An A (Address) record is used to point a domain name to an IP address. In this Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), we’ll guide you through the process of setting up an A record for your domain name in cPanel.
- Log in to cPanel: Go to your web hosting provider’s cPanel login page, usually found at https://yourdomain.com/cpanel or https://yourdomain.com:2083. Log in using your cPanel username and password. If you don’t have this information, you may need to contact your hosting provider.
- Access the Zone Editor: Once logged in, locate the “Domains” section in the cPanel dashboard, and click on the “Zone Editor” icon.
- Choose the Domain: In the “Zone Editor” interface, you’ll see a list of domains associated with your cPanel account. Locate the domain name for which you want to create an A record, and click the “Manage” button next to it.
- Add a New Record: In the “Zone Management” interface, click the “+A Record” button to create a new A record.
- Create an A Record:
- In the “Name” field, enter the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) you want to create an A record for. To create an A record for the root domain (e.g., example.com), enter your domain name followed by a period (e.g., “example.com.”). To create an A record for a subdomain (e.g., “www” for www.example.com), enter the subdomain followed by the root domain and a period (e.g., “www.example.com.”).
- In the “Address” field, enter the IPv4 address to which you want your domain to point.
- Click the “Add an A Record” button to save the new record.
- Confirm the Changes: The new A record should now appear in the list of DNS records. It may take up to 48 hours for the changes to propagate across the internet, although it usually happens much faster.
- Test the A Record: Once the DNS propagation is complete, test the A record by visiting your domain in a web browser or using a tool like “ping” or “nslookup” to verify that the domain resolves to the correct IP address.
You have now successfully set up an A record in cPanel.