LESSON#25: Changing Name Servers & Getting to Know Cpanel

By | October 4, 2008

A couple lessons ago, we went through the process of registering a domain name. Then in the previous lesson, we signed up for web hosting.

Now its time to put those things together, to make sure our domain is pointing to our web hosting, and then begin to familiarize ourselves with the web hosting control panel…

(Watch this video…)

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Main points:

  • I recommend registering your domain with a domain registrar other than your web hosting company.

  • DNS = Domain Name System (on the video I said Domain Name Server, which is also a commonly held definition for the acronym)

  • Your name servers should be listed in the welcome email from your web host.

  • Log into your domain account, and change the DNS to your assigned name servers

  • (Video shows how to set up an account using WHM – the administrative side of Cpanel, which is included with Hostgator reseller accounts)

  • After you change the DNS in your domain account, it can take anywhere from a few minutes up to a couple days for it to propagate throughout the web.

  • To log into the cpanel for your account, you would go to:

    http://yourdomain.com/cpanel or http://yourdomain.com:2082
    or https://yourdomain.com:2083 (secure)

    If your domain’s DNS hasn’t resolved to your hosting account yet, you can access your control panel using the server’s IP address in place of the domain.

    Action step:

    1) Set your domain’s DNS to point to your hosting account

    2) Look around in your Cpanel control panel, and familiarize yourself with it

    In the next lesson, I’ll show you how to set up email account(s) on your own domain.

    As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below 🙂

    Have a great day!

  • 207 thoughts on “LESSON#25: Changing Name Servers & Getting to Know Cpanel

    1. Terence A Bryan

      Hello Eric
      For some reason I am only getting your lessons in a irregular way e.g. I got 1 thru 5 then it went to 15/18 now 25.
      I just noticed that you have the archives listed. Typical me missing the obvious. I have hosting with Hostgator and agree with you that they seem to be the best around. However I do have a couple of points that I thought that you could help me with.
      I have purchased a multi media auto responder, due to ‘the special offer’ it only cost me $5.00 instead of $97. Hostgator want $40.00 to install the script but advise me that that does not include the actual insertion of the forms onto the site. Do you have any tips? I am pretty new to this , so a lot goes over my head. I have found your tips (the ones that I actually) received to be clear, concise and honest. I have made the mistake of paying for so called tuition videos only to be left in the dark when I have questions. Some replies (again if I even got one) were abusive to the extreme. I have been in import/export for more than 20 years and can still go back to the first companies that I dealt with because I always traded fairly. The internet seems to have dragged up too many conmen who seem to use the anonimity of the web to scam people. I look forward to your reply and the complete set of lessons.
      I wish you well
      regards
      Terence

      Reply
    2. Dan

      Great lessons, no doubt, seriously.
      But things in this arena develop much faster, than anyone can follow. Great things today are from stone age tomorrow. Just to STAY up to date takes me more than 8 hours each day.
      Now this Russell Brunson guy comes out with something the whole internet marketing industry has never seen before. No, my affiliate link not here.
      Can you ignore it? No, if you do, you are out, competing with toothpicks against swords.
      Can you follow up? No, if you do, you are distracted from being productive with your projects.
      Russell’s 100.000.000 thingie is pretty scaring and impressing as well.
      But where are we going here?
      Not long ago, you had to provide an excellent service to sell a product.
      Then you had to give away a little bonus in order to sell something.
      Then you had to give away at least 10 bonuses to beat your competition.
      Last launches provided some $10.000 bonuses for a some $100 product or membership.
      Mike, Frank, Eben, Joel, Ken, and all the other greedy wolfs in sheep’s clothing declared war to the little guy internet marketer, pretending to help, they suck their blood.
      These days now you have to give away something for free in advance to sell anything at all, on the backend, ok.
      But I think Russell is doing something very dangerous now, in order to dominate the market.
      What do you think, Eric, are here parallels to the general US economy problems? Hugh bubbles determined to burst?
      For my part, I don’t like the idea, to give away a car for free, I have to pay for in 2 years or so, if at all, only to sell 4 tires now.
      Eric, you are one of the very few I will listen to in this arena. I opted out of dozens of guru lists and will stay on very few, only to read it and delete it.

