Sub-Domain Overview

A subdomain is a domain with the form something.yourdomain.com.

Once you have registered your domain, you automatically have the right to all possible subdomains.

You don't have to register subdomains, and all DreamHost plans come with lots of them for free! Any customer can opt for free hosting of a .dreamhosters.com subdomain --- that is, yourname.dreamhosters.com.

Why not add a subdomain today? For more information, be sure to check out the related links in the column to the left of this window.

Can I get an email account for a subdomain?
Of course!

Simply add your subdomain via the web panel. As soon as the subdomain is created, Click on the Mail tab, then select the addresses link.

 Click on the name of your subdomain in the leftmost column. From here, you will be able to manage email for your subdomain in the same way as you would for a regular domain.

Pop3 accounts are simply mailboxes on our server. By setting up aliases (addresses) at your domains or subdomains, you can have the mail sent to anywhere you like.

Can I get something.mydomain.com?
YEs, you get unlimited sub-domains for free on all our hosting plans! There are no registration fees for sub-domains either.

Sub-domains are exactly like full domains in terms of where they can point, email aliases, etc.

Find out how easy it is to add sub-domains with your account control panel!

Can I host a subdomain for a domain that doesn't point to Dreamhost?
Yes you can do this but you will need to create the remote domain here even if your not going to use it with our services, this will allow you to add sub-domains for the domain. You will then need to get the IP for the sub-domain which you can find by clicking on the "DNS" link next to the sub-domains name then make an custom entry on your DNS where your main domain is hosted and have it forward request for "subdomain.remotedomain.com" to the IP that you got on our DNS page.

There is a "step-by-step" guide to accomplishing this in the following DreamHost wiki article:

Host_a_subdomain_on_DreamHost_when_DNS_is_controlled_elsewhere

Will this mean that anyone using a Dreamhost DNS server as their primary DNS server will end up directed to the wrong IP address when querying hosts on my domain that aren't hosted by Dreamhost?

Probably.

Will the solution described work even if I have no unique IP-address with my DH-hosting-plan?

You do not need a unique IP (but be aware that there is a remote possibility of the IP changing so if the site breaks I would check the DNS from the panel to see if you need to update your records).