How do I create or edit a DNS record for my domain?

If you’re following instructions from another provider and those mention that a DNS record for “@” should be created, you enter this in cPanel as the domain name itself. Some DNS providers use @ as short-hand for the domain name, but cPanel doesn’t do this.

The name servers for a domain determine where the rest of the Internet can find information about which servers a domain points to. Sometimes you need to change this, for example if you change providers or want to implement a particular service solution. This guide explains how to change the name servers for a domain name registered with us.

This guide details how you manage DNS records for a domain. If you instead intend to change the DNS servers (name servers) a domain is using, please refer to these instructions.

To manage DNS settings for a domain, it needs to be set up on a web hosting account or a FreeDNS account. If you do not have a web hosting account but want to be able to control the DNS settings for a domain anyway, you can order a FreeDNS account here.

Log in to manage DNS records

To add or edit a DNS record you first need to login to your cPanel account. When you have done that click on Zone Editor in the Domains section.

All the domains associated with your web hosting account will now be displayed in a list. Find the domain name you want to make changes to and click on Manage.

If you cannot find the domain name you want to mange you have either logged in to the wrong account or you haven’t added the domain name to your account.

Already existing records

Begin by logging on to cPanel according to the instructions above.

Before you add a new DNS record make sure that the record doesn’t already exist. If it exist edit it instead.

For instance, if you are going to point your website to another server there should be an A record for that domain name and an A or CNAME record for www.yourdomain.com. Instead of creating two new records that points to the new server you should edit the already existing ones.

To edit an already existing record you need to click on Edit to the right of the record.

We are not going to explain the options you see now in any more detail in this section since it is exactly the same options as when you create a new record. Instead you should refer to the relevant section below for a more detailed explanation on what each option do.

Add a new record

Begin by logging on to cPanel according to the instructions above.

To add a new DNS record you have to click on Add Record. Once you’re done with the new record, don’t forget to click Save Record to the right of the new record.

A

If you are going to create a new DNS record which is pointing to an IP address (IPv4) you need to use the A record type:

• Name: The domain name you want to create a record for. In this case exempel.se but it can also be a sub domain for example test.exempel.se.
• TTL: You can use 7200 here if you don’t know you need something else.
• Type: A
• Record: The IP address you want your domain to point to.

AAAA

If you are going to create a new DNS record which is pointing to an IPv6 address, you need to use the AAAA record type:

• Name: The domain name you want to create a record for. In this case exempel.se but it can also be a sub domain for example test.exempel.se.
• TTL: You can use 7200 here if you don’t know you need something else.
• Type: AAAA
• Record: The IPv6 address you want your domain to point to.

CNAME

With a CNAME you can point one domain to another domain. For instance if you have created an A record for example.com which points to the IP address 123.123.123.123 you can create a CNAME for exampel.se which points to example.com.

In that case example.se will use the same IP address as example.com (123.123.123.123). If you in the future change the A record for example.com to another IP address, for example 321.321.321.321, then example.se will automatically start to point to the new IP address as well.

When you create a new CNAME you have to fill out this information:

• Name: The domain name you want to create a record for. In this case exempel.se but it can also be a sub domain for example test.exempel.se.
• TTL: You can use 7200 here if you don’t know you need something else.
• Type: CNAME
• Record: The domain name you want to point your CNAME to, in this case we use example.com but it can also be a sub domain.

CNAME and redirect are two different things. A redirect forwards a visitor from one domain name to another. A CNAME record only says that one domain name is using the same IP address as another domain name.

TXT

A TXT record is a type of DNS record that associates a string of text with a domain name. In theory you could use whatever text you want but there are some specifications for how the text should be formatted. For instance SPF and DKIM uses a very specific format for their TXT records.

To create a new TXT record you have to fill out the following:

• Name: The domain name you want to create a record for. In this case example.se but it can also be a sub domain for example test.example.se.
• TTL: You can use 7200 here if you don’t know you need something else.
• Type: TXT
• Record: What you should enter into this field is depending on what kind of TXT record you are going to create. The most common situation is that you have been instructed by someone to create a new TXT record. For instance if you are going to create a TXT record for G Suite you have received a text string from Google that you need to enter. If you don’t know what you should enter into this field you need to contact the person/company that have requested you to add the TXT record so that they can give you that information.
• If you’re about to create a very long TXT record, you may have to split its content over multiple text fields. To do this, click Add TXT string to record.

MX

The MX record defines where email for your domain name is handled. For instance the domain name example.com uses mail.example.com as its MX record. The sub domain mail.example.com is an A record that points to the IP address 123.123.123.123. Emails for example.com will therefore be sent to the server with the IP address 123.123.123.123.

It is not allowed to point a MX record towards an IP address, you must use a domain name. That is why it is very common to create the sub domain mail, for example mail.example.com.

• Name: The domain you want to create the record for, in this case exempel.se.
• TTL: You can use 7200 here if you don’t know you need something else.
• Type: MX
• Priority: You can have more than one MX record for a domain name. If you want you can give each MX record a different priority. Email will be delivered to the MX record with the highest priority first and if that server isn’t responding it will try a server with a lower priority instead. Just remember that a lower number indicates a higher priority, for example, 0 is a higher priority than 1. You can also use the same priority for all of your MX records to balance the traffic between several servers.
• Destination: This is the server where email for your domain name will be sent, for instance mail.example.com. You cannot use an IP address here.

CAA

CAA records determines which CAs (certificate authorities) that are allowed to issue certificates for your domain. If you know that you’re going to use certificates from several issuers, you may add more than one CAA record.

To create a new CAA record you have to fill out the following:

• Name: The domain name you want to create a record for. In this case exempel.se but it can also be a sub domain for example test.example.se.
• TTL: You can use 7200 here if you don’t know you need something else.
• Type: CAA.
• Issuer Critical Flag: Set it to 1 (if you do not have a specific reason to set it to 0).
• Tag:
  • Issue: This tag tells the issuer that they are allowed to issue certificates for the domain, as long as it isn’t a wildcard certificate.
  • Issuewild: This tag tells the issuer that they are allowed to issue wildcard certificates for the domain.
  • iodef (incident object description exchange format): This tag defines an email address which the issuer should use to inform you about prohibited attempts to issue certificates.
• Value: Here you enter a domain understandable by the certificate issuer. If you use our AutoSSL features, enter comodoca.com here. If you on the other hand use Let’s Encrypt, enter letsencrypt.org. If you use certificates from any other issuer, check with them what you should enter in your CAA record.