2 Domains point to one installation

Before you say anything, YES, I realise this has been asked multiple times. However I'm still yet to find a straight answer to my question. I have scoured the forums using the search, and looked through 20+ pages of Google search but I still haven't found a simple tutorial on how to do this!

Many of the answers to this question suggested simply redirecting https://www.mydomain1.com to https://www.mydomain2.com but that's not what I want to do, I want both domains working at the same time for the same shop.

I contacted my host (domain.com if that helps) and they suggested I download every freaking file onto my local machine and re-upload it to the new domain... not only would that be ridiculously time consuming but it would mean I have 2 seperate shops. I want any changes I make to appear on BOTH domains.

So can someone please direct me to a thread with a SIMPLE answer to this problem, or give me a set of steps I can follow.
Thanks!!

I know this is not much help but I own 3 domain names and they all point to one site. All I did is call my hosting company and they pointed them all to the same site with no cost to me. I'm sorry that I don't know how they did it but maybe you need to look into a hosting company that will work with you a little more.

Out-of-the-box Zen Cart is not designed to be a mall. However, there are addons such as "multi site" that some people have had varying degrees of success with. That or others might provide you with something similar to what you seek

MultiSite won't work for me, because that's designed to help control 2 Zen Cart installations, I only have 1 I just want 2 domains to point to the same one.

Let's back WAY up and ask a fundamental question, which requires a lot more information than what you've shared so far: Why? What business problem are you trying to solve with your proposed solution which you started your posting with?

DrByte:

Let's back WAY up and ask a fundamental question, which requires a lot more information than what you've shared so far: Why? What business problem are you trying to solve with your proposed solution which you started your posting with?

That shouldn't matter. I have 2 URLs that I want to use for different things but I want them to point to the same Zen Cart site.

moltres93:

That shouldn't matter..

Actually, it matters A LOT.

In fact I started my own response to you earlier today, but I ended up aborting it because it ended up having a great potential to overcomplicate things for you.

I guess this is why DrByte has taken the opposite approach of asking what business case you are trying to solve, so that he can provide a response specific to your needs, rather than my aborted attempt to explain all of the possible solutions & scenarios hoping one of them will fit your needs.

Although it may appear a simple question (from your perspective) an equally simple and valid answer may be that what you are wanting isn't actually possible. Hence the need to know what problem you are trying to solve.

Cheers
Rod

ps. I suspect a CNAME in your DNS records will probably be what you are looking for.

RodG:

Actually, it matters A LOT.
I guess this is why DrByte has taken the opposite approach of asking what business case you are trying to solve, so that he can provide a response specific to your needs, rather than my aborted attempt to explain all of the possible solutions & scenarios hoping one of them will fit your needs.

I have 2 URLs that I use for different publishing purpouses. They are variations of the same website name, designed to point to the same website.

I've also been in contact with my host about what I'm trying to do, and they're being really unhelpful and keep suggesting the same thing I mentioned in the original post. At this stage I really just want a set of steps to follow, so I'm sorry if it seems I'm being impatient :frusty:

moltres93:

I have 2 URLs that I use for different publishing purpouses. They are variations of the same website name, designed to point to the same website.

Lets try a different approach.....

It generally doesn't matter which of the two websites you 'publish', because after the initial connection the subsequent URL's are always going to be whatever you have defined in your zencart configuration files.

If you want/expect these subsequent URL's to match both of your 'published' URL's it isn't going to happen, at least not easily.

So, perhaps we can try again... what business case is it that you are trying to solve?

Cheers
Rod

Im guessing he wants https://www.mydomain1.com/index.php?id=234 or whatever to also work when he types in https://www.mydomain2.com/index.php?id=234, but only have the files hosted on one of the sites and the other just a domain name.

As was as Im aware, you can't do this.

moltres93:

That shouldn't matter. I have 2 URLs that I want to use for different things but I want them to point to the same Zen Cart site.

It DOES matter...

Are you trying to have 2 websites that are skinned to look different, that are using the same database?

or

You can simply "park" the second domain on top of the first.
I have a domain that has several "other" domain names "parked" on it.
If you type in any of these you go the one website.
But... as Rod points out the domain name changes as soon as you click another link to reflect what you have setup in the configure.php files.

We need some clarification as to what exactly you want to happen.

dgent:

Im guessing he wants https://www.mydomain1.com/index.php?id=234 or whatever to also work when he types in https://www.mydomain2.com/index.php?id=234, but only have the files hosted on one of the sites and the other just a domain name.

As was as Im aware, you can't do this.

