All the responses here were helpful!

Based on responses, and doing this with a domain name I have registered
with GoDaddy, I believe that the way to point a subdomain (and only a
subdomain) at a cheapie hosted account is to make an NS record for each of
the host's name servers to point the subdomain at the nameservers.  (If you
notice I'm wrong, then please correct me.)

In case anyone else wants to file it for later use, I included step-by-step
instructions for doing this when the URL is registered with and DNS is
hosted on GoDaddy.  If the DNS is done a different way, then you would look
up how to make an NS record for that DNS.

-Wilhelmina Randtke


Step-by-step directions on setting a subdomain in GoDaddy to point to a
cheapie hosting company.  You will change the parts that are underlined to
your own information.

    Log into GoDaddy
    To Access the Zone File Editor
        Click "My Account" in the top left corner.
        Next to Domain, click the green Launch button.
        From the Tools menu along the top of the screen, select DNS Manager
        Click Edit Zone for the domain name
    Scroll down to NS (nameserver)
    Click "Quick Add"
        For host, type the (*subdomain - not the full url, just the part
before the first period; ie. lib*)
        For points to, type (*URL of first name server for cheapie hosting
company*)
    Click "Quick Add"
        For host, type the (*subdomain - not the full url, just the part
before the first period; ie. lib*)
        For points to, type (*URL of second name server for cheapie hosting
company*)
    Click "Quick Add"
        For host, type the (*subdomain - not the full url, just the part
before the first period; ie. lib*)
        For points to, type (*URL of third name server for cheapie hosting
company*)



On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 11:50 AM, Wilhelmina Randtke <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> I'm trying to get a subdomain of my university's domain pointed at content
> on a cheapie hosting account.  To do this, I can get main campus to put in
> a CNAME record with the IP address matching where the DNS for my cheapie
> hosting account is currently located in the cheapie hosting company's
> system.  The problem is, this IP will periodically change, meaning main
> campus IT will have to be involved periodically down the line in order to
> cut and paste the new IP into their system, and meaning that the hosted
> services could go unavailable for a few days when this happens.
>
> The main campus uses GoDaddy's DNS which is set in stone, and the cheapie
> hosting in question is Dreamhost but any other cheapie service would do.
>
> Am I doing this the hard way?  *How would you go about getting a
> subdomain of your university's URL to point at your cheapie webhosting
> account?  *
>
>  Subdomain forwarding with masking then storing content at a random URL
> but having it appear to be on the university's subdomain does not work,
> because this causes problems responding to XML queries.
> I am able to run a server in my office or the building with a static IP,
> but I don't want content to live on an in-house server.  Could I use this
> to catch things coming to the IP, then redirect to the cheapie hosting
> account?
>  Is there a way to go from GoDaddy's DNS management system to point at
> the nameservers for the cheapie hosting company, the same way you would do
> to host a domain?
>
> -Wilhelmina Randtke
>