      Reply
    3. charles

      Hi Eric,

      Good Stuff. kind of was missing you during your holiday.
      warm regds
      charles.

      Reply
    4. Michaela

      Hi!
      I agree with Tom, you are an excellent teacher, your explanations are easy to follow and you help us to build confidence in our knowledge.
      Two years ago when I signed on with hostgator, I was scared looking at cPanel and hadn’t the foggiest idea what to do with it. Now I have no problem to use cPanel, I love it, but took some time to get to this level. I wish to have those lessons 2 years ago.

      Anyway, the greatest help for me was:
      1) The hostgator support what answered all my beginner questions. Eric, I have to congratulate you for your support, any question had been answered in very short period of time: minutes or 1-2 hours and also
      2) I bought a book called: “cPanel User Guide and Tutorial” by Aric Pedersen, look at Barnes & Noble for it: http://www.bn.com

      With those 2 sources you can handle cPanel. I share this because when we deal with servers/hosting, we are better off if we don’t do mistakes, “trial and error” is not a good option for this specific task.
      Thanks again
      Michaela

      Reply
    5. proson

      Eric good clear concise point. and thanks for you tips. Terence, I think you are talking about the web form, which collect leads from your web site. That’s pretty easy to do. Basically you just have to insert the HTML web form code on to the location you want on your squeeze page and that’s it!

      It’s hard to explain in words here, but I can have a look for you if you like since I had about 3 years of working experience in computer system engineering. so this stuff isn’t hard for me.

      my email address can be seen after you clicking the link below:

      http://tinymail.me/k8a2zi

      Proson Cheng
      Want to Win a Brand New Corvertte and Make $1 per Free sign Up? click the link below now and find out how!

      http://www.prosoncheng.com/contest.html

      Reply
    6. Mary E. Griswold

      Hey Eric if you take many more vacations I may not live long enough to complete the course. The real problem is that I installed the latest version of camtasia but cannot go further. How do I get past that page? I am eager to learn but the away time is sufficient to forget everything. God bless yoy.
      Mary

      Reply
    7. Luca - Reach Success Online

      Hi Eric,
      This is an area that has always given me a bit of anxiety. I’m currently with Netfirms and although it’s been fine they do not have a CPpanel. They have their own admin type page. I’d like to move it over to Hostgator but was a little concerned on how to do it. This lesson helps. The next thing to learn is how to move the actual web site/blog
      Thanks again

      Reply
    8. Benjamin Brentlinger

      hello Terence,

      The reason you want to purchase your domain names and hosting with two different companies is because if you want to change hosting plans, and you have your domain name with the same company as the hosting company, it’ll be alot harder to make those changes than if you have the hosting and domain names with two different companies. The reason for this is because if you have your domain names and hosting with the same company, you’ll probably have to contact the hosting company/domainer to put the domain in your complete control, whereas if you have them with two different companies like Eric suggests, all you have to do to change hosting plans is to change the dns servers over to your new hosting company/plan. I’d suggest watching the video to see how to do it. Also, if you want help installing a script, go to http://www.rentacoder.com and you will probably get alot of offers under $40 to install it, you may have to pay extra for the forms, but $40 would be on the high side for a project like that on rentacoder, even with the forms

      Reply
    9. Halina

      He Eric,

      Thanks for another great lesson.
      Each your lesson helps me to go further in achieving of my goals.
      I am very gratefuller to you.

      Reply
    10. Neal

      Eric,

      I had decided on Hostgator before your lesson on hosting and have a simple domain account, not reseller account. You can host as many domains as you want so I thought that would work OK. I have added one domain to the original so far and it works great. I also paid fo rmy domains before your lesson on buying the in seperate places so I got my domains from hostgator (at a premium I see).

