchandise
message
messages
messenger
mg
microblog
microblogs
mine
mis
misc
mms
mob
mobile
model
models
money
movie
movies
mp3
mp4
msg
msn
music
mx
my
mymme
mysql
name
named
nan
navi
navigation
net
network
networks
new
news
newsletter
nick
nickname
nil
none
notes
noticias
notification
notifications
notify
ns
ns1
ns2
ns3
ns4
ns5
null
oauth
oauth-clients
oauth_clients
ocsp
offer
offers
official
old
online
openid
operator
option
options
order
orders
org
organization
organizations
other
overview
owner
owners
p0rn
pack
page
pager
pages
paid
panel
partner
partnerpage
partners
password
patch
pay
payment
people
perl
person
phone
photo
photoalbum
photos
php
phpmyadmin
phppgadmin
phpredisadmin
pic
pics
picture
pictures
ping
pixel
places
plan
plans
plugin
plugins
podcasts
policies
policy
pop
pop3
popular
porn
portal
portals
post
postfix
postmaster
posts
pr
pr0n
premium
press
price
pricing
principles
print
privacy
privacy-policy
privacypolicy
privacy_policy
private
prod
product
production
products
profile
profiles
project
projects
promo
promotions
proxies
proxy
pub
public
purchase
purpose
put
python
queries
query
radio
random
ranking
read
reader
readme
recent
recruit
recruitment
redirect
register
registration
release
remove
replies
report
reports
repositories
repository
req
request
requests
research
reset
resolve
resolver
review
rnail
rnicrosoft
roc
root
rss
ruby
rule
sag
sale
sales
sample
samples
sandbox
save
scholar
school
schools
script
scripts
search
secure
security
self
seminars
send
server
server-info
server_info
server-status
server_status
servers
service
services
session
sessions
setting
settings
setup
share
shop
shopping
shortcut
shortcuts
show
sign-in
sign-up
signin
signout
signup
sign_in
sign_up
site
sitemap
sitemaps
sitenews
sites
sketchup
sky
slash
slashinvoice
slut
smartphone
sms
smtp
soap
software
sorry
source
spec
special
spreadsheet
spreadsheets
sql
src
srntp
ssh
ssl
ssladmin
ssladministrator
sslwebmaster
ssytem
staff
stage
staging
start
stat
state
static
statistics
stats
status
store
stores
stories
style
styleguide
styles
stylesheet
stylesheets
subdomain
subscribe
subscription
subscriptions
suggest
suggestqueries
support
survey
surveys
surveytool
svn
swf
syn
sync
syndicated
sys
sysadmin
sysadministrator
sysadmins
system
tablet
tablets
tag
tags
talk
talkgadget
task
tasks
team
teams
tech
telnet
term
terms
terms-of-service
termsofservice
terms_of_service
test
testing
tests
text
theme
themes
thread
threads
ticket
tickets
tmp
todo
to-do
to_do
toml
tool
toolbar
toolbars
tools
top
topic
topics
tos
tour
trac
translate
trace
translation
translations
translator
trends
tutorial
tux
tv
twitter
txt
ul
undef
unfollow
unsubscribe
update
updates
upgrade
upgrades
upi
upload
uploads
url
usage
user
username
usernames
users
uuid
validation
validations
ver
version
video
videos
video-stats
visitor
visitors
voice
volunteer
volunteers
w
watch
wave
weather
web
webdisk
webhook
webhooks
webmail
webmaster
webmasters
webrnail
website
websites
welcome
whm
whois
widget
widgets
wifi
wiki
wikis
win
windows
word
work
works
workshop
wpad
ww
wws
www
wwws
wwww
xfn
xhtml
xhtrnl
xml
xmpp
xpg
xxx
yaml
year
yml
you
yourdomain
yourname
yoursite
yourusername

View and download the source code at GitHub.

A comma-separated version is available here: https://github.com/Rad-Web-Hosting/banned-subdomain-prefixes/blob/master/comma-separated-common.txt

Prevent Copyright Infringement and Abuse

Banned Subdomain Prefixes can also be used to deter abusive and illegal use of copyrighted names.

Find an example list of company names here: https://github.com/Rad-Web-Hosting/banned-subdomain-prefixes/blob/master/copyright-examples.txt

Related: Guides for WHMCS