Advanced DNS Zone Editor

Notice

The Simple Zone Editor has been replaced by the DNS Zone editor in newer versions of cPanel. You can find a guide to the new DNS Zone Editor here.


Overview

DNS (Domain Name Service) is the component of the Internet that converts human-readable domain names (for example, example.com) into computer-readable IP addresses (for example, 192.0.32.10). DNS uses zone files that reside on your server to map domain names to IP addresses.

There are several different types of records in a domain's zone file. This feature allows you to create, edit, and delete A, AAAA, CNAME (Canonical Name Record), SRV (Service Record), and TXT (Text Record) records.


Sections


Accessing the Advanced Zone Editor

First, you will need to access your cPanel account. If you do not know how to access your account, you can find out here.

Once logged into your cPanel, scroll down to the Domains section. You should see the Advanced DNS Zone editor app. Click it to get to the zone file editor.

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Reset the Zone File

Warning:

This feature erases any modifications that you made to your zone records, either with this feature or with cPanel's Simple DNS Zone Editor interface (Home >> Domains >> Simple DNS Zone Editor). The system attempts to save the domain's TXT entries. We recommend that write down any changes that you wish to save before you use this feature.

To reset your DNS zone files to the defaults that your hosting provider specifies, perform the following steps:

  1. If this account owns more than one domain, select the domain that you wish to manage from the Domain menu.
  2. Click more.
  3. Select the Are you sure that you wish to erase all of your entries and revert to the default state? checkbox.
  4. Click Reset Zone File.

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Adding a record

Remember

cPanel configures your DNS records so that visitors can resolve your website and its services, such as FTP and email. Only add A records when you add a service that cPanel & WHM or your service provider does not provide.

To add a record, perform the following steps:

  1. If this account owns more than one domain, select the domain that you wish to manage from the Domain menu.
  2. Select a record type:
    • A — This record maps hostnames to IP addresses. A records are essential because they allow DNS servers to identify and locate your website and its various services on the Internet. Without appropriate A records, your visitors cannot access your website, FTP site, or email accounts.
    • AAAA — This record maps hostnames to IPv6 addresses.
    • CNAME — This record creates an alias for another domain name, which DNS looks up. This is useful, for example, if you point multiple CNAME records to a single A record in order to simplify DNS maintenance.
      • Note: You cannot point a CNAME record at an IP address.
    • SRV — This record provides information about available services on specific ports on your server.
      • Note: The SRV record must point at a hostname with an A (or AAAA) record. You cannot point an SRV record at a CNAME record.
    • TXT — This record contains text information for various services to read. For example, TXT records can specify data for the SPF (Sender Policy Framework) or DKIM (Domain Keys Mail Identifier) email authentication systems.
  3. Enter the appropriate information for the record type that you select.
  4. Click Add Record.

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Edit a record

To edit a record, perform the following steps:

  1. If this account owns more than one domain, select the domain that you wish to manage from the Domain menu.
  2. Click Edit next to the record that you wish to edit.
  3. Change the information in the text boxes as necessary.
  4. Click Edit Record to save your changes, or click Cancel to discard them.

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Delete a record

To delete a record, perform the following steps:

  1. If this account owns more than one domain, select the domain that you wish to manage from the Domain menu.
  2. Click Delete next to the record that you wish to remove.
  3. Click Delete.

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Propagation

Any time that your DNS zone file is altered, there is a delay before the DNS is updated on DNS servers around the globe. While We advise that you allow for 24 hours before the records are fully propagated worldwide, this process typically completes within four to six hours.

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If you have any questions, please be sure to reach out to our support staff by putting in a ticket.

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