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I've just started hosting a master-server service for the game Crysis Wars, in order to replace the failed GameSpy service.

The subdomain for the service is master.example.com, but I however want any requests for a subdomain under it to go to the original subdomain.

For example, any request for test.master.example.com should point to master.example.com.

I've tried a matching URL pattern at my webhost but they do not see the domain as being correct.

How can I do this?

AStopher
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  • Do you using apache server? php / wordpress for your site? – Helping Hands Jan 07 '15 at 10:12
  • @HelpingHands No web-hosting is used. I wasn't sure if this was on-topic on Webmasters, or if it's better suited to Server Fault. – AStopher Jan 07 '15 at 10:15
  • But without web host how you running site? – Helping Hands Jan 07 '15 at 10:16
  • @HelpingHands The actual main domain isn't be used for anything, it's just forwarded to an error page. The subdomain master.example.com is forwarded to an IP address on my Windows-based dedicated server. I'm not sure if the dedicated server needs to handle this, or the registrar does. – AStopher Jan 07 '15 at 10:18
  • Ahh. ok. It should be handle by server provider team. – Helping Hands Jan 07 '15 at 10:22
  • @HelpingHands Unfortunately the actual domain has a different provider than the dedicated server, and at the moment they're attempting to sell me a useless subdomain I do not require. They also told me that 'catch-all on a subdomain is impossible', which is complete rubbish as I've seen it done before. – AStopher Jan 07 '15 at 10:29
  • Do you have a lsit of these sub-domains that you want redirected or are you really needing a wildcard solution? I know Apache. Unfortunately, I do not know IIS anymore. But I thought this question could help others to formulate an idea. – closetnoc Jan 07 '15 at 16:44
  • @closetnoc I needed a true wildcard solution. – AStopher Jan 07 '15 at 16:45
  • Alright. I have no ideas for you. Sorry. If you had a list, then I could have given you an outline of what I would do in Apache that could be paralleled in IIS. I used to work with IIS way back over a decade ago. ;-) Now I am getting old and senile and cannot remember none of it. – closetnoc Jan 07 '15 at 16:49
  • What version of IIS are you running? I am doing a search and that seems to be an important question. – closetnoc Jan 07 '15 at 16:50
  • Check out this answer in blue (with 8 votes) here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/458757/wildcard-subdomains-in-iis7-is-it-possible-to-make-them-like-it-is-in-apache If your registrar hosts your DNS, I assume that a wildcard DNS entry can be made. This would be quite common. This answer sounds authoritative, but how would I know? But do give it a glance to see if it makes sense to you. – closetnoc Jan 07 '15 at 16:55
  • @closetnoc My IIS version is the latest (8) running on Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter. I ended up adding a wildcard DNS entry into the registrar's DNS Zone editor and their support weren't helpful. – AStopher Jan 07 '15 at 16:58

1 Answers1

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I found the solution, I had to use a Wildcard on the DNS A record for master.example.com:

*.master.example.com

The wildcard *. ensures any attempted connection goes to master.example.com.

The registrar where the domain's DNS is currently managed didn't help and actually attempted to trick me into purchasing a subdomain (something my current provider does for free), and made absolutely no hint I needed a wildcard DNS record (I found the solution after searching 'catch-all subdomain').

AStopher
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    Great! I was not sure how IIS would handle this. Apache would, but you would have to some configuration and that is what I was looking for in IIS. IIS 8 apparently will allow wildcard host name hence why I asked the question. You discovered part 2 of the answer. Congrats! Up-votes on the way!! – closetnoc Jan 07 '15 at 17:02
  • @closetnoc I would've been able to get this done when I decided I needed it if the registrar hadn't been so awkward (123-reg, they're cheap for a reason). – AStopher Jan 07 '15 at 17:04
  • Yeah. One thing I always say here is you get what you pay for. I always advise that people use a quality registrar and host and not go for price. Domain name registration and hosting is cheap enough and has been for quite a long time now that I cannot see shaving too much off the price. But then again, I used to be a web host and proxy registrar (before competition against NetSol) and a certification issuer. I got out of that business because people ran toward the cheap and then would come back crying. It got frustrating and costly. There were better ways to make money. – closetnoc Jan 07 '15 at 17:15