      Anyway, assuming I get my next domain from your site, then cahnge the DNS servers to hostgator, will it work if I just have an add on domain using Cpanel to set it up? It appears so but if there are additional steps, let me know. thanks

      BTW keep up the good work. I just need to be more patient, it will prbably save me some money. 😉

      Reply
    11. WhoWantsLeads

      Great tips Eric! Is this ongoing to infinity? Or until we all have fat bank accounts? At what point do you just decide to outsource?

      Reply
    12. Eric Post author

      I feel more comfortable registering my domains seperately from my hosting, because I know I have control over them and my web host does not. This ensures that I will not be hassled if I ever decide to move to a new host. Of course that’s a generaization (I’m not saying your web host will necessarily hassle you if you try to move). Also, many web hosts charge more for domain registration than the domain registration I use.

      Reply
    13. Eric Post author

      Terrence- I agree with Benjamin… you can get it installed for cheaper than $40 if you go to rentacoder (my affiliate link is: http://www.rentalcoders.com )

      If you are only receiving some of the lessons via email, I suspect that some of them are ending up in your spam folder/filter. Or perhaps being filtered before they even get to your inbox, depending on the settings of your email account. I would suggest adding my email address to your safe list/white list if you have one.

      I’m not familiar with multi-media autoresponders. If it’s an email autoresponder, I would excercise caution regarding running it on your own domain. Email scripts on your site can open you up to potential abusers, and also your deliverability will not be as high as it would be with a well managed company such as the one I use: Aweber

      Reply
    14. Eric Post author

      Hi Dan, I am aware of Russell’s promotion, as I was invited as a partner.

      I think it’s an interesting promo, and I do know that Russell has helped a lot of people start and/or improve their online businesses.

      I would take more time to review it and write about it, if I had time.

      For anyone who is interested in joining in and playing this affiliate marketing game, I think it could be a fun way to learn. Here’s my aff link if anyone’s interested:

      http://thesecondtier.com/t/14/toplevel/L2Vob2xtbHVuZCA=

      However, I would not be worried or intimidated by it in any way Dan. Yes Russell is doing something different, but no I would not say he is going to change the industry because of it.

      I think this business will see changes, as the rest of our economy sees changes, but there will ALWAYS be people looking for ways to make money… so it’s also somewhat resistant to the recession.

      Reply
    15. Eric Post author

      What is it that you are trying to do? Record a camtasia screen capture video?

      Reply
    16. Eric Post author

      Hostgator actually offers to move your site for you if you’re a new customer 🙂

      Reply
    17. Eric Post author

      That is correct. You would use the same Name Servers, and add it as an add-on domain.

      Reply
    18. Eric Post author

      I’ll be continuing the lessons until I’ve gotten through what I consider to be a complete step by step program for getting an info-product business up and running. I was initially planning on 120 lessons, but now I am aiming for 100 lessons by consolidating some of the topics.

      Reply
    19. mel

      Hi Eric,
      It’s really good to have a teacher like you. I enjoyed all the lessons and I am reviewing them for real application. Thank You ve…….ry much!

      Mel

      Reply
    20. Michaela

      Dan
      You are 100% right, I already commented about the little person being left outside the door be gurus potential, look at stumper. I don’t know about Russell yet, I know that sometime he has brilliant ideas, sometime he has not, but he is amazingly inventive, persistent and determined to make the think happened his way.
      I’ll look it over anyway…
      Michaela

      Reply
    21. Mary E. Griswold

      I really don’t know what I did. However, I did everything this stupid computer told me to do, even restarted it. It still comes up camtasia. Unless you can fix this our sessions are finished. I just don’t have time to fool around. It is unfortunate that we have just begun the parts I needed most. Eric I do believe you can help me but try to do it with the existing equipment. God bless you.
      Mary

      Reply
    22. Colin Noden

      Hi Eric,
      I used your http://getgator.com/ link to upgrade my hostgator account. I hope it works and you can get a bit out of it. Also, I would suggest that people copy/paste the info when filling the forms. I had hours of grief because of a twitchy thumb and an added space. (should have had the reading glasses on!)
      Colin

