2 Domains point to one installation

moltres93:

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 concur with DrBytes' recommendation that 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.

This is done in five easy steps.

1. Log into your cPanel
2. Click on the 'parked domains' icon
3. Enter the name of the parked domain.
4. Set the path to match your main domain
5. Save

Cheers
Rod

RodG:

I concur with DrBytes' recommendation that 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.

Thanks for the suggestion.. But if I close the primary domain, will the parked domain still work on its own? if so I will try this approach.

moltres93:

Thanks for the suggestion.. But if I close the primary domain, will the parked domain still work on its own? if so I will try this approach.

If you 'close the primary domain' you'll lose the hosting for the parked domain, which will need to be relocated to another host before you'll be able to use it again (This can be done at any time before 'closing the primary').

There are a number of things involved in moving servers and if it is something you thinking of doing this early in the game then perhaps before going any further you should consider making the domain you wish to keep the primary domain.

Cheers
Rod

While RodG is correct that the "primary domain" is tied to the hosting account, your hosting company (if they have any smarts at all) will be able to make adjustments to switch which domain is "primary". If nothing else they could create a new account and move your old account into the new one.
If they're not competent enough to do any of that, then as RodG says, there are lots of other hosts happy to take your business.

Figured it out, in the end I just had to edit the 2 configure.php files and point them to the right database. Phew, I really made that a lot more complicated that it needed to be! Thanks for your help and suggestions everyone

Very confusing, as thats what your webhost told you to do on your first post.

Even though you are using the same database, (I run this exact same scenario) you still need to modify any files on both installation, and if you upload a new product and image, copy the image to the other hosting images folder.