Yes, that's more or less what I wanted to do, and if it's not possible then it would explain why it's been so difficult to find a straight answer.

moltres93:

I have 2 URLs that I use for different publishing purpouses. They are variations of the same website name, designed to point to the same website.
But, again I must ask: why?

Is there a particular business reason why you want two completely different domain names pointing to exactly the same content?

Have you considered the SEO downsides to what you're proposing?

Why are you so resistant to explaining the why behind what you're saying you want?

What's wrong with domain2.com being simply an alias for getting to domain1.com and the store always "being" domain1.com regardless what URL the customer originally came in on? ... cuz that's easily done by simply slapping a parked or addon domain into your hosting account.
But to change it so domain2.com is branded differently visually and always shows as domain2.com is certainly way more complicated, and having a very clear understanding about the "why" behind your desire to do this would make a solution much more feasible.

dgent:

Im guessing he wants www.mydomain1.com/index.php?id=234 or whatever to also work when he types in www.mydomain2.com/index.php?id=234, but only have the files hosted on one of the sites and the other just a domain name.

As was as Im aware, you can't do this.

Not wishing to be critical, but this can be done, quite easily, but the keywords are "types in".

Cheers
Rod

RodG:

Not wishing to be critical, but this can be done, quite easily, but the keywords are "types in".

Cheers
Rod

Not if its just a domain name and no hosting.

moltres93:

Yes, that's more or less what I wanted to do, and if it's not possible then it would explain why it's been so difficult to find a straight answer.

Considering this conclusion was made based on an invalid response, the 'more or less' is now even more important than ever, doubly so since DrByte has introduced yet another relevant factor, ie, SEO effects.

Then just wait until we start on issues like SSL encryption and PCI compliance, both of which will eventually have to come into play.

If all you need is the ability for someone to type (or create a link/bookmark) two different URL's, such as
http://shop.vcsweb.com/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&products_id=4

http://ozpost.net/shop/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&products_id=4

And have them viewing a specific product from a singular store (as the example links do. Used with permission) then a CNAME entry will do (I think cPanel calls these 'parked domains'). Easy as pie.

It's the repercussions (if any) and what happens with the next click(s) that is to be considered, or, in your case, possibly not yet considered.

redirections and rewrites are also possible viable solutions (although I tend to avoid these as much as possible for personal/historical reasons).
For many situations redirects and/or rewrites are the only solutions though.

Are you starting to see why this 'simple' request seems to attract so many wildly different responses, from 'easy' through to 'not possible'. It depends on exactly what you want (or expect) to happen, or putting it another way, exactly what is the problem you are trying to solve?

Cheers
Rod

DrByte:

But, again I must ask: why?

I already explained why, twice..
I want to use each domain for a different reason. 1 domain is longer but better describes the business, the other is shorter and more suited for printing on business cards and things like that. But I still want to use both. I honestly don't know what more you want me to explain. I've explained what I want to do, whether there are better ways of getting the same result is a different discussion

I just want someone to tell me if it's possible at all, and if it is, some instructions would be really great

moltres93:

I already explained why, twice..and indeed I've needed to ask why, twice
moltres93:

I want to use each domain for a different reason. 1 domain is longer but better describes the business, the other is shorter and more suited for printing on business cards and things like that.Aha, now we're getting more info, albeit in drabs.

Is there any reason why you aren't willing to have the shorter domain "parked" as an alias which redirects the customer to the longer domain name?
Given that they're both the same destination for the customer, and they're both the same business, and you've not said that there's any need to differentiate the two visually, I can't see any reason not to do as you've been advised by several people:

Add the shorter domain name as a parked domain to your account, and use the longer name as the actual real live site. Simple. Fast. Done in 5 minutes. Problem solved.

Thanks for your advice. Like I said, I'm sorry if I seem impatient, I've just been frustrated with my host (involving other issues in addition to this one) and with my lack of zencart knowledge it makes it even harder to find a solution I can understand. It's not that I wasn't willing to explain the reason behind what I wanted to do, it's just that I was hoping for a quick fix and I didn't think the reasons behind it were that important. I now realise that's not the case.

What I didn't explain and probably should have is that there is a good chance that later down the track one of the domains might not be useful to me anymore and I'll want to just stick with the one domain. So I just wanted both domains to work so that if I decided I wanted to close down one, the other would still work and point to the same database.

...I hope this makes sense

Yes, that's useful information too.
And further confirms that parking the domain onto your existing hosting account so that it's basically an alias to your primary domain ... is the smartest most efficient solution.