1. cPanel & WHM Documentation
  2. cPanel
  3. Domains
  4. Create a New Domain
domains cpanelui

Create a New Domain

Valid for versions 110 through the latest version

Version:

110

Last modified: December 10, 2024

Looking for this interface?
Note:

Your hosting provider can enable or disable this interface in WHM's Feature Manager interface (WHM >> Home >> Packages >> Feature Manager).

Overview

In order for you to create a new domain, your hosting provider must enable at least one of the following features in WHM’s Feature Manager interface (WHM » Home » Packages » Feature Manager):

Domain Description
Addon Domains An additional domain name that a cPanel account owns. The system stores each addon domain in its own configurable directory.
Aliases A second domain that points to a Main Domain. For example, both http://www.cpanel.net/ and http://www.cpanel.com/ point to the same website, because cpanel.com is a domain alias for cpanel.net. This makes your website available from another domain name.
Subdomains A subsection of a website that exists as a subdirectory in the website owner’s home folder. For example, for the example.com domain, the subdomain URL could appear as subdomain.example.com.
Remember:

To create your domain’s DNS records, use cPanel’s Zone Editor interface (cPanel » Home » Domains » Zone Editor). Contact your hosting provider to create or update any records that you cannot create or update in this interface.

You cannot register a domain in cPanel, or update or renew a domain’s registration. To find out how to register a domain, or update or renew a domain’s registration, contact your hosting provider or read our How to Identify Your Registrar documentation.

Create a New Domain

To create a domain, perform the following steps:

  1. Click Create a New Domain. A new interface will appear.
  2. Enter a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) in the Domain text box.
    • To create a new domain, enter the new domain name. For example, example.com.
    • To create a subdomain, enter a new name followed by a period (.) and then the website’s domain. For example, enter subdomain.example.com to create a subdomain of example.com.
  3. Optionally, you can specify the directory where you want to store the domain’s files (the domain’s document root). To create this directory, deselect the Share document root with “example.com” checkbox, where example.com represents your Main Domain. You cannot create a document root outside of the public_html/ directory. This will create an addon domain. You cannot use the following directories for your domain’s files:
    • The account’s home directory itself (/)
    • Directories outside of the account’s home directory (./ and ../)
    • .cpanel
    • .trash
    • etc
    • mail
    • ssl
    • tmp
    • logs
    • .cphorde
    • .spamassassin
    • .htpasswds
    • var
    • cgi-bin
    • .ssh
    • perl5
    Note:
    • This setting only appears if your hosting provider enables it.
    • The interface automatically populates the remaining text boxes, and we recommend that you use these values. However, you can enter different values in the Document Root (File System Location) and Subdomain text boxes if you want.
  4. Click Submit or click Submit and Create Another.
Note:

Visitors cannot view your subdomain immediately. Changes to DNS records may require two days or more to reach each nameserver on the internet.

Certificates

When you create a domain or subdomain, the system will attempt to secure that domain with an existing certificate.

  • If no certificate exists, the system will generate a self-signed certificate to secure the new domain.
  • If your hosting provider enables AutoSSL for the account that owns the new domain, the system will add a request for an AutoSSL certificate to secure the new domain and install it when it becomes available.