1. cPanel & WHM Documentation
  2. WHM
  3. Networking Setup
  4. Change Hostname
networking hostname whmui

Change Hostname

Valid for versions 108 through the latest version

Version:

108

Last modified: October 11, 2022

Overview

The internet uses your hostname as a label by which to identify your physical server. This interface allows you to change your server’s hostname.

Important:

  • Do not select a hostname that begins with www or a number, or a hostname that ends with a hyphen (-).

  • Choose a hostname that is 60 characters or fewer.

  • You must use a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) that uniquely identifies the server (for example, hostname.example.com or hostname.example.co.uk).

  • Do not choose a hostname that a cPanel account on your server will use.

  • Do not choose a potential service subdomain as a hostname (for example, cpanel.example.com or whm.example.com).

  • Do not select a socially-unacceptable hostname. The hostname will appear in mail headers.

  • Only use lowercase, Latin-script letters in hostnames.

Note:
If your server currently uses a subdomain of cprapid.com as a hostname, we encourage you to replace it with an existing domain or purchase a new domain to generate a hostname. Using your own domain name and hostname will help establish your organization’s brand. For more information, read our Automatically-Issued Hostnames documentation.

The system displays your current hostname under the Current Hostname heading.

How to change your hostname

Important:

If you update your hostname, the system temporarily blocks user access to the Calendars and Contacts (CalDAV and CardDAV) interface.

The system restores access to this interface after the hostname update finishes. For more information, read our Interface Lock Scripts documentation.

Note:

  • Whenever you change the server’s hostname, you must use one of the following methods to ensure that all of the necessary system and service changes occur:

    • Use WHM’s Change Hostname interface (WHM » Home » Networking Setup » Change Hostname).
    • Call WHM API 1’s sethostname function.
    • Run the set_hostname utility as the root user.

  • If your cPanel & WHM server uses a cloud-based hosting provider, read our Cloud-Hosted Hostname Solution documentation.

To change your hostname, perform the following steps:

  1. Enter the new hostname into the New Hostname text box.

    Remember:
    You must use a fully-qualified domain name as your new hostname. Your new hostname should also resolve to the server’s main IP address.

  2. Click Change. A popup window will appear that confirms the hostname change is in progress.

  3. After the system changes your hostname, scroll to the bottom of the interface and click Add An A Entry for your hostname. WHM’s Add an A Entry for Your Hostname interface (WHM » Home » DNS Functions » Add an A Entry for Your Hostname).

  4. Review the information about your server and, if it is correct, click Add Entry.

The system will automatically configure the new hostname and add the correct A entry.

Note:

  • When you change your hostname, the system changes it immediately. The system will also restart any services that require a restart to function (for example, mysqld which will change the log file naming format to the new hostname).

  • If you must change your hostname for non-cPanel configuration files or services, these services continue to function until you manually adjust them.

  • If you use External Authentication, you must update the Redirection URI settings in the configuration settings at the external authentication provider’s site to reflect the new hostname.

Additional Documentation