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. Eric Post author

      That is not the normal routine for HG. Normally they just email the username and password when you sign up. In your case, I am assuming that there were certain indicators that caused their fraud department to request additional verification.

      As far as the guy who called you… I have no idea who that might have been. Don’t ever give your credit card # to anyone who calls you on the phone.

      Reply
    2. Groom Speech

      That sounds like a scam site made to look like Hostgator.

      I use HG and all payments, details etc are made via a secure payment module on their site.

      I suggest contacting your bank/card provider about this real quick!

      Reply
    3. Brenda

      Hi Eric,
      Do you have any suggestions on choosing a product with a website. Since im new at this. Not sure what direction to take. But would like some advice on a good product. I love your courses they are helpful to me.

      I just don’t know where to begin but willing to learn .

      thnx,again
      Brenda

      bamagirl0419

      Reply
    4. Jean L.

      Hi Eric,
      I’m trying to access my cpanel and just set my domain’s DNS to my webhost. I wanted to go straight to my cpanel (without waiting days), so I entered my sites ip address and an error 404 page not found…confused?? Oh, by the way, first time commenting, so I just want to say bless you from the bottom of my heart! 🙂 This site is truly amazing!

      Reply
    5. L.Gluck

      Hi Eric,
      Thank you so much for your lessons.
      I’m just a total beginner and not very smart,but have a feeling I’d have to start with a WordPress for my first website. Realizing it would take a while for me to learn how to do it,I’d try to outsource my first one, to start making some money.Would you give me an advise how to work my relationship with web designer (well, I even don’t know the difference between web designer and web developer and who do I need in this case)trusting him/her my domain and hosting accounts and passwords to work on my site. Is there any security tips you can point me to follow, not to get to the situation of being locked out of my accounts in case that person is not honest? In what order I would do it from start to done and how to gain full control over my site ones it’s done? Thank you

      Reply
    6. Drik

      Hi Eric
      This question is not relevant to your recent videos but I hope there might be an answer.
      There are a couple of British Companies who dont appear to do business with affiliate marketers.
      I would like to contact them with a view to boosting their sales and earning commission from them.
      There is concern on my part that in contacting them I might make it obvious that I am an amateur and thereby lose the opportunity to do business with them.
      How do I find out if they deal with affiliate marketers?
      What advice would you give me in making an approach to do business with these Companies, as an Affiliate Marketer?
      Kind regards,
      Drik.

      Reply
    7. Eric Post author

      It’s not a bad idea, and it’s not an uncommon practice to contact companies to arrange direct affiliate deals. Exclusive affiliate deals are great, because then you’re not competing with other affiliates.

      If you’re afraid of looking like an amateur, I would suggest three things…

      1) Get some experience under your belt. Make some money as an affiliate for existing online affiliate programs and then you won’t be an amateur.

      2) Put your best foot forward and act as if you’re a pro. That does NOT mean it’s OK to deceive in any way, but salesmanship is a part of business.

      3) If you make mistakes, learn from them and move on to the next targeted company 😉

      Reply
    8. Eric Post author

      Don’t sell yourself short 😉

      Actually I do cover wordpress in details in these lessons, and also I talk about outsourcing your website.

      I would not worry too much about a freelance web designer locking you out of your accounts. Just don’t give them your paypal account login or anything like that.

      Reply
    9. Aly

      Hi Eric,

      I have been following yr lesson since lesson 1.
      Thank you for all the infos you have provided.

      I just don’t understand the reason for changing our DNS to our webhosting server.
      What is the reason behind it?

      Thanks again
      Aly

      Reply
    10. Sophia

      Hi Eric,

      I live in South Africa and am considering focussing my niche idea on the South African market only. Would it be better to use a South African company to host my website?

      Many thanks,
      Sophia.

      Reply
    11. Eric Post author

      Possibly, yes. If you are only targeting people who live in South Africa, then it could be beneficial to use a South African web host whose servers are actually IN South Africa. The main reason being that the data has less distance to travel to reach your visitors. It’s a fairly neglegible speed difference (unless you’re providing a resource intensive web-based application), but still worth looking into.

      Reply
    12. florie

      Eric HELP! I feel lost. My idea was to earn extra income from home. Wonderning if the money I’ll be laying out will make sense.Do I need lawyer and acct. before domain and hosting. I have great ideas with very little computer skills. Thank You

      Reply
    13. Eric Post author

      No you do not need a lawyer or accountant that this point. If you’ve got great ideas and little computer skills, then you will want to focus on outsourcing as we go through the lessons. There are a few points during the business-building process that get a little technical. I do my best to show everything step by step, but those things can certainly be outsourced when you get to them. (Such as web design, split testing, building squeeze pages, etc). In fact, virtually everything I teach in every lesson can be outsourced.

