Service and Proxy Subdomains

Last modified: July 25, 2023

Overview

Service subdomains provide access to cPanel & WHM interfaces and services. When you create accounts or domains, the system also creates their service subdomains. You can access interfaces and services via the port or the service subdomain. The port has a faster server response time. However, the service subdomain allows access from behind a firewall restricting, for example, port 80 and port 443.

SSL virtualhost configurations use the cPanel service SSL certificate. For example, the cpanel, whm, webdisk, and webmail service subdomains use it. For steps to bypass this, read the Bypass using the cPanel service SSL certificate section below.
The system handles SSL and non-SSL connections separately.
Each service subdomain’s virtualhost binds to the server’s assigned IP addresses.

We have changed our SSL and service subdomain features several times in previous versions:

In cPanel & WHM version 11.42 and later, we updated Apache’s configuration to use service subdomains with SSL.
In cPanel & WHM version 62, Domain TLS enabled SNI by default for service subdomains’ SSL certificates.
In cPanel & WHM version 74, we renamed proxy subdomains as service subdomains.

Settings

You can enable service subdomains in the Domains section of WHM’s Tweak Settings interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Tweak Settings).

For cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, enable the Service subdomains setting and the Service subdomain creation setting.
For cPanel & WHM version 74 and earlier, enable the Proxy subdomains setting and the Proxy Subdomain Creation setting.

Note:

You must enable other settings for AutoConfig and Autodiscover. Additional settings let you change how service subdomains work.
You can use the /usr/local/cpanel/servicedomains script or the /usr/local/cpanel/proxydomains script to create DNS records for service subdomains.
If your server runs NGINX®, you cannot use the Safari® web browser to log in to a service subdomain. Use another browser, or log in with the service’s port URL.

Access interfaces

Users can access cPanel, WHM, and Webmail using these service subdomains:

Interface	Service subdomain	Secure port	Non-secure port
cPanel	`https://cpanel.example.com`	`https://example.com:2083`	`http://example.com:2082`
WHM	`https://whm.example.com` Note: SSL only secures the `whm` service subdomain for resellers.	`https://example.com:2087`	`http://example.com:2086`
Webmail	`https://webmail.example.com`	`https://example.com:2096`	`http://example.com:2095`

Access services

You can access cPanel & WHM services using these service subdomains:

Service	Service subdomain	Secure port	Non-secure port
AutoConfig	`https://autoconfig.example.com`	`https://example.com:443`	`http://example.com:443`
Autodiscover	`https://autodiscover.example.com`	`https://example.com:443`	`http://example.com:443`
CalDAV	`https://cpcalendars.example.com`	`https://example.com:2080`	`http://example.com:2079`
CardDAV	`https://cpcontacts.example.com`	`https://example.com:2080`	`http://example.com:2079`
Web Disk	`https://webdisk.example.com`	`https://example.com:2078`	`http://example.com:2077`

Important:

We strongly recommend that you only use secure ports to access services on your server. For more information about ports on your cPanel & WHM server, read our How to Configure Your Firewall for cPanel & WHM Services documentation.

Bypass using the cPanel service SSL certificate

Warning:

We do not recommend this action.

To prevent the use of the cPanel service SSL certificate for the cpanel, whm, webdisk, and webmail subdomains:

Disable the Service subdomains setting in the Domains section of WHM’s Tweak Settings interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Tweak Settings).
Use cPanel’s Domains interface (cPanel » Home » Domains » Domains) to create each service subdomain (for example, cpanel, whm, webdisk, and webmail).
Redirect each service’s subdomain to the correct secure URL and port:

Service	Subdomain	Redirection
cPanel	`cpanel.example.com`	`https://example.com:2083`
WHM	`whm.example.com`	`https://example.com:2087`
Web Disk	`webdisk.example.com`	`https://example.com:2078`
Webmail	`webmail.example.com`	`https://example.com:2096`

When you navigate to webmail.example.com, the server redirects you to https://example.com:2096. Then, it uses the example.com domain’s SSL certificate to secure the connection.