Using subdomains on Netlify to host my portfolio example sites

[iann]

I’ve got myself confused with this and don’t fully understand the Netlify docs on subdomains. Appreciate any help.

I have my portfolio site at myportfolio .com

I’ve built some example sites that I would like to host on subdomains of myportfolio .com For example at example1.myportfolio .com example2.myportfolio .com and so on.

The sites are completely separate - one’s a consultant site, one’s a start up site etc

My portfolio site code is on GitHub and linked to Netlify and is working.

My domain is with Namecheap. I’ve set up my DNS in Netlify and pointed the name servers to Netlify - again it’s working fine.

I’d like to be able to host each of my example sites’ code in GitHub and link them to Netlify with each site linking to the correct subdomain.

1. I can’t work out how to set up a subdomain in Netlify.

2. I also can’t work out how best to set up in GitHub and then link to Netlify for these example sites (ie is it a branch of the main portfolio repo I should be using or a separate repo for each example site? Or something else?).

Thanks for any help - I appreciate your patience.

[Melvin]

Hi @iann,

Thanks for reaching out and welcome to Netlify’s Support Forums!

Are you trying to configure External DNS or Netlify DNS?

For External DNS, you can follow our guide here:

[Support Guide] DNS Quick Start - How to set up DNS

Last reviewed: June 2024 Note: All options discussed in this guide assume you have already added your custom domain to your Netlify site. Hi there! Need to get your site up and running with DNS? Start here with either Newly purchased domain or Existing domain that you’ve already used. Newly purchased domain If you have a brand new domain purchased from a registrar such as Namecheap or GoDaddy, and you want to quickly get your DNS set up, you have two options: External DNS - Create these tw…

You’ll create an A Record at your registrar for the bare domain myportfolio.com that points to 75.2.60.5.

For the www subdomain, you’ll configure a CNAME Record that points to lukemifportfolio.netlify.app.

If you instead want to use Netlify DNS, you can follow this Support Guide:

[Support Guide] How can I manage my DNS with Netlify if I used another vendor to purchase my domain?

Last reviewed and updated by Netlify Support on June 2024 You are well on your way already - cool! Let’s get this figured out. This will be a three-step process but don’t worry, it’s not that hard. Open an app you use to take some notes or grab a piece of paper if you are old-school like me. If you’d prefer a TL:DR; in the form of a video, check this out. The UI has changed a bit, but the steps are still the same: [CONFIGURING NETLIFY DNS (DOMAIN PURCHASED EXTERNALLY) - Netlify] …

[iann]

Thanks for such a quick reply Melvin.

I’m not sure either of those links answer my question.

I’ve already set up my custom domain on my portfolio site using Netflix DNS. It’s working fine.

What I want to know now is how to set up multiple subdomains for the domain I’ve already set up and how they should be linked to GitHub (I think it’s a branch for each of them in GitHub rather than another separate repo).

[Melvin]

Hi @iann,

Could you provide a link to your site, you mentioned in your initial post myportfolio.com and this is the site I was looking at. If you’re not able to access that site, then it must be another. If you could, pleaes provide the .netlify.app site name (for example sitename.netlify.app). Thanks!

[iann]

my portfolio.com is a made up domain. I was just trying to explain the structure of what I was hoping to achieve.

Use this domain:

Thanks again!

[iann]

Okay I’ve worked this out.

I couldn’t see Branch Subdomains as an option in Domain Management because you have to create your Deploy Branch first.

So my flow was:

1. Create branch in GitHub with code.

2. Then in Netlify: Site configuration > Build & deploy > Continuous Deployment > Branches and deploy contexts and select either Let me add individual branches (and then add the name of your branch - note this will be used as the name of your subsequent subdomain.) or All (and I think your subdomain name will be whatever your branch name is in GitHub if you choose this) depending on your needs.

3. Netlify will now automatically build and deploy to branchname–domain.netlify.app

4. Now go to Domain Management > Branch Subdomains and Add new branch subdomain will now be a clickable button.

5. Select your branch from the dropdown and your custom subdomain (assuming you’ve already set up a custom domain) is created and immediately live.

Hopefully this helps someone else.