A subdomain name is a very practical way to install additional features or other software while using your main domain. We'll list a few examples of subdomains for you:
More explanation about domain names, subdomains, alias domains, etc. can be found in this help center category.
Create a subdomain
Before trying to create a subdomain, make sure that you're allowed to do so. Some (older) hosting packages did not allow them to be created. You can check your current limit in the Account section in the menu. You will see an entry that says something in the like of: Subdomains: 2 used of 30. Now let's get to it.
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Navigate to the Websites & Domains section of the Plesk control panel. You will see an overview of all previously added or created (sub)domains.
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Press the Add Subdomain button which is above the list of available domains.
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Enter the desired subdomain and the domain for which the subdomain should be created. If your Plesk server is a Linux server you may also create a Wildcard subdomain.
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Check whether the document root satisfies your requirements and change this if you want. The document root is the location on your hosting package where the public files are located.
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Press Ok to create the subdomain.
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Please wait a while to let Plesk create the subdomain. Plesk will automatically add the subdomain DNS records to your zone, create the virtual host and setup the PHP handler.
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You will receive a message saying that the subdomain has been created succesfully. Great! Please check the section below to setup the subdomain for first use.
Manage a subdomain
It is important to know how to manage a subdomain name. This is because these domain names reflect on your business/website. If they are configured incorrectly, it can harm you as a person or business.
Installing a SSL/TLS certificate with Let's Encrypt
The first thing you need to do after creating a subdomain name is to request a free TLS certificate from Let's Encrypt. This ensures that the data traffic between our servers and your clients is encrypted and therefore secure. A security setting is active on our servers that makes it mandatory to have a TLS certificate active on every domain name.
If your main domain name has a wildcard TLS certificate installed, you can also apply it to your subdomain. To do so, go to Plesk -> Website & Domains -> Your Subdomain -> Hosting & DNS -> Hosting Settings -> Security -> Certificate. Select the wildcard TLS certificate from this list and press Ok or Apply.
If you want to issue a regular Let's Encrypt TLS certificate you can follow this guide. It will explain how to do so on a regular domain. You can implement that procedure on your subdomain, it will have the same result.
Other management options
There are almost no differences between managing a subdomain compared to a (regular) domain. You can even enable mail service for your subdomain, then you can also create email addresses for a particular subdomain. Do you want to perform a specific action? Then check this knowledge base for an article. Does that article apply to a regular domain name? Then chances are almost 100% that you can also apply it to a subdomain name.