      Reply
    14. Paston

      Hi, Eric
      Thanks your great lesson and really learn a lot, I am planning to build a eCommerce site, you have a good point to keep Domain and Hosting separated.
      Can I have one Domain setup and point to two Hosting, It can spreads my risk, so if one goes down, I won’t lose my whole business, of course it cost more and put my websites on 2 different IP’s. That way I can link my new site to the other established site with a higher page rank instantly creating a quality backlink ?

      Regards,
      Paston

      Reply
    15. David Duncan

      Hey Eric tried to view this video but it keeps stopping at the 4.08 minute mark. I have tried sliding the control past, turning it off and starting again neither seems to work, what can we do??? I dont want to miss a second of your tips course it’s awesome!
      Dave

      Reply
    16. Sean Breslin

      Hello Eric I am going to look into your how to sell hosting book… While I may favour a different company… Largely due to all the ad on’s I know a pro when I hear one! Looking forward to reading it.

      Reply
    17. Eric Post author

      Not exactly.

      You can have one domain hosted on multiple servers (This is mainly done on the enterprise level, to balance the load and split up the storage… for example sites like google.com or amazon.com use thousands of servers for one domain).

      But it’s all one site, so there’s not a seperate site with it’s own PageRank.

      This is an expensive solution, and mainly for big businesses that necessitate multiple servers.

      You can pay for 100% redundant hosting for smaller sites, but again it costs a lot more.

      A better option that would achieve most of what you’re talking about is to simply have a secondary hosting account on another server.

      You would sign up for the hosting account using the same domain, but you would not point your domain to that account.

      You can then keep a backup of your website either on your local computer, or on the other (unused) hosting account.

      A good way to do it would be to have two Cpanel hosting accounts, then you can download an actual Cpanel Backup file on a regular basis (which can easily be restored on any Cpanel server).

      Then if your hosting account goes down, all you have to do is…

      1) Restore the backup file to your secondary hosting account.

      2) Login to your domain registrar and change the DNS to point to your secondary hosting account.

      And your site should be live on your secondary hosting account within minutes.

      Reply
    18. mariam Michael

      Thanks a lot Eric,
      I hope from you to tell me when and how i gain money from doing these steps,especially because I am a beginner.

      Reply
    19. Johnny

      Hello Eric,

      In cpanel under SOFTWARE/SERVICES there is cgi center, site software, perl modules, php pear packages, php configuration, rubygems, ruby on rails, php.ini ezconfig and fantastico de luxe.

      Are these use for building website? I am considering using either WordPress or templates and Site Builders.

      Regards,

      Reply
    20. Eric Post author

      Yes those are used for building websites, but I would not worry about those features unless you’re a programmer.

      However, Fantastico Deluxe is a helpful feature. Within Fantastico you will some some shortcuts to install various things on your website, such as WordPress. I do recommend WordPress.

      Reply
    21. fidel pavot

      thanks Erick for the lessons. this lessons would
      cost hundreds or thousands of dollar if any one would take it in a school.thanks again for the lessons.

      Reply
    22. Alan Folkard

      Hello Eric,

      I’ve been following your tips since the begining and have found your style of teaching to be fantastically beneficial.
      I am reviewing my business from the ground up and at the same time reviewing your lessons hence this post.

      I have a number of questions about hosting and would value your view..

      I have multiple niche sites (some wordpress, some XSite Pro) all with adsense and am wondering about the SEO aspects of hosting. I have 4 different accounts with Hostgator that all allow unlimited domains. If all my niches per account are not related to the root domain will Google penalise me as all the domains will be under the one IP address? Especially if I have backlinks coming into all the various domains. Is there an optimum number of add on domains per account for instance?

      I have noticed that some hosting companies including Hostagtor have what is called SEO hosting which is far more expensive but each domain has the benefit of its own dedicated IP..is this correct?

      What is your view on SEO hosting, is it worth it and is it beneficial from a SEO/Search engine perspective?

      Looking at your lesson on Hosting I assume you use reseller hosting to deal with multiple domains in your business?

      I am considering setting up a reseller account with Hostgator and moving all my sites over to consolidate (reduce) monthly hosting costs. Is this a good idea and how would you go about doing this?

      Kind regards from here in the UK

      Reply
    23. Eric Post author

      It depends on your SEO strategy.

      If you’re performing SEO on each of your sites the way Google wants you to do it, then it should not matter if they’re all on the same IP.

      However, if you’re creating a network of your own sites that are interlinked, then the unique IP’s may be important. Google does not want people to manufacture their PageRank by setting up their own network of sites and interlinking them in strategic ways. Instead, they want people to gain links naturally from many different places. If they think you’re using a linking scheme to game the system, they will penalize.

