cPanel Zone Editor is the tool you use to add, edit, and delete the DNS records for a domain hosted on Ultra Web Hosting, as long as that domain points at our nameservers. This guide covers what Zone Editor actually controls, the one prerequisite check that saves most support tickets, and the exact steps for the record types you will reach for most: A, CNAME, MX, and TXT.
- What Zone Editor Is and When You Use It
- Prerequisite: Confirm the Domain Is on Our Nameservers
- Opening Zone Editor and the Two Views
- Adding an A Record
- Adding a CNAME Record
- Adding an MX Record
- Adding a TXT Record
- Editing and Deleting Records Safely
- TTL and Why Changes Are Not Instant
- Common Mistakes and When to Open a Ticket
Edit the Zone, Then Verify It Live
Zone Editor writes directly to the DNS zone for a domain on your account. Add or change a record, save it, then confirm it resolved with our DNS Lookup tool. Everything else is knowing which record type does what and getting the trailing dots right.
- Open cPanel > Zone Editor and click Manage for the domain
- Use + Add Record for A, CNAME, MX, and TXT records
- Never touch the SOA or NS records at the top of the zone
- Verify every change with our DNS Lookup tool before you trust it
Zone Editor Only Works If the Domain Uses Our Nameservers
This is the single biggest source of confusion. Zone Editor edits the copy of the zone that lives on our servers. If your domain's nameservers point somewhere else, the whole internet reads that other zone and your Zone Editor changes do nothing. Section 02 shows the 30-second check.
- On our nameservers (ns1/ns2/ns3.ultranameservers.com): use Zone Editor
- On Cloudflare or another provider: edit DNS there instead
- Not sure: run the domain through our DNS Lookup tool and read the NS records
01. What Zone Editor Is and When You Use It
Every domain has a DNS zone: the set of records that tell the internet where to send web traffic, email, and everything else for that name. cPanel Zone Editor is the interface for editing that zone when it is hosted on our servers. You reach for it whenever you need to point a subdomain at an IP, add a mail provider's records, publish a domain-verification string, or repoint the site to a new server.
Zone Editor manages the records for any domain, subdomain, or addon domain on your cPanel account, provided that domain answers to ns1.ultranameservers.com, ns2.ultranameservers.com, and ns3.ultranameservers.com. It exposes the record types you need day to day: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, and SRV. For the full definition of what each record type does and its exact syntax, see our reference article A Guide to DNS Record Types.
Zone Editor changes the zone on our nameservers only. It does not change your domain's registration or its nameserver delegation. That delegation is set at your registrar, and it is what decides whether the world reads this zone at all.
02. Prerequisite: Confirm the Domain Is on Our Nameservers
Before you edit a single record, confirm the domain actually uses our nameservers. If it does not, you are about to edit a zone nobody reads.
- Open our DNS Lookup tool and look up your domain's NS records.
- If they read
ns1.ultranameservers.com,ns2.ultranameservers.com, andns3.ultranameservers.com, your DNS lives here. Use Zone Editor, as described in the rest of this guide. - If they read Cloudflare (names ending in
ns.cloudflare.com) or another provider, your DNS is controlled there. Add or edit your records in that provider's dashboard instead. For the Cloudflare path, see article #295.
If your domain's nameservers point at Cloudflare or any other host, changes you make in cPanel Zone Editor have zero effect on live DNS. The record saves fine, cPanel shows it, and the internet keeps reading the other provider's zone. Every DNS ticket that starts with "I changed it and nothing happened" is almost always this. Confirm the NS records first, every time.
Edit in Zone Editor
The zone on our servers is authoritative. Your changes go live from here.
- NS records show ultranameservers.com
- Add and edit records in cPanel
- Verify with our DNS Lookup tool
Edit at That Provider
Their zone is authoritative. cPanel Zone Editor is ignored entirely.
