Manage DNS records with the Zone Editor (A, CNAME, MX, TXT)

DNS records tell the internet where to find your website, where to deliver your email, and prove to services like Google or Microsoft that you own your domain. If your domain uses our nameservers, you can add and change these records yourself in cPanel's Zone Editor.

Before you start

• Your domain must be using our nameservers for changes in cPanel to take effect. If it uses Cloudflare or another DNS provider, make the change there instead. Not sure? See Where is my DNS managed?
• Have the record details ready, copied exactly from whoever asked you to add it.

Open the Zone Editor

1. Log in to cPanel from your service page under Services → My Services (https://www.hooplahosting.co.nz/client/clientarea.php?action=services).
2. Open Zone Editor (type it in the cPanel search bar).
3. Click Manage next to the domain you want to change. You'll see all of its current records.

The record types you'll use most

• A record: points a name to an IPv4 address. Used for your website, for example pointing shop.yourdomain.co.nz to another server.
• CNAME record: points a name to another name, for example www to yourdomain.co.nz, or a subdomain to a service like Shopify.
• MX record: tells other mail servers where to deliver email for your domain.
• TXT record: holds text. Used for domain verification (Google, Microsoft 365, Facebook) and email security records such as SPF, DKIM and DMARC.

Add an A, CNAME or TXT record

1. On the domain's Manage page, click the arrow next to + Add Record and choose the record type, or click + Add Record and pick the type from the Type drop-down.
2. In Name, enter the part before your domain, for example www, shop or _dmarc, and press Tab. cPanel adds your domain to the end automatically. For the domain itself (sometimes shown as @ by other services), enter your full domain name, such as yourdomain.co.nz.
3. Leave TTL as it is unless you've been told otherwise.
4. In Record, enter the value:
   • A record: the IP address, for example 203.0.113.10
   • CNAME record: the destination name, for example shops.myshopify.com
   • TXT record: the full text, for example google-site-verification=abc123.... Paste it without extra quote marks.
5. Click Save Record.

Add or change MX records (email)

1. On the domain's Manage page, choose + Add Record → Add "MX" Record.
2. Enter your domain name in Name, the Priority (a lower number is tried first) and the mail server in Destination.
3. Click Save Record, then delete any old MX records you no longer want using Delete on their row.
4. If your email is moving to another provider such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, open Email Routing in cPanel and set it to Remote Mail Exchanger. Otherwise mail sent from your website or other accounts on our servers will still be delivered locally and never reach the new provider. If you move email back to us, set it to Local Mail Exchanger.

Changing MX records moves where new email is delivered, so only change them when you're ready to switch.

Edit or delete a record

Find the record in the list (use the Search box or the type filters at the top), then click Edit to change it or Delete to remove it.

Leave the NS and SOA records alone. Changing them can take your website and email offline. If you need to use another provider's nameservers, change them at your domain registrar instead.

How long do changes take?

Changes are saved on our servers straight away. Because DNS is cached around the internet, it can take up to the record's TTL (usually a few hours) for everyone to see the new value. Most changes are visible within an hour. If you're about to move a website, you can lower the TTL to 300 a day beforehand so the switch happens faster.

Troubleshooting

• "Name already exists" or a CNAME conflict: a CNAME can't share a name with any other record. Delete or edit the existing record with that name first.
• Verification still fails: check you added the record to the right domain, that the value is exact with no extra spaces, and allow some time before clicking Verify again.
• Your change doesn't seem to work at all: your domain probably isn't using our nameservers. See Which nameservers do I use?
• Setting up SPF, DKIM or DMARC: see Emails going to spam: set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC.

Need help?

If you'd rather we add the record for you, open a support ticket with the record type, name and value copied exactly, and we'll take care of it.