How to Change the IP Address Of Your WHM/cPanel or Kloxo Server Print

Please note that before making any changes to your systems, you should read through these instructions carefully and ensure that you fully understand the processes involved.

It is impossible for this article to cover all aspects of your WHM/cPanel or Kloxo hosting environment and DNS infrastructure, as each will have its own nuances.

These instructions assume that you will be running your cPanel VPS hosting or Kloxo VPS with both the old and new IP for at least 24 hours. By doing so, you will minimise disruption caused to your DNS infrastructure whilst DNS consolidates around the globe.

From this point onwards we will refer to your WHM/cPanel or Kloxo using the term control panel server or control panel unless there is a need to differentiate between the two.

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What is 3rd Party DNS?

In this article, when talking about 3rd party DNS, we mean any DNS service that will not be automatically updated as part of the process when changing your main control panel server shared IP address.

When a domain is added to your control panel server, its DNS records are automatically created in the DNS system running on the server.

You then typically change the name servers with your domain registrar to the ones that are authoritative for the control panel server (normally the control panel server).

Therefore, any domains using your control panel server DNS (e.g. with their name servers set to point to the control panel server at the domain registrar), which by default is any domain added to a control panel server account, are not using 3rd party DNS, but are using your control panel server DNS.

The only exception to this would be in the case where the actual domain that the control panel server belongs to is also hosted on the control panel server.

In this case, it is likely that glue records are being used for the name server IPs with the domain registrar for the domain, to prevent circular reference. Please see the following article about DNS glue records for further information.

Updating Affected DNS Records

1. Ensure the new IP has been added to your VPS by Farbyte Support and that you know what the new IP is.
2. Change any third-party DNS 'A' or 'glue' records that will be affected by the IP change (e.g. name servers records) with your domain registrar or within the Farbyte VPS control panel DNS section.
   It is critical that the record is updated with the DNS server that has authority for it.
   Glue records are held with your domain registrar and are used to prevent circular references to your name servers. Please see this article about glue records, for further information.
   Third-party 'A' records may be used to define a variety of resources, including specifying name servers, web servers, etc.  Please see the following article for more information about finding the authoritative DNS name servers for your domain records.
3. If you have updated 'glue' records with your domain registrar and the control panel server hosts the DNS records for the domain in question, you will now need to update the name server A records hosted on the control panel server (e.g. ns1, ns2, etc.) to the new IP address/es.
   You should now log in to the administration area of the control panel and use the DNS tools supplied to update these records.

NOTE: you should not change any DNS records for domains that are using the control panel server internal DNS at this point (e.g. shared IP account, etc.), only third-party DNS records, for example, with your domains registrar or Farbyte as explained above in What is 3rd Party DNS?

The global DNS system will take some time (up to 48 hours) to recognise any IP address changes you have made to 3rd party DNS records affected by this change.

In the meantime, you can now optionally check that your DNS changes are correct with the record's authoritative DNS server.

Verify Your DNS Changes (optional)

1. Start a command prompt on your local computer.
2. Type nslookup.
3. Type server [DNS server FQDN or IP], where [DNS server FQDN or IP] is the FQDN or IP of the DNS server hosting the affected  DNS record.
   If you have affected DNS record/s with your domain registrar, it will be their DNS server.
   If the affected DNS record/s are hosted on the Farbyte DNS infrastructure, you can use ns1.farbyte.com. It is essential you choose the correct DNS server for this test to work. If you are not sure which ones to use, please open a ticket with Farbyte Support.
4. Now type in the fully qualified name of the affected record (e.g. ns1.mydomain.com) and hit return.

The DNS server should return the new IP address. If not, you need to ensure you have updated the relevant DNS record correctly (see point2. Updating Affected DNS Records above).

WHM/cPanel Changes

WHM/cPanel only

Changing the Primary IP in WHM

It is wise to wait at least 24-48 hours if you have needed to make changes to any third-party DNS records, as per the instructions above.

Once you are happy that the third-party DNS changes have consolidated, please perform the following:

1. Change your VPS Main IP to the new IP address using the Farbyte VPS control panel, ensuring that you reboot the VPS afterwards. Rebooting will make sure that the new IP address is assigned to the first virtual network interface in the VPS (i.e. venet0:0) and is essential for this process to work. See this video for details on how to change your VPS main IP.
2. Login to WHM.
3. Restart the DNS service, under Restart Service > DNS Server (BIND /  NSD / MyDNS) > Yes.
4. Go to Server Configuration > Basic cPanel & WHM Setup.
5. Find the following setting and enter your new main IP address:
   The IP address (only one address) that will be used for setting up shared IP virtual hosts
6. Click Save Changes.
7. Change your WHM/cPanel license to the new IP. If you have a license issued via Farbyte, please contact Support via the ticket system, making sure you specify the new IP in the ticket.

At this point, your WHM server will be using the new IP as its primary address and all websites configured to use the shared IP should be hosted on the new IP.

You may have to wait around 4 hours for DNS propagation to take effect for the websites using the shared IP.

Checking the Shared WHM/cPanel IP Has Been Changed For Existing Domains

You should use the WHM DNS tool to check whether one or two of the domains on the shared IP address have had their IP address updated to the new IP.

To do this:

1. Login to WHM
2. Find the DNS Functions section
3. Click Edit DNS Zone
4. Select a domain that is hosted on the shared IP from the Choose a Zone to Edit box
5. Verify the IP address for the domain has been changed to the new IP address

What Should I Do If the IP Has Not Changed for Existing Domains on WHM/cPanel?

If after performing the above actions you find that the IP address has not changed for some of all of your domains currently hosted on the WHM shared IP address, you will need to manually migrate the domains to the new IP.

To do this we will use the IP Migration Wizard in WHM.

1. Login to WHM
2. Open the IP Functions section
3. Click the IP Migration Wizard
4. Enter the new shared IP in the Enter the new IPs one per line: box
5. Enter the new IP next to each domain that should be located on the shared IP (by default all accounts on the WHM shared IP are completed already :)
6. Click Continue
7. Follow any further advice presented by WHM

Update WHM/cPanel Reseller IP

If you have given any Reseller accounts a dedicated IP address you may need to change those also. To do so:

1. Login to WHM
2. Click the Resellers > Reseller Center > Manage Main Shared/IP-less IP
3. Select the IP address the Reseller should use

Kloxo Changes

Kloxo only

Changing the Primary IP In Kloxo

As mentioned earlier, it is wise to wait at least 24 hours if you have made any changes to DNS records with regards to this IP change.

1. Change your VPS Main IP to the new IP address using the Farbyte VPS control panel, ensuring your reboot the VPS afterwards. Rebooting will make sure the new IP address is assigned to the first virtual network interface in the VPS (i.e. venet0:0) and is essential for this process to work. See this video for details on how to change your VPS main IP.
2. Login to the Kloxo administration area
3. Go to Server Home > IP Addresses
4. Click Reread IPs
5. Next click Resources > DNS Templates
6. Update any references with any templates to the old IP with the new IP address
7. Now go to admin > Resources > IP Addresses
8. Click the new IP address located on venet0-0
9. Click the Configure Domain tab
10. Select each domain that should be hosted on the new IP address and click Update in turn

If you have got this far, give yourself a pat on the back, as you have just migrated your main IP!