"Example.com" website can now also be accessed through "anothersite.com". This is not a copy or a redirect. When contacted, the hosting support team clarified that both domains share the same IP address.
The experts are being asked the following questions: 1. What is the significance of this situation? 2. How did it occur? 3. What is the solution? It's an interesting situation to understand for self-development purposes.
If you have your own server (sometimes a dedicated IP is enough, if the hoster is completely stupid or deliberately provides this opportunity) and there is no control over the host name, at least a million domains "to any interested person" can be connected to it.
To avoid this, in Apache, for example, you need to create a default virtual host to catch all not own calls and the main virtual host for the site itself.
You can filter out the strange hosts directly on the site (in .htaccess for example).
Encountered a similar issue where an alias from IP to domain in the local area network is not functioning properly. The domain name can be accessed without problems through the IP on local machines, but additional domains cannot be set up.
In Denver, the issue was resolved by creating a folder with the IP and adding folders with the domains inside. As a result, it was possible to access different domains from the same IP via paths such as 192.18.4.5\site1 and 192.18.4.5\site2. Is there a similar solution for this problem in OpenServer?
When two different domains can access the same content but aren't redirects, it can lead to multiple issues, like duplicate content in the eyes of search engines, which could negatively impact SEO rankings. If both "example.com" and "anothersite.com" serve the same content, search engines may struggle to determine which site should rank higher, potentially diluting traffic and authority.
Now, about how this occurred - this is typically a result of server configuration. It could be that during the setup of the hosting environment, both domains were pointed to the same directory on the server. This could have been done intentionally if the website owner wanted to provide access via multiple domains, or it could have been an oversight during the domain setup process. Such configurations are often made in shared hosting environments where many different websites might share the same IP address.
Regarding solutions, if the intention was not to have both domains serve the same content, the website owner should consider consolidating them. They should choose one main domain and set up a proper 301 redirect from the secondary domain to the primary domain to avoid content duplication issues. This will also help consolidate their SEO efforts and ensure that users always end up on the correct site. However, if both domains are intended to exist separately, it's essential to manage content carefully to prevent search engine penalties. This could involve implementing canonical tags, ensuring that content is uniquely written for each domain, or in some cases, hosting separate content entirely.