creating subdomains or virtual hosts

hi all,
good morning(well it is morning here)...i was wondering if someone knows how to create subdomains or virtual hosts?
what i mean is like..u know, allowing the user to create their website(subdomain) like http://mydomain.abcnet.com ??i am using php and apache.haven't got a clue where to start this as i totally have no idea at all. or is there an easier way like http://www.abcnet.com/mivec?(like brinksters style, www21.brinkster.com/user...)
thanking you all in advance.

the second way is much easier mainly becuase it wont require you to have any further permissions...

To create a subdoman I believe you need to add to the Apache httpd.conf file, and there may be other things too... Im not sure, Ive only ever specified access ports this way.

If you're running apache, it's SUPER EASY to set up user accounts in the http://www.mysite.com/~username fashion.

Simply do the following.

1) Check your umask and set it to something like 022.
2) Set the permissions on the subdirectories of /home to 750 (chmod 750 /home/*)
3) Change the group ownership on the /home sub dirs to apache (chgrp apache /home/*)
4) Make sure apache is running under the group "apache"
5) Configure the UserDir directive in the httpd.conf file to something like "public_html"
6) Make a directory in each user account called "public_html" and set the group ownership to apache with the permissions 4755 (chmod 4755 public_html)

This will take care of all your existing users on the system so they can access their site at http://www.mysite.com/~username
Note, some systems already have some of this done for you

Now, simply add a directory in the /etc/skel directory called public_html with permissions 4755 and group owner of apache. Then every time you add a user, their public_html dir will be automatically created and you'll be good to go!

Hope this helps.