This article provides a guide for how to create wildcard subdomains for cPanel hosting accounts.
What are Wildcard Subdomains?
A wildcard subdomain is a DNS record that matches requests for non-existent subdomains. It is specified by a “*” symbol as part of the domain name, example: *.yourdomain.com.
Wildcard subdomains are useful for allowing end users to create their own sites or spaces with a unique subdomain on a domain-based platform or network. For example, a restaurant can have its own digital ordering platform with the subdomain restaurantname.menus.abc. Wildcard subdomains can also be used for hosting content and personal portfolios.
How to Create Wildcard Subdomains in cPanel
To create a wildcard subdomain in cPanel, follow the steps below:
- Log into the cPanel for the account on which to place the wildcard subdomain.
- Open the "Domains" interface in the "Domains" section of cPanel.
- Click the "Create A New Domain" button.
- In the "Domain" text box, type the full wildcard subdomain name (i.e., *.domain.tld).
- In the "Document Root (File System Location)" text box, enter the path to the folder where the wildcard subdomain's files should be placed.
- Click the "Submit" button.
- Click the "Tools" icon to return to the main cPanel page.
- Open the "Zone Editor" interface in the "Domains" section of cPanel.
- Click the "Manage" button to the right of the wildcard subdomain's root domain (i.e., domain.tld).
- Verify that the A record for the wildcard subdomain exists and points to the correct IP address.