There are two ways to edit DNS records, one at the cPanel level and one at the WHM level. Editing at the cPanel is useful if a student or faculty member wishes to use their domain name with a third-party service (GoDaddy, Squarespace, Wix, etc.), as it will often require them to edit their DNS to add an A record or CNAME Record.
Editing DNS Records in cPanel
Anyone with access to cPanel can easily edit DNS records to their account using the handy Zone Editor feature under the Domains section.
Note that the Simple Zone Editor & Advanced Zone Editors still work in cPanel but will be depreciated. Moving forward, we recommend familiarizing yourself with the Zone Editor.
In the next window, click Manage on the right-hand side.
If the third-party service provides an IP Address and instructs you to map an A record, click Manage next to the appropriate domain and then edit the existing A record. If you are mapping a subdomain you will find/edit a separate A record for the subdomain.
Click Edit next to the appropriate record, replace your server’s IP address with the IP address provided by the third-party service, and then click Save to make the changes. DNS changes can take up to 24-48 hours to propagate globally.
If the service you are mapping a domain to provides a CNAME the process is very similar. (Squarespace requires CNAME records, for instance.) So you’d go to Zone Editor>Manage and find the CNAME record for the domain, which will be prefixed with www. From there, edit the record to point to the domain name that the service provides to you. CNAME records always require either the domain be a subdomain or have the www. prefix.
More Info + Provider-Specific Instructions
Domain Mapping for Squarespace
Domain Mapping for Github
Domain Mapping for WordPress
Domain Redirect to Tumblr
Difference Between A Record & CNAME Record
Editing DNS Records in WHM
To edit your DNS records in WHM, start by logging into WHM and searching ‘DNS’ in the top, left-hand search bar. Click Edit DNS Zone. Search the domain that you’d like to make changes to and click enter.
On the following page, you’ll see the entire DNS zone for that domain. You can make changes to existing records or scroll down to add new entries. Once you’ve made changes, scroll down and click Save.
