How to use the Advanced DNS Editor in cPanel.

A website has many resource records assigned to it. These are used to identify specific locations within the server for different services. For example, when you log into your mail, you can use the URL webmail.yourdomainname.com. The server looks for the DNS record associated with webmail.yourdomainname.com and knows to send you to the Webmail login area. Other records are for use with mail clients or databases. Others can be used for dividing your website into different areas or used to help validate emails or prevent spam.

 

DNS records come in a variety of different types. The Basic DNS Editor only allows you to create two types, A and CNAME. You also cannot override or edit any existing records that were generated upon account creation. The Advanced DNS Editor allows you to create A, CNAME, and TXT. It also allows you to override any default records, or those that were generated upon account creation. Follow along below to learn how to access and create records using the Advanced DNS Editor.

 

Using the Advanced DNS Editor in cPanel

 

1. Log into your cPanel dashboard.
2. You will see several categories on the right hand panel of the screen. Scroll down to the Domains category and find the Advanced DNS Editor icon. Click that to enter the editor.
   
   
3. Select the domain you will be working with from the Select A Domain dropdown menu. In this example, we selected inmotiontesting.com
   
   
4. Go to the Add A Record section and fill out the fields for your desired record.
   
   

   Name	Name your record. Be sure that it ends with your domain name and a period. Ex: record.inmotiontesting.com.
   TTL	Time To Live. The record will exist on DNS servers around the world for this fixed amount of time. After it expires, they will need to recontact the server to reset the record. This is set in seconds, so 14400 is 4 hours, which is a good standard. Setting the TTL too low can have an adverse effect on the server.
   Type	Choose from the dropdown. There are A records, CNAMEs, and TXT records.
   Address	The server address that the record refers to. It can be set as an IP address, a domain name, or a subdomain. TXT records will be set as text set within quotes.

   
   
5. Once you have completed entering all information for your record, click on the Add Record button just under the data entry fields.
   
   Congratulations! You have just created a DNS record with the Advanced DNS Editor. If necessary, you may edit existing records. Find the record in the list at the bottom of the screen. The left hand side of each row has a Delete and Edit link for the respective record.