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Change the Hostname of a cPanel Server

  • Updated on Jul 22, 2026
  • Published on Jul 22, 2026
  • 1 minute(s) read
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Automatically-Issued Hostname:

By default, cPanel will automatically issue a subdomain of cprapid.com as the hostname for the server, which will be granted a free SSL certificate through Let’s Encrypt™. This mitigates security warnings from appearing on cPanel, WHM, and Webmail interfaces. However, it has some limitations:

  • It only issues a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) under the cprapid.com domain, and will be pointed at the main IP address of the server.

  • This subdomain cannot be managed or delegated.

  • To create subdomains for nameservers, the server must be set to use a hostname from a domain you control. Nameservers under the cprapid.com domain will not be fully functional.

Requirements

The new hostname for the server must:

  • It cannot start with www, a hyphen (-), or a number (0-9), or a hostname ending with a hyphen (-).  

  • Must be 60 characters or shorter. For interopability with windows machines

  • Must be a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) that uniquely identifies the server (e.g. hostname.example.com.au or hostname.example.com)

  • Cannot be a hostname that a cPanel account on the server will use.

  • A potential service subdomain.

  • Be composed of ASCII(7) characters, which includes lowercase alphabetic characters (a-z), numerals (0-9), periods (.), and the hyphen (-).

  • Be acceptable for your brand and business, as it will appear in mail headers.

How to change your hostname:

We will be covering the GUI method within this guide. For the CLI method, we would recommend consulting cPanel’s own documentation for the /usr/local/cpanel/bin/set_hostname function.

  1. Within WHM → Change Hostname at the bottom you can enter your new FQDN into the New Hostname box and click Change as shown.
    In our example we are changing from testvm.servercontrol.com.au to examplevm.servercontrol.com.au:

  2. A window ill pop up informing you the hostname change is in progress. Once it finishes, scroll to the bottom and click Add an A entry for your hostname:

  3. Within WHM → Add an A Entry for Your Hostname review the information for your server, and if it is correct, add the correct A entry via the Add Entry button:

Congratulations! You have updated the hostname for your cPanel server!