- NS records show another host
- Make changes in that dashboard
- See article #295 for Cloudflare
03. Opening Zone Editor and the Two Views
Log in to cPanel and find Zone Editor under the Domains section. You will see every domain and subdomain on the account listed, each with a set of controls.
cPanel gives you two ways to work with a zone from that list:
- The quick add buttons. Next to each domain are shortcut buttons such as + A Record, + CNAME Record, and + MX Record. These pop a small form for that one record type. Handy when you know exactly what you want to add.
- The Manage view. Click Manage next to the domain to open the full table of every record in the zone. From here you can filter by type, add any record with + Add Record, and edit or delete existing rows. This is the view to use when you need to change or remove something rather than just add.
When in doubt, use Manage. Seeing the whole zone at once means you notice the old A record or duplicate MX you were about to leave behind. The quick buttons are fine for a clean add, but the full table prevents most of the mistakes in Section 10.
04. Adding an A Record
An A record maps a name to an IPv4 address. It is what points yourdomain.com or a subdomain like app.yourdomain.com at a specific server. If you are moving a subdomain to a different host, this is the record you change.
- In Manage for the domain, click + Add Record and choose type A.
- Name: the host you are pointing. For the root, use
yourdomain.com.(with the trailing dot). For a subdomain, useapp.yourdomain.com. - TTL:
14400is a fine default. Lower it to300first if you know a change is coming soon (see Section 09). - Record (the address): the IPv4 address, for example
192.0.2.10. - Click Save Record.
Worked example: to point store.yourdomain.com at a server on 203.0.113.45, add an A record with Name store.yourdomain.com., TTL 14400, and Record 203.0.113.45. Save, then confirm with the DNS Lookup tool.
An IPv6 address uses an AAAA record instead of A, with the same fields. If your server has both an IPv4 and an IPv6 address and you want the name reachable over both, add one A and one AAAA record for the same Name.
05. Adding a CNAME Record
A CNAME (canonical name) points one name at another name rather than at an IP. You use it to alias a subdomain onto a hostname a provider gives you, for example pointing shop.yourdomain.com at a hosted store platform, or www.yourdomain.com at the root of your site.
- In Manage, click + Add Record and choose type CNAME.
- Name: the alias, for example
www.yourdomain.com. - TTL:
14400. - Record (the target): the hostname it should resolve to, with a trailing dot, for example
yourdomain.com.orshops.provider.com. - Click Save Record.
Do not create a CNAME for the bare root domain (yourdomain.com. with nothing in front). The DNS standard forbids a CNAME coexisting with the SOA, NS, and MX records that must live at the zone root, and it breaks mail delivery. For the root domain use an A record instead. CNAMEs are for subdomains only. Article #131 covers the parked and pointed-domain cases where people most often hit this.
06. Adding an MX Record
An MX (mail exchanger) record tells the internet which server accepts email for your domain. You add or change MX records when you move mail to an external provider such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Full walkthrough for the Microsoft side is in How to Set Up Microsoft 365 Email.
- In Manage, click + Add Record and choose type MX.
- Name: the domain the mail is for, usually the zone root,
yourdomain.com. - Priority: a number where lower is preferred. A single mail host uses
0or10. If a provider gives you two, the lower number is tried first. - Destination: the mail host's hostname with a trailing dot, for example
yourdomain-com.mail.protection.outlook.com. - TTL:
14400. Click Save Record.
A hostname ending in a dot is a fully qualified name and is used exactly as written. Without the trailing dot, some resolvers append your domain and turn mail.provider.com into mail.provider.com.yourdomain.com, which does not exist and bounces every message. When a provider hands you a mail host, enter it as a fully qualified name with the dot. For the mechanics of MX priorities and switching mail hosts, see article #101.
07. Adding a TXT Record
A TXT record holds free-form text used for verification and email authentication: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and the ownership strings that services ask you to publish. It is one of the most-used record types in Zone Editor.
- In Manage, click + Add Record and choose type TXT.
