Issue with external subdomains and 1and1 hosting

I am having an issue with a few of my sites. I use 1and1 as a host, but a few clients really want to keep their DNS to themselves (a very valid request). I have tried to follow the 1and1 FAQs (faq.1and1.com/domains/domain_admin/dns_settings/18.html) and keep getting the domain dropped by 1and1 every 3 or so weeks. I have tried CNAME, A Record, and other options, but nothing seems to get rid of the 'DNS settings incomplete with registrar' message on the control panel.

I have even setup my client's same settings using DynDNS and still can't seem to crack the code. If anyone has done this successfully and the external domain doesn't get removed automatically, please let me know how you have done it! I have talked to 1and1 support over and over again and keep getting the same 'have them point their nameservers to ours' response, which is fine when pointing an entire domain, but when needing just to point a subdomain, it does not seem to work.

Thanks for any info!

So your clients have a domain, and you want to serve one particular subdomain of that domain off of your own web server instead of theirs?

In that case you shouldn't be messing around with DNS on your server at all; the client needs to update their DNS to create an A record for the subdomain that points at your web server.

Then on the web server you need to set up a virtual host for the subdomain. I have not used 1&1, and so do not know specifically how to perform this step in their system, but it shouldn't have anything to do with DNS. Some web hosts call them addon domains. You would add the whole subdomain (ie: subdomain.clientdomain.com) as the domain when doing this.

Thanks E-Oreo.

Yes, they have created an A-Record with subdomain.domain.com pointing to the IP Address of the hosting platform. I then create the subdomain virtual host information in the control panel and all works ... for 3 weeks ... and then 1and1 removes it because they say that the DNS settings have not been properly modified. That is the kicker. I don't see in any FAQ from 1and1 what needs to be done on the DynDNS side to have them be happy with the new virtual host.

That is my main issue: What does 1and1 need to see to stop removing my virtual host info for the subdomain. 1and1 hides alot of the vitual host info behind their control panel, so I can only do so much.

Thanks for the reply though.

Anyone?

I think the only one who can help you here is 1and1.