What are wildcard subdomains?

A wildcard subdomain allows you to point all existing and non-existing subdomains of a domain to a specific area on your server. In other words, any subdomain—whether it exists or not—will direct visitors to the same location.

For example, if you enable a wildcard subdomain for example.com, both www.example.com and test.example.com would automatically load the same content.

Note:
If your main domain is example.com, the wildcard subdomain will be written as *.example.com.

Why Use a Wildcard Subdomain?

Wildcard subdomains are useful in situations where you want all subdomains to display the same content or point to the same document root (the folder that stores your web pages).

In most cases, website owners set the wildcard to display the homepage or main site content. However, when using cPanel, the default root is wildcard.domain, not the homepage, unless specified otherwise.

If you’re using WordPress or another content management system (CMS), be cautious — these platforms may not display correctly if accessed through URLs that differ from their setup configuration.

Wildcard domains are also helpful for:

• Multisite web applications that require wildcard subdomains.
• Avoiding DNS propagation delays. When used this way, the wildcard is added directly in DNS without a specific document root, allowing new subdomains to resolve immediately.

How to Set Up a Wildcard Subdomain

To create a wildcard subdomain in cPanel:

1. Log in to your ruachost.com cPanel account.
2. When adding a new subdomain, type an asterisk (*) in the Subdomain field.
3. Set the document root (if needed), and save your changes.

That’s it — your wildcard subdomain is now active.

Need Help?

If you’re having trouble setting up a wildcard subdomain, visit the ruachost.com Knowledge Base for more detailed articles, or open a support ticket at Contact Us. Our team will be happy to assist you.