      I’ve never focused much on internal link wheels, mini-nets, etc, so I haven’t worried about having unique IP’s.

      BTW, with most SEO hosts, you not only get unique IP’s for each domain but those IP’s should also be on seperate C classes.

      One thing I will add, is that if you have any particular website that you’re planning on investing a lot of time and/or money into, then I would recommend putting it on it’s own dedicated IP. But you don’t have to buy SEO hosting for that. You can simply request an IP from Hostgator. It was $2/mo last time I checked.

      Also if you’re planning on hosting an email list on any domain (even if it’s hosted on AWeber, but if the email address is @yourdomain) then I would also get a dedicated IP for that domain. This is to prevent getting blacklisted if someone else on the same shared IP is spamming.

      Reply
    24. Jenny

      Hi Eric, I have just bought a domain name with co.za extension. Unfortunately Yola do not support such extensions and I am now looking at a new web hosting package (will look at Hostgator as you have recommended). Now I have 2 problems : I cannot access Cpanel as described in this tut. I get a ‘Cannot find page” error. My domain is showing as’active’ on the control panel of my providers customer control panel???????? Is this because I have just registered the name or am I missing some vital info from my provider?
      2nd problem is how do I move my web site from Yola without having to redo the whole thing ( I am new to this and it took me a long time to set up and really dont want to have to do it all again)
      Thanks for the really well thought out tutorials…even I can understand them.
      Regards,
      Jenny

      Reply
    25. Eric Post author

      Jenny,
      I just checked and Yola is not a Cpanel host. Therefore there is no Cpanel control panel. Also they do not offer FTP access. I got this from their site:

      “Yola does not offer FTP services. For something to work with our websites, it needs to be integrated in the Sitebuilder via a widget or by pasting HTML. You can also add certain types of files (image, document, media etc) to your File Manager.”

      In other words, they have their own internal CMS (Content Management System), and they don’t want you to move your site.

      I’m not sure if there is a way to backup your site to your computer from within Yola’s File Manager? Other than that, the only other way to save a copy of it would be to view it on the web, and save copies of the pages. However, that will not be a true copy of your site due to the way it is scripted.

      Normally Hostgator offers free site moving service when you open a new account with them, but I’m not sure if they would be able to do it in this case.

      My advice would be to chalk it up as a learning experience, and rebuild the site on a different host such as Hostgator, using WordPress. WordPress is the most popular CMS, and can easily be moved in the future if needed. I teach WordPress in lessons #33-37.

      Reply
    26. Jenny

      Thanks for your response. I am now wondering.. you say that I cannot access Cpanel cos Yola do not support it – If I set up a new web page (whew!) on a new host do I enter my domain name before I do the mamoth job of setting up the site (making sure that they support wordpress)or do I have to transfer it

      Reply
    27. Eric Post author

      Yes, when you sign up for a new host you can use your existing domain name during the sign up process. The host will then send you your login information for the control panel, FTP access, and will list your name servers. In order to point your domain to your new host, you will need to login to your DOMAIN account (wherever you registered the domain), and change the domain’s DNS to the name servers assigned to you by the new host. The host and/or your domain registrar probably have tutorials showing you how to do this. It only takes a minute to change the DNS, and then it takes up to 24 hours for that change to be effective. At that point, your domain will be live on your new hosting account.

      Reply
    28. nammy1958

      I do not understand this lesson. do i have to do this witha single account.

      Reply
    29. Eric Post author

      It is with your domain account, wherever you registered your domain (for example http://www.lifedomains.net). If you registered your domain at the same company as your web hosting, then it would be in that account.

      Reply
    30. Joyce

      Eric I am new to this and have a question. When registering a domain it ask for a registered company name. Do I need a business liscense or LLC to register my domain name?

      Reply
    31. Eric Post author

      No you don’t need a business license or business name. You can simply register the domain in your own name, and leave the business field blank. If for some reason it requires a business name, you can use your first and last name, since as a sole proprietor that is your business name. Once your business is making some decent money, then I’d recommend talking to a tax professional and registering an LLC.

      Reply
    32. Jenny

      Hi Eric, I eventually got my DNS host to point my name to an IP address that I got from Yola. After following the tutuorial listed on Yola (and there were some differences in the steps of the tut)I married my DNS to my Yola website. YAY!!!!!!! So it can be done. I didn’t need to get a new host and transfer or re-do my website
      Regards,
      Jenny
      Regards,
      Jenny

      Reply
    33. Lloyd Hrdlichka

      I am looking over my Dreamhost account to see where it is in regards to your lesson #25 suggestions.

      It is an all in one, and I know you don’t recommend it, but that is what I unknowingly signed up for last October under another trainer(R.B.), and I will work with it if it is not to confusing??…It does look slightly different than your domain/hosting account Cpanel, I will try to navigate it…Friends, Lloyd.