- Name: usually the zone root for SPF and verification (
yourdomain.com.), or a specific host for DKIM and DMARC (for example_dmarc.yourdomain.com.). - TTL:
14400. - Record: the exact string the service gave you, for example an SPF value:
v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -allPaste the TXT value exactly as provided, with no extra quotes of your own; Zone Editor adds the wrapping quotes for you. A domain may have only one SPF record (a TXT beginning with v=spf1). If one already exists, edit it to merge the new provider's include rather than adding a second, or mail authentication breaks. Very long DKIM keys are split into multiple quoted strings automatically. See A Guide to DNS Record Types for the TXT quoting rules and length limits.
08. Editing and Deleting Records Safely
Changing an existing record is the same tool, from the Manage table.
- Open Manage for the domain and use the Filter or type dropdown to narrow the list to the record you want.
- Find the exact row. Match the Name and current value carefully, especially if there are several records of the same type.
- Click Edit to change a field, or Delete to remove the record. Confirm when prompted.
- Save, then verify the result with our DNS Lookup tool.
Every zone opens with an SOA record and a set of NS records. These define the zone itself and delegate it to our nameservers. Do not edit or delete them. Removing the NS records can break the entire domain, and there is almost never a reason to touch the SOA by hand. If you think one of these needs changing, open a ticket instead.
09. TTL and Why Changes Are Not Instant
TTL (time to live) is how many seconds resolvers around the world are allowed to cache a record before checking again. A record with a TTL of 14400 can be held in caches for up to four hours, which is why an edit does not always show up the moment you save it. The record on our nameservers updates immediately; the delay is other people's caches expiring.
If you know you will repoint an A or MX record soon, lower its TTL to 300 (five minutes) a day ahead. Once the old high TTL has aged out of caches everywhere, your actual change propagates in minutes instead of hours. Raise it back to 14400 after the dust settles. For the full picture on caching and propagation, see article #130.
Verify propagation with our DNS Lookup tool rather than trusting your browser, which does its own caching and can show stale results long after DNS itself has updated.
10. Common Mistakes and When to Open a Ticket
The failures we see most often in Zone Editor, and how to avoid them:
- Editing the wrong zone. The domain's nameservers point at Cloudflare or another host, so cPanel changes do nothing. Check NS records first (Section 02).
- Two SPF records. A domain may have only one TXT starting with
v=spf1. Merge the includes into a single record. - CNAME at the apex. Not allowed for the root domain. Use an A record there instead (Section 05).
- Forgetting the trailing dot. On MX and CNAME targets this silently redirects the record to a name that does not exist (Section 06).
- Leaving an old record behind. Adding a new A or MX without deleting the old one leaves two records fighting. Remove the record you are replacing.
After any edit, look the record up with our DNS Lookup tool. Confirming what actually resolved catches typos and wrong-zone edits before they turn into a day of downtime. If a new SSL certificate is what you are working toward, note that AutoSSL depends on the A record resolving to us; our AutoSSL Not Issuing guide covers that case.
Open a support ticket when you need a record type Zone Editor does not expose, or a change to the SOA or NS records, or a PTR (reverse DNS) record. PTR is not set in Zone Editor at all; it lives on the IP's controlling network, so send us the request and we will handle it.
Not Sure Which Record to Change?
Send us what you are trying to accomplish and the values the provider gave you, and we will publish the records for you and confirm they resolve. We manage DNS for shared, VPS, and dedicated plans on our nameservers.
Open a Support TicketQuick Recap
The short version of managing DNS in Zone Editor:
- Confirm the nameservers first. Zone Editor only controls DNS if the domain uses ns1/ns2/ns3.ultranameservers.com. Check with our DNS Lookup tool.
- Open Manage for the domain to see the whole zone, then use + Add Record for A, CNAME, MX, and TXT.
- Mind the rules per type: A for IPs, CNAME for subdomains only (never the apex), MX with a priority and a trailing-dot host, one SPF TXT per domain.
- Never touch the SOA or NS records, and delete the old record when you replace an A or MX.
- Lower the TTL before a planned change so it propagates fast, and remember changes are not instant.
- Verify every change with our DNS Lookup tool, and open a ticket for PTR or any record type Zone Editor does not expose.
Last updated July 2026 · Browse all DNS articles
