WebHost Manager (WHM) enables you to change a wide variety of DNS information at any time, including the records that point your domains at the right server and IP address. Because the DNS zone is what tells the rest of the internet where your site lives, a mistake here can take a domain offline until it is corrected, so edit with care.
WARNING: do not edit a DNS zone unless you know what you are doing. A single wrong value in an A or NS record can stop mail flowing or make a site unreachable. If you are unsure, note the current values before you change anything so you can put them back.
Editing a DNS zone in WebHost Manager
- To access the DNS Functions menu, click on DNS Functions on the main screen of your WebHost Manager interface.
- Click on Edit a DNS Zone.
- Enter the DNS zone that you want to edit in the Zone to Edit field and click on Do it.
- Change the nameservers to your private nameservers.
- Add new entries below the marked line (please check the on-screen images for how to do this).
- Alter the DNS fields as you require, and click on Save when you have finished.
What the records in a zone actually do
A DNS zone is a small text file of records, each with a name, a type, a time-to-live (TTL), and a value. The ones you will meet most often are:
- A record: points a hostname to an IPv4 address. This is where the dedicated IP for a site is set.
- AAAA record: the IPv6 equivalent of an A record.
- CNAME record: aliases one hostname to another (for example www to the root domain).
- MX record: tells other mail servers where to deliver email for the domain.
- NS record: names the authoritative nameservers for the zone. This is what step 4 above changes.
- TXT record: holds text such as SPF, DKIM and domain-verification values.
Changing nameservers to your own private nameservers
Step 4 points the zone at your private nameservers (for example ns1 and ns2 on your own domain) rather than the shared defaults. For operators running a network of sites, private nameservers on varied IPs are one more way to keep each property looking independent instead of sharing an obvious, repeated fingerprint. This is footprint control, not a ranking boost: a dedicated IP and private nameservers do not lift rankings on their own, but they help you avoid inheriting a bad neighbour's reputation and keep sites from being trivially linked together. If keeping properties genuinely separated is the goal, pairing this with a dedicated Class C IP plan does more of the work than DNS tweaks alone.
After you save
- Propagation takes time. Changes are not instant. Resolvers around the world cache records for the length of the TTL, so a change can take anywhere from a few minutes to 24 to 48 hours to be seen everywhere.
- Lower the TTL first if you plan a move. Reducing the TTL a day ahead of a planned change means the new value spreads faster once you save.
- Double-check the A and NS records. These are the two that most often cause a site or mail outage when set wrong.
If you would like the exact record types and terminology defined by the standards bodies, the IETF DNS terminology reference (RFC 9499) is the authoritative source. For more walkthroughs on records, nameservers and IP assignment, see our DNS and IP management guides, and if you get stuck our team is happy to help via contact us.