      Reply
    34. Arvo

      Thank you very much for your through educational program. I have built few do-it-yourself websites for my businesses. My next plan now is to build a site for internet marketing with promoting digital products, affiliate marketing and video marketing for outdoor living and home improvement products. I would like your recommendation, if I should build a site as a traditional multi-page website, or building a blog, like WordPress.com as a platform. What are the pros and cons between these two options? And should I narrow down the product line for each site, and build several sites instead of offering different types of products on the same site.
      Again thank you for your great lecture series.

      Reply
    35. Nicolas Tan

      Hi Eric,

      I have registered 5 domain names with lifedomains but they are not related with each other. Some are for my plan info products and one for my ecommerce website.

      My question is, in changing the DNS, should I point all of my domain names into one hosting account? Because your lesson above, all the domain names you registered are related with each other. Maybe there is just something in your lesson that I can’t understand because I plan to create a website for each domain name, that’s why I’m patiently trying to understand each of your lesson and hoping I can create them myself when I reach the lessons regarding creating website

      Also , I have been reading all the comments of each lesson. In one particular lesson there is a comment from a subscriber mentioning about a blog or forum regarding your ericstips and it seems you are familiar with the person. I just can’t remember the name of the website. I hope you can help me recall the name of that website. I would like to join the forum and from there to get some answers to some of my very newbie’s questions.

      Action man Eric, again thank you for all these inspiring lessons.

      Reply
    36. Micah

      Hi Arvo,

      Traditional multi-page websites are better if you want your site to be more of a storefront atmosphere, with a wide selection for your customers to purchase.

      Blogs are better suited for relationship with your customers. You wouldn’t necessarily want to promote or discuss as many items if you went with a blog. Also, blogs work better when you have a more focused message, with a specific audience.

      Reply
    37. Micah

      Hi Nicolas,

      It certainly makes things easier when you use only one hosting account. You only have to keep track of one hosting login that way. It also allows you to drag and drop files between websites with ease.

      Eric has considered having an Eric’s Tips forum in the past, but decided against it because forums can be a mountain of work to administrate and maintain.

      For now, the comment section of each blog post is a great place to participate in the discussion.

      Reply
    38. Michael

      Eric & comp:
      Because of recent time constraints & extreme weather here in the N.E., I’m very behind on your lessons- but still in it & highly determined to ‘stick’ with this! Last week sometime I requested that you re-send me lessons #23 & #24 because I didn’t get them. I need those 2 lessons so I can see how/when/why to create & purchase a “domain”. Coukd you please help me?
      Thanks- sincerely… Michael

      Reply
    39. Michael

      ***WAIT***
      To:Eric’s team
      I’m so sorry! I just found both lessons #s’ 23 & 24 in my alternate mailbox. It must have slipped through after I checked it last week. Thankyou for your attn- now onward to ‘progress’!
      Thanks again… Michael

      Reply
    40. Michael

      To Eric & Team,
      My name is Michael Bangrazi- I’m the one who was asking for a refund on order# K5WHRFEJ because of ‘personal circumstances’, which are still pending. But… I am determined to get my very own I-business up & running- I will not quit! However- because of those ‘personal issues’, I’ve fallen behind on your lessons & have become ‘overwhelmed’, ‘confused’, & ‘stressed’ about the “barrage” of product offers (ie;traffic arbitrage, total profit plan,traffic hurricane, etc.) from the “gurus” out there! Even you said in one of your lessons to “STOP BUYING STUFF”! Now I know why! I also realize that there is always some type of nominal investment required to start ‘any’ type of business, but I have also reached a point as to what is really valid &/or worthwhile to invest in?!
      I will say that I trust & enjoy Eric’s tutorial vids, and now that I’ve found my ‘niche’ market (hopefully), I want to steamline my products for that purpose. I just need a little more personal guidance of what my specific needs may be so I can get my website up & running, concentrate on my niche, while at the same time purchase only the most relevant products & services for my business. At this time so far, I’ve purchased a domain & host to go along with it as you instructed- but haven’t built the website yet- just so you know where I’m at. As far as my refund request for the order listed above- DO I REALLY NEED THIS for my business niche?
      In conclusion- I would be willing to forgo my refund(s) with you & stick with your “well-informed” lessons for some ‘additional’ help geared for my needs indicated above- if possible.
      Sincerely- Michael J. Bangrazi

      Reply
    41. Eric Post author

      Hi Michael, I’m guessing we already issued the refund if you requested it from my helpdesk. But that’s no problem. Good job getting the hosting set up, and yes- stick with it!

      Reply
    42. Michael McCallum

      Thank you for the great, useful info (as always). This is so much more in-depth then I could have imagined. Thank you!

      Reply

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