Subdomains help.

[scopeak]

Hey, I am considering hosting nodeBB via DigitalOcean. I have a few questions however as I am pretty new to this.

If I install nodeBB on digital ocean will I be able to set a custom domain [forums.website.com] ?

Am I able to keep the main wordpress site [website.com] on the host I currently use, or will I need to move it to digital ocean to keep the same name servers?

Hope that makes sense! Thanks.

[aixnr]

Quick answer:

1. Yes, you can use custom subdomain (forum.website.com) for the NodeBB installation. This can be done through proxy. You might want to read Configuring nginx as a proxy.
2. Yes, you can keep the WordPress site on the host you are currently using.

Question: Where is your WordPress self-hosted now, and do you know how to operate the DNS zone record?

[scopeak]

@aixnr Hey thanks for the quick reply!

It is hosted at falcoda.co.uk. I've use the DNS zone records on the godaddy name servers if that's what you mean?

My host offers SSH access too however I feel as if I could mess things up with that.

[aixnr]

@scopeak if that so, I assume you pointed the DNS entries on the GoDaddy dashboard to something like ns1.falcoda.net & ns2.falcoda.net, no? And your hosting package on the Falcoda is using cPanel, no?

[scopeak]

@aixnr Yes and yes they use cPanel.

[aixnr]

OK then. Here's the long reply:

1. To point a new subdomain, for example, subdomain1.example.com to a Digital Ocean VPS, typically people would use A record, that is, the IP address of the VPS. This can be done through the cPanel Advanced DNS Zone Editor.
2. Have you ever attempted installing NodeBB on the VPS? Because it could be challenging for a first-timer, and terrifying for non-linux users (I assume you a Windows user).

Oh... not that long actually. That's all I got here for now.

[scopeak]

@aixnr Haha great! thanks for that. I am actually a mac user but I've only really worked with php coding etc. I just tried installing it on Codio and I got it working.

Preferably i'd love to install it on the host I'm using now that allows SSH, but as I said I fear that i'll end up messing it up. I might look into seeing if someone can set it up for me for a price. If not i'll go down the DigitalOcean route!

Thanks again!

[aixnr]

@scopeak yes, I would prefer you use a VPS. The hosting allows you to use SSH, but it doesn't guarantee you the rights to install new packages. NodeBB runs on NodeJS engine. Usually, a typical web-hosting doesn't ship NodeJS, and a typical hosting won't give you the rights to install it.

No problem, and have a nice day ahead.

[scopeak]

@aixnr Ah right! that clears things up a lot! Cheers, i'll let you know how it turns out.