Host Site at Third-Party and Email with Web Hosting Hub

In this guide, we show how to point the domain to another provider for web hosting (such as Shopify or Wix), but continue to use Web Hosting Hub services for email. The domain's A record will need to be changed to point to third-party hosting. Changing the mail.domain.com CNAME record to an A record with the server IP and adjusting the MX record completes the setup for this configuration.

Related Articles

Change DNS Records Using cPanel Zone Editor
Point a Domain to Shopify
Update Domain Nameservers

Making DNS Updates in cPanel

NOTE: DNS changes can take up to 24 hours to fully propagate across the web. Your website will not start immediately pulling from this new IP address. Please allow up to 24 hours.
IMPORTANT: These steps are for domains using Web Hosting Hub nameservers. If the domain is using external nameservers, please follow the steps under Making External DNS Updates below.

1. Log into cPanel
2. Navigate to Zone Editor, located in the Domains section
   
3. Locate the specific domain and select Manage
   
   
4. Locate the main A record for the domain
   1. Click Edit
      
      NOTE: If DNS records are already set up pointing to Web Hosting Hub's server for all services, you only need to modify the A (Address) record of the website.
   2. Save the IP address currently listed for the A record
   3. Fill in the IP address of your remote website host in the Record field
   4. Click Save Record
      EXAMPLE:
      
      
5. Locate the mail subdomain CNAME record for the domain
   
   
   1. Click Edit
   2. Update the record type from CNAME to A Record
   3. Input your Web Hosting Hub server's IP address in the Record field
      TIP: This is the IP address saved earlier. If needed, the IP address can also be found in the Account Technical Details.
      EXAMPLE: 
      
      
   4. Click Save Record
6. Locate the domain's MX record
   
   
   1. Click Edit
      
      
   2. Update the Record field from domain.com to mail.domain.com
      REPLACE: domain.com with the appropriate domain name.
      NOTE: If the MX record is not updated to point to a subdomain that is pointed to Web Hosting Hub, this will cause emails to stop working, as they will be routed to the 3rd party hosting provider.
      EXAMPLE:
      
      
   3. Click Save Record
7. Click the cPanel icon in the top-left corner to return to the main page
8. Navigate to Email Routing, located in the Emails section
   
9. Locate the appropriate domain
   
10. Ensure the mail routing is set to Local
    1. If not set, update the toggle to Local
       
       
11. Send a test email to confirm that records were set correctly

Making External DNS Updates

NOTE: DNS changes can take up to 24 hours to fully propagate across the web. Your website will not start immediately pulling from this new IP address. Please allow up to 24 hours.
IMPORTANT: These steps are for domains using external nameservers. If the domain is using Web Hosting Hub nameservers, please follow the steps under Making DNS Updates in cPanel above.
TIP: If you are having trouble with steps 1 - 5 below, please contact the external DNS provider for assistance.

1. Log into the third-party DNS provider's dashboard for your domain
2. Navigate to the DNS management area
3. Convert the mail.domain.com record from a CNAME record to an A record
   REPLACE: domain.com with your domain.
   NOTE: If the record doesn't exist on your nameserver, create it.
4. Update the A record to use the Web Hosting Hub server's IP address
   TIP: If needed, your account's IP address can be found under Account Technical Details.
5. Point the MX record to mail.domain.com with priority 0
   REPLACE: domain.com with the appropriate domain name.
6. Within cPanel at Web Hosting Hub, navigate to Email Routing, located in the Emails section
   
7. Select the appropriate domain
   
8. Ensure the mail routing is set to Local
   
9. Send a test email to confirm that records were set correctly