      Reply
    23. Pete Moring

      Hi Eric, at present I have six websites hosted with Yahoo. I’m now realising I’ve chosen a rather expensive method. In your experience, do you know of any difficulties transferring domains from Yahoo. They do seem rather clumbersome with their support so I’m a bit loath to do it. But would like to if there were no problems ie; Are the files transferable? I know that Yahoo has it’s own webpage building system which I use, and I seem to remember stumbling accross a problem with other webhosts not recognising their scripts.

      Sorry if this is long winded, but it will help me get a better grip on the next lesson.

      Many thanks,

      pete.

      Reply
    24. lindley

      Hi Eric
      have a litle problem maby you can help me,
      I have receve all your mail,s from lesson 1 to lesson 25.but i can not run lesson 22 and 25 can you tell me what can be the problem Thanks

      Reply
    25. Eric Post author

      It should not be too much of a problem to move them. As far as the files being transferable… the easiest thing would be if you have a copy of your site on your computer, then you can simply upload it to the new host. However, you might want to try chatting with Hostgator’s support, as they do advertise free moving of your sites, and they may be familiar with Yahoo.

      It’s possible that Yahoo has built in some sort of proprietary scripting, but just about anything can be converted. If that’s the case, hopefully Hostgator can convert it for you. If they can’t, you might consider getting a cheap coder at Rent-a-coder to handle any conversion issues.

      Reply
    26. Eric Post author

      That is strange. You might consider visiting Adobe to make sure you have the latest plugin installed in your browser:

      http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer

      If you still have trouble streaming it, you may also wish to close all other programs on your computer to make sure you have enough virtual memory available.

      Another option would be to try a different browser (either IE or Firefox, depending on which one you don’t normally use)

      Reply
    27. Luca - Reach Success Online

      Thant’s a great service. I’ll look into it but first going back to my plan of action (one of your earlier lessons) I need to finish setting up my opt-in list and autoresponder.
      Thanks again

      Reply
    28. Shane Hale

      Eric, When you were starting out in Internet Marketing, what did you start out doing first making your own ebook product or affiliate marketing? Also, How long did it take you to really start making money.

      Reply
    29. Mary E. Griswold

      Eric, I tried again. It is a waste to attempt any more ways. I do have the flash 9 installed, but it still comes up the camtasia & wants me to do it again. I feel bad about this but I am giving up. I have spent too much time for nothing. Thanks Eric. The little I learned helped some. I already knew most. I am trying to get my website up this week. I need to talk with the folks at aweber first. God bless you.
      Mary

      Reply
    30. Eric Post author

      I did some other stuff first, like ebay and web hosting… but then I did affiliate marketing before I had my own products in this industry.

      However, I think that for most people, having their own product is superior to being an affiliate. That’s why I’m focusing more on info-product marketing than affiliate marketing in my lesson series. As I’ve said many times, there are many good ways to make money online, and one is not necessarily better than the other. But I am emphasizing having your own product(s) because I really want people to build a real business. When you own the product, the affiliates essentially work for you instead of the other way around.

      I started doing stuff online in 1999 and I think I went full time around 2004. When I was selling stuff on ebay, I started making money right away… but that wasn’t enough to live off of.

      So I guess it took about 5 years to start making “good” money.

      But honestly I didn’t really have any good teachers at the time. It was mostly trial and error. I think that by following the steps of experienced marketers like myself and others, you can shave years off of the learning curve.

      Reply
    31. Pete Moring

      Mary, Are you using the Firefox browser? If not, I find video’s always show there as opposed to my AOL browser which is useless.

      Pete.

      Reply
    32. Shane Hale

      Mary,
      Don’t give up I Launched my first product this week and made some money however, I had to figure out the Paypal button thing it is not forwarding over to my download page correctly. Researching that now. I am wanting to put together a Mastermind group. It seems that most gurus stick within a inner circle of affiliate promotion and most are in the same mastermind group helping each other promote their business and helping with traffic promotion and ad copy ideas. So Mary don’t give up! It takes some time! Rome was’nt built in a day week or month! Keep up the fight to accomplish your vision and goals!

