DNS Zone Editor

The DNS Zone Editor is were you manage your domain’s DNS records. While cPanel will create your default DNS zone file, there may be reasons that you need to update it from time to time. Here is how you access your DNS Zone Editor and update it if necessary.

Note: Older versions of cPanel would have Simple DNS Zone Editor and Advanced DNS Zone Editor. Theses have been combined in newer versions of cPanel. If you have the older versions, you can find guides for them below.

Accessing the DNS Zone Editor

First you will need to log into your cPanel. You can find a guide on how to access your cPanel here.

cPanel Domains section

Once logged into your cPanel, scroll down to the Domains section and click on the DNS Zone Editor.

DNS Zone Editor

You should see a list of all of your domains with several options to the right of each:

  • + A record – add a new A (IP address) record
  • + CNAME record – add a new CNAME (domain name) record
  • + MX record – add a new MX (mail exchange) record
  • Manage – manage all of your domain’s DNS records

The easiest way to proceed is to click Manage next to the domain you need to update.

Managing your DNS Zone File

Once you are at the Manage page, you should see a list of all of the DNS records for that domain. You can filter the records using the search box in the upper left-hand side, or by using the options below the search box.

You will see several fields for each record

Name

The Name of the DNS record is a subdomain of the domain (except for the blank record). For example, www.example.com or mail.example.com.

When entering the Name, be sure to pay attention to the “.” at the end of the name, as this will affect how the record is added. If there is no period at the end of the Name, the system will add the domain name to the end. If there is a period, it will not.

For example, if the DNS record we are looking to add is www.example.com

  • www will be saved as www.example.com.
  • www. however, will be saved as www.
  • www.example.com will be saved as www.example.com.example.com.
  • www.example.com. will be saved as www.example.com.

TTL (Time to Live)

The TTL is simply how long any DNS caching servers should hold onto the DNS record before asking for a new record. This setting in in seconds and defaults to 14400 (4 hours). In most cases, you will not need to change this, unless you are using a third party service that requests a different TTL.

Type

This is the type of domain (A, CNAME, MX) and will determine what Record fields with be present.

Record

The record is the actual content of the record. As mentioned, what fields are available here depends on the record type (see below for record types and uses).

Actions

Here you will find the options to either Edit or Delete a record.

Adding a new DNS Record

If you need to add a new record, click on + Add Record on the right-hand side of the screen. You can also click on the drop-down menu to choose what type of record you want to add.

What fields you need to fill in depends on the type of record you selected (see below for common record types, as well as less common records). Click on Save Record once you are completed.

Editing a DNS Record

To edit an existing record, find the record you wish to update. You can use the search box to search your records, or you can filter them by type using the filters under the search box.

Once you find the record you need to update, click on Edit to the right of the record. You can now update the record with the new information. You can even change the type of record if needed. What fields are available depends on the record type (see below for common record types, as well as less common records).

Once updated, click on Save Record to finish.

Deleting a DNS Record

If you wish to delete a record, you only need to click on the Delete button to the right of the record, in the Actions section. This action is not reversible, so you may want to copy down the record in case you need to add it back.

Common Record Types

There are several different types of DNS records that make up your zone file. Here are the most common record types that you will come across.

A records

DNS A record

An A record must point to an IP address. Every Zone file must have a blank A record to be considered valid (some DNS hosts refer to this as the @ record).

  • Name
  • TTL
  • Type
    • A record
  • Record
    • the target IP address for the subdomain

CNAME records

CNAME record

A CNAME record points a subdomain to another domain or subdomain. For example, typically the www.example.com CNAME will point to example.com. This way, if the IP address for the website needs to be updated, you only need to update the blank record.

  • Name
  • TTL
  • Type
    • CNAME record
  • Record
    • the target fully qualified domain name (FQDN)

TXT records

A TXT record is simple a string of text that can be used in DNS look ups. These records are used in many verification processes (SSLs, domain ownership), as well as other services (SPF, DKIM).

  • Name
  • TTL
  • Type
    • TXT record
  • Record
    • any text string
    • if required for a third party service, they should provide the TXT record
    • cPanel will add SPF and DKIM TXT records by default
    • each TXT record is limited to 255 characters, if you need a longer record, click the Add TXT string to record button

MX records

MX (or Mail Exchange) records direct email traffic to your mail servers. Typically, there are several MX records for redundancy reasons. Each MX record is assigned a priority and the mail server will try to send mail to each in succession, starting from the lowest number, until the mail is received.

  • Name
  • TTL
  • Type
    • MX record
  • Record
    • Priority
      • any positive integer
      • mail servers will try the record with the lowest priority first, then try each in successive order
    • Destination
      • the target fully qualified domain name (FQDN)

Other Record Types

These are some of the less common record types that you may need to add to your Zone file for some third party services.

AAAA records

AAAA record

These records are essentially the same as an A record, except that is requires a IPv6 IP address. While not common these days, these records will become necessary in the future, as IPv6 becomes more commonplace.

  • Name: the name of the record (see above)
  • TTL: time to live (see above)
  • Type: A record
  • Record: the IPv6 address for the subdomain

CAA records

CAA records (Certificate Authority Authorization) is use to identify what SSL Certificate Authority can issue certificates for your domain. Most users will not need to specify a CAA record. If you do, you would need to obtain the information from your Certificate Authority.

SRV records

SRV record

SRV records are special records used to provide information on specific ports and services on your domain. Any service requiring an SRV record should provide you with the required information.

Propagation

Note: It can take up to 24 hours for any changes or updates to your domain name and DNS to fully propagate and take effect. During this time your website traffic and email may be disrupted. If you want to minimize this disruption to your website traffic and email, before making any other changes to your name servers, lower your TTL with your current registrar. Once you lower your TTL, wait 24 hours, and then update your name servers. The change should now happen more quickly.

There are several online tools that you can use to test propagation, such as DNSChecker and Geopeeker.

This process typically completes within four to six hours, but allow 24 hours before the records are fully propagated.

If you are still having issues, and need further support, please reach out to our support team using any of these methods.

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