If you want to buy a domain name that no one else has registered before, that is very easy — just use any reputable domain name registrar. If you are trying to purchase a domain name that has already been registered, you can do that as well. It can be a little more complicated than purchasing new registrations, though. Check out our in-depth guide to aftermarket domain purchasing for details.

DDNS stands for Dynamic DNS. It is a way of automatically updating a name server in the Domain Name System. This is useful in the case of web resources which may change IP addresses on a frequent basis (daily or even hourly). The DNS records are updated by a local router or server whenever the IP address of the resource changes. This is usually not an issue for typical web hosting plans, as web hosting providers use blocks of static IP addresses. However, it is an expected feature of many internet-connected devices, since they are dynamically assigned a new IP address every time they are restarted.

In cPanel, there is an icon labeled “Subdomains.” Click that. It takes you to the subdomain management page. Here you can setup subdomains and associate them with specific folders in your file system. If you are trying to setup wildcard subdomains (for example, for WordPress Multisite), use an asterisk ( * ) as the subdomain, and associate the subdomain with the same folder as your main WordPress install. This is a different tool than the DNS editor. You will need to do this even if you manage your domain at a different registrar — cPanel uses these settings to route requests once they have arrived at the server. (It also updates the DNS records as required, but only if the domain uses the nameservers associated with your cPanel account). If your site is actually hosted somewhere else, and you just manage the domains from this cPanel account, then ignore the instructions above and just use the DNS Zone Editor.