      Eric, Thanks for the insight you are a true testimony of faith! Thanks Brother for the good work!!

      Reply
    33. Sonny Bernal

      Hi Eric,

      I really appriciate your lessons. I am learning some new things. For example, I just view lesson 25 and I am now convince I should get a reseller account. You had mentioned it before and it sounded like something that would benefit me.

      I already have 2 domains hosted with HostGator and I am wondering how I would move them when I get my reseller account with HostGator. My domain names are from GoDaddy.

      Again, thanks for the lessons. They are really helpful.

      Sonny

      Reply
    34. Mike

      Hey Eric
      I enjoy receiving your lessons. I’ve been online 2 weeks and my host has CPanel like the one you brought up in Lesson 25. I have Vista with the new Front Page which is called Publisher. Can pages from it be uploaded with file manager in cpanel or is it better to upload with something like the free version of smart ftp?
      By the way when I clicked on your link to free Cpanel tutorials I kept getting Address not found. I’m looking for a tutorial kind of book on Cpanel that gives you step by step “how to’s” with examples for every thing you can do with C panel. Do you know of such a book other than the one mentioned. I’d like to have one in ebook form. Maybe you could write one and sell it online. Anyway I appreciate that someone who is a success online can take the time and give a fledgling a chance to spread his wings a bit without the hype of promised success and buy today or fail tomorrow tactics.
      Mike

      Reply
    35. Claire

      Hi Terence,
      I paid a LOT more for the Media Autoresponder. I bought the re-branding rights as well. I sell them (for $37 – because of the enhanced scripting and way better install manual). I redid the script as it had a couple things in it I didn’t like – like the 40 character width emails!!! LOL
      I spent a month re-writing the install manual, because the one that came with the script was not very helpful. I have installed, TONS , of scripts, so it was easy for me, but I can see that someone who hasn’t done it before would have probelms – based on the manual you get when you buy it.
      I love it…….. it’s the best autoresponder I’ve ever used…… and I’ve tried a lot of them. I’ve installed it on 3 different domains.

      I installed it for free for those who host on my Resellers WHM at Kiosk Webhosting – The Growth Host. http://kiosk.clairepoulton.com

      I’m a professional web designer, and all my clients not only get scripts installed, but a complete 5 page php templated website, and a blog just for hosting with me. I’m kinda a softie, when it comes to new Internet Marketers, and probably do more than I should, but my clients are now my real friends.

      All the Best, To Health, Wealth & Success
      Claire

      Reply
    36. Claire

      Mary, What are you trying to do? Create videos with Camtasia Studio? or trying to watch the videos?

      I have a 7 yr old computer and 3rd. world software and videos play great for me. My mic is a piece of __it, but I keep trying new mics to try and get rid of the headset clicking.

      If you’re using AOL, that could create a HUGE problem, but I use FF, IE7 Pro and Google Chrome for browsers…… btw……. google chrome loads way faster than the other browsers, because each tab is like a separate browser…… I don’t know if that makes any sense, but all I know it only takes about 5 seconds for google chrome to load, whereas, I wait…… endlessly for FF and IE to load.

      All the Best, Health Wealth & Success,
      Claire

      Reply
    37. Sandra

      Hi Eric, Lifedomains.net will not accept my customer name and pass word I have received from them. “Authentication failed please try again” keep coming up. I have tried many times. Can you help me? What should I do? Do I have to have a web site? Sandra

      Reply
    38. Kimberly

      Hi Eric,

      Your Eric`s Tips lessons are incredibly helpful and inspirational to me as I prepare to change my online marketing strategy. However, are you stopping the lessons @ #25 and instead switching gears to focus on your Trading Pro venture?

      Thanks,
      Kimberly

      Reply

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