Redirect/rewrite dynamic URL to sub-domain and create DNS for subdomain

Question

I have created an application in PHP, I would like to re-direct the following URL to corresponding sub-domain.

Dynamic URL pattern:

http://mydomain.com/mypage.php?user_name=testuser

I wish to re-direct this to the corresponding sub domain:

http://testuser.mydomain.com/

1. How do I create a rewrite rule for this purpose?
2. How do I register DNS for sub-domain without using CPANEL? (I want to activate sub-domain when the user registers to the system.)

Answer 1

Take a look at this thread over at webmaster world

You'll need to create:-

• A DNS mapping: *.yourdomain.com => your IP
• A server alias *.yourdomain.com in your virtualhost configuration

.htaccess file with something like:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^user\.example\.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /user [R=301,L] 

You can replace user with ([a-z]) and use it in the rewriteRule. That way you can have a general mapping: something.yourdomain.com => yourdomain.com/user, even if the user isn't signed up to your site.

Answer 2

You need to use a wildcard DNS rule for the subdomains, then you can do a rewrite rule to redirect that link to the correct domain.

Information on this can be found here: http://www.thecpaneladmin.com/setting-up-wildcard-dns-with-cpanel/

You will need access to the configuration files so it may not be easy depending on your host and hosting plan.