Unable to link the domain name to the new hosting

Hello community,

I’m trying to point my new WordPress site to a new Starter hosting, but it mysteriously remains on the old 100M.

Situation history: I had a mini‑site on 100M hosting for jacquesboussard.net; in June 2025 I moved to another provider that offered WordPress deployment while keeping the domain at OVH; yesterday I opened a Starter hosting to transfer the new site. I copied the files via FTP, also transferred the database, linked both in /www/wp-config.php, and updated the DNS.

Yet jacquesboussard.net now shows the old mini‑site from the 100M hosting instead of the Starter one.
When I try to add it as a multisite to Starter (automatic mode), I’m informed that Une redirection du domaine ``jacquesboussard.net`` existe déjà (champ de type A), then the following message appears: Une erreur est survenue lors de l'ajout du ou des domaines à votre hébergement mutualisé. (this attachedDomain already exists (hosting: ``jacqueg.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net``))… and I can’t delete the site from the 100M multisite list.

Curiously, the “technical” URL of Starter xjnzzff.cluster121.hosting.ovh.net also redirects to the 100M content. However, even more strangely, if I delete index.php, the “redirection” stops and the /www WordPress content displays correctly. Why?

Some technical details

  • The site’s DNS servers are dns12.ovh.net and ns12.ovh.net.

  • The DNS zones are tangled and include, among others:
    www CNAME jacquesboussard.net.
    www A 188.165.53.185 (Starter IPv4)
    www AAAA 2001:41d0:301::21 (Starter IPv6)
    @ A 188.165.53.185
    @ AAAA 2001:41d0:301::21
    @ NS dns12.ovh.net.
    @ NS ns12.ovh.net.

  • The hosting clusters are different, if I go by their names: jacqueg.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net for 100M and ~cluster121~ for Starter, so there should not be confusion due to a single server. identical: same IP, same eu‑west‑gra server, same cluster121, same Filer 2168!

In another thread it is recommended to delete the 100M hosting, but I’d like to keep it to store a redirect if I later change my domain to .org.

That’s all I can do with my limited skills after consulting OVH help and this guide. How can I unblock the situation?

Hello @GregoireCB

Redirects are normally set up via the /www/.htaccess file

I don’t see why:

  • You couldn’t perform this operation from the /www/.htaccess file of your Starter hosting
  • Why you couldn’t deactivate this 100 MB hosting.

However, you need to be careful if your EMAIL address is linked to this 100 MB hosting.

Hello,

You’re unlucky: your two hosting accounts are on the same cluster121.

As a result, there can be only one association between your domain name jacquesboussard.net on cluster121, and that one already points to 'jacqueg'.

If you want to resolve this yourself, you need to delete the start100m hosting – this also removes the single associated mailbox, and then you have to wait a month before the actual deletion takes effect.

So please submit an incident ticket via your client area. Only support can act effectively in your unlucky case.

Note: you were wondering why WordPress redirects to the other site? Simply by calling jacquesboussard.net

Indeed, I saw afterwards that both hosting accounts have the same IP, the same eu‑west‑gra server, the same cluster121 and the same Filer 2168! Thanks for checking -- how do you have access to this information? I’ll open a ticket.

As for the redirect, why does WordPress circumvent itself like that? As you can see, I’m completely new to the subject.

Hello. You mean you just need to point site.net to the same servers as site.org and document that in the .htaccess?

As for mail, I’m not using it yet. That will be another story...

WordPress handles its own redirects without needing “Redirect…” lines in .htaccess

It uses two entries found in the WordPress configuration panel, known as the “Site URL”.

Note that in a WordPress installation there is always an .htaccess file which WordPress manages a section of, and that should be left intact. So be careful if you tinker with the .htaccess on a site where WordPress is installed.

Okay, it's even more complicated with WordPress then. Thanks for the hints.

I tried to check this redirection in the WP manager, but it gives a 404 error:
http://xjnzzff.cluster121.hosting.ovh.net/wp-admin
What’s that about?

After all, how can you tell whether OVH is pointing jacquesboussard.net to the 100M hosting, or if it actually points to Starter and WordPress then redirects to 100M? I'm a bit lost.

To trace a redirect:

wget -d --no-check-certificate http://xjnzzff.cluster121.hosting.ovh.net/wp-admin

---request begin---
GET /wp-admin/ HTTP/1.1
Host: xjnzzff.cluster121.hosting.ovh.net
User-Agent: Wget/1.21.3
Accept: /
Accept-Encoding: identity
Connection: Keep-Alive

---request end---
HTTP request sent, awaiting response...
---response begin---
HTTP/1.1 302 Found
...
X-Redirect-By: WordPress
Location: https://jacquesboussard.net/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fxjnzzff.cluster121.hosting.ovh.net%2Fwp-admin%2F&reauth=1

=================

You have purchased a Starter. I would have suggested trying to install, for example, “new.jacquesboussard.net” on your Starter hosting. But Starter can host only one domain name, which would block you on the day you want to bring www.jacquesboussard.net to the same place.

For your information, it’s now been a week since I opened a ticket, and there’s been no response. It was “updated” yesterday, but no details have been provided. Is it normal for my product to be inaccessible for that long?

Call OVH support at 09 72 10 10 07.

Call OVH customer service at +33 9 72 10 10 07.
Preferably between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. in the morning, or around 3 p.m. there is less waiting.

Or already now on Twitter @ovh_support_fr or #OVHcloudsupport

For your info, it's now been a week since I opened a ticket, and no response.

What is the ticket number, please? :slight_smile:

Asterix

Hello Astérix, this is CS15894318.

In the meantime someone replied that I need to delete my 100 M hosting, even though I had made it clear that I don’t want to give it up.

Hello Astérix, this is CS15894318.

Unfortunately, here your two offers are indeed on the same cluster (121). However, it is not possible to link a domain name to multiple offers that are present on the same infrastructure as noted by @fritz2cat

If your goal is to keep the Starter offer and the Start100M offer, I invite you to proceed as follows:

1- Temporarily delete the Start100M offer.
2- Request accelerated deletion of the offer via a support ticket.
3- Link your domain name to the Starter offer
4- If needed, reactivate a Start100M offer; it will be created automatically on another cluster :wink:

Feel free to ask any further questions :wink:

Astérix

Okay, I’ll follow your advice.

A new interlocutor gave me exactly the same answer as the previous one. Fortunately you are the one answering my questions. Thank you

Final word: I followed the procedure above, repeated my situation to the advisors three times, fixed the erroneous advice, and today my website works :partying_face:

Thanks @Gaston, @fritz2cat and @Asterix for your support!

Now that your WordPress site is finished and up and running, don’t forget to back it up on your PC.


Backups of your site at OVH are not eternal.

Excerpt from my guide: T – OVH restoration of your site to an earlier date

At OVH, restoring your hosting can only go back a maximum of two weeks.

If the hacking of your site dates back three weeks, you’re out of luck and forced to delete everything and completely rebuild your site.

At OVH, restoring your database can only go back a maximum of two months

Remember to make a backup of Hosting and Database on your PC once a month.
See in my guide the section: Ua – Full backup of your site onto your PC

See in my guide the section: Ub – Full restoration of your site from your PC

Yes, that’s the first thing I did :wink: I saw that there are even modules that automatically back up a WordPress site to a drive, for example. Your guide‑bible may already mention it.

No @Grgrgrgr my guide only deals with manual backups to a PC