WHM Archives · Thesis Hosting

Creating Addon Domain for Site Hosted Elsewhere in cPanel

Trying to set up a site as an addon domain before moving it from another hosting account? You may get mooned by cPanel in such cases. Here is there error you see and (more importantly) how to fix it.

When you try to set up the addon, you get this message:

There was a problem creating the addondomain. Show Details

Error from park wrapper: Using nameservers with the following IPs: xx.xxx.xxx.xxx,xx.xxx.xxx.xxx Sorry, the domain is already pointed to an IP address that does not appear to use DNS servers associated with this server. Please transfer the domain to this servers nameservers or have your administrator add one of its nameservers to /etc/ips.remotedns and make the proper A entries on that remote nameserver.

In order to eliminate this error, go into WHM. In Server Configuration, under Tweak Settings option, check this box:

Allow Creation of Parked/Addon Domains that resolve to other servers (i.e. domain transfers) [This can be a major security problem. If you must have it enabled, be sure to not allow users to park common internet domains.]

Once you’ve created the addon domain, you can untick this box again. It’s more secure to leave it unchecked, of course, but many times you’ll want to get the new site up and running before you change over DNS, huh? At least, if you’re smart, you do.
photo credit: bwright923

SPF Records for Google Apps Email

If you’re using Google Apps for email–and it’s a solid choice with lots of storage space, spam management tools and integration with other free services–after creating the appropriate DNS records to route your email, you’ll want to add an SPF Record. This ensures better email delivery and prevents vile spammers from forging their spam as having come from you!

Some domain registrars give you adequate tools to add an SPF record directly, but if not, it’s simple enough to add it directly in WHM. ((Thanks to this helpful article on Tech Talk Point.))

You’re using the “Edit Zone” command; select the zone for the domain in question, and add a new text record.

Google Apps Mail SPF

Use domain.com. (keeping period at the end intact) as the entry, and the code below for the text part of the record (keeping quotes intact).

"v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all"

See? That didn’t hurt much.

cPanel /WHM Server Default Parking Page

To set up a default parking page for cPanel/WHM server, you need to place your default files in the proper place.

Check /usr/local/apache/htdocs for when a domain resolves to your server but does not actually exist in the Apache configuration file. If you just need a park page set up you can place it in that directory and name it index.php, index.html, etc.

As always, your configuration may vary.