How To Manage Domains In cPanel
If you will be managing one or more websites, it's very important to learn how to manage domains in cPanel. From cPanel, you can assign addon domains to your account for hosting, create subdomains, park domains, add redirects and perform a number of other vital functions for your business. In this guide, we'll show you how to manage domains in cPanel by detailing the major options and how to use them to best suit your needs.
Subdomains
Subdomains, as the name implies, are subdivisions of a main domain. For example, there may be a main website that also contains a Wordpress blog on a subdomain. The addresses of the main website and the blog may be as follows:
- www.mainwebsite.com (Main website.)
- blog.mainwebsite.com (Wordpress blog.)
In order to set up a subdomain, find the "Domains" section in the cPanel menu. Click on the "Subdomains" icon, and you will be taken to the subdomain management page. At the top of the page, you will see a section labeled "Create a Subdomain." Type the prefix you would like the subdomain to use (we used the prefix "blog" in the above example), and select the domain on which you would like to create the subdomain. Then, simply hit "Create" and cPanel will do the rest for you.
Addon Domains
An addon domain is a domain that is simply added to your cPanel account for hosting. If you have purchased multiple domain names and want to create separate websites from them, this is the option for you.
To create an addon domain, find the "Domains" section again and click on the "Addon Domains" icon. You will be taken to a page that asks you to assign a domain to your account. You can choose to assign a domain already associated with your account or one that is not already associated with it. If you have recently purchased a domain from a vendor like GoDaddy and want to assign it to your account, you will choose the second option. Make sure your nameservers are pointed toward your hosting account and type in the domain name that you would like to assign. cPanel will check it and make sure you have permission to assign it to your account. Scroll down and select "Addon domain" from the next section. In the section following, you may choose to add the domain to an existing directory or create a new one. When you have made your selection, simply click "Add domain."
Parked Domains
A parked domain (or domain pointer) is an additional domain that leads to the primary domain name of your hosting account. An example of this is Craigslist. Craigslist.com is actually a parked domain for Craislist.org, and typing in the parked domain will instantly redirect you to the main .org domain.
To add parked domains using cPanel just click the Parked Domains link. Enter the domain to be parked under "Create a New Parked Domain" and click "Add Domain". Very simple. This will point the domain toward your primary domain, redirecting any traffic to it immediately.
Redirects
A redirect is similar to a parked domain, except that it can take place on individual pages of a website rather than redirecting from the main domain. To set up a redirect, find the "Domains" section of cPanel again and click on the "Redirects" icon. You will then be taken to the redirect menu page.
At the top of the page, you will see the option to add a new redirect. To do this, first select whether you want the redirect to be permanent or temporary. Select the domain and page to be redirected by selecting the domain from the list and typing in the location of the page after the slash (/). Then, type in the location of the page that you would like to redirect your first selection to.
At this point, you can select whether you would like to redirect the version of the page with the www notation or without it. It is usually recommended to redirect both to avoid any duplicate content issues, and this will most likely be selected automatically.
When you have finished, simply click on "Add" and cPanel will add your redirect. You should now see the redirect you have created listed lower on the page, where all redirects are listed.
Simple DNS Zone Editor
DNS is used to convert domain names that are human-friendly (like the one you see in the address bar of your browser) to computer-friendly IP addresses. To use the simple DNS zone editor, navigate to the icon under the "Domains" section of cPanel and click on it. You will be taken to a page with a drop down menu from which you can select the domain that you would like to edit.
Once you select your domain, you can add an A record for your domain name, add a CNAME record, or delete existing custom DNS records for your domain. To add an A or CNAME record, simply go to the appropriate section and input the name you would like to give it as well as the IP address you would like it to point to, then click "Add record."
To delete a record, simply find the record you would like to delete on the list and click "delete."
Advanced DNS Zone Editor
The advanced DNS editor gives three options that the simple one does not. For one, you can reset all DNS records for a domain back to the default options. To do this, simply click the button to do so.
You can also add a TXT record, which is not available in the simple DNS zone editor. This is not often used, but there are situations in which this is appropriate. One example would be if you find it necessary to create an SPF record for your domain.
The third option is to edit previously created records. The only option for changing previously created records in the simple editor was to delete them.
We hope this has helped you to learn how to manage domains in cPanel effectively. With a little practice, managing large numbers of domains will be no problem at all.