How to Point a Domain with an A Record

DNS is the internet’s address book for your domain. To keep your DNS at your current provider and point just your website to Blue Arctic, change two records there: the A record, which links your domain to a server’s IP address, and the www record. Usually your email isn’t affected, but check first (Step 2).

Step 1: Find your server’s IP address

1. Log in to cPanel.
2. Click Websites in the sidebar, then Manage next to your domain.
3. On the Overview tab, copy the IP address. It looks like 203.0.113.25, but that’s only an example; use your own.

If you see a Server Information link instead, use its Shared IP Address (or Dedicated IP Address, if shown), never the Local IP Address. Can’t log in or find it? Open a support ticket and ask for your hosting account’s IP address.

Step 2: Save your records and check your email record

1. Sign in to the company that hosts your DNS and open the DNS settings for your domain.
2. Take a screenshot of all your records, so you can undo a mistake.
3. Find your MX record, the record for email, and look at its value.

Step 3: Change the website records

1. Find the A record for the domain itself. Its host or name is usually @ or left blank.
2. Change its value (sometimes called “Points to” or “Address”) to your Blue Arctic IP address. If there are several A records for @, keep one and delete the others.
3. Find the record for www. If it’s an A record, give it the same IP address. If it’s a CNAME record, set its value to your real domain name. If there’s none, add an A record named www with the same IP address.
4. Look for AAAA records (long IPv6 addresses with colons) on @ or www. Unless we’ve given you an IPv6 address, delete them, or some visitors may still reach your old site.
5. If you’re asked for a TTL, leave the default.
6. Save your changes.

Cloudflare: Leave each record’s Proxied or DNS only setting as it was. Proxied records show Cloudflare’s addresses, not your server’s. For SSL settings, see How to Manage DNS in Cloudflare.

Step 4: Tell cPanel where your email lives

cPanel decides whether to keep your domain’s email by reading its own copy of your records, not your live DNS. If your mailboxes are at Blue Arctic, skip item 1.

1. If your mailboxes are at another provider, such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, ask us in a support ticket to set your domain’s email routing to Remote Mail Exchanger. Otherwise, website emails to your own address may never reach you.
2. If your website sends email, such as contact-form messages, your SPF record at your DNS provider should also allow our server. See How to Set Up SPF, DKIM and DMARC in cPanel.

Not sure where your mailboxes are? Open a support ticket first.

How to tell it worked

1. Wait at least an hour. Most changes show within 48 hours; a few take up to 72 (see How Long DNS Changes Take).
2. Use a public DNS checker (search for “DNS propagation checker”) to look up your A record. It should show your Blue Arctic IP address (or Cloudflare’s, if Proxied).
3. Visit yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com in a private browser window. Both should show your Blue Arctic site, or at least no longer show your old one.
4. In cPanel, check that your domain (and www, if listed) has a certificate in the SSL column on the Websites page, or on the SSL Certificates tab under Security. Can’t find it? Open a support ticket. Until then, your browser may say “Not secure”. See How to Fix a “Not Secure” Warning.

Troubleshooting

• Some visitors still see the old site: an old A or AAAA record is still there. Remove the extras and wait for the TTL to pass.
• www works but the bare domain doesn’t, or the reverse: check both records for a typo.
• Email bounces after the change: your email may have depended on the old A record. Put the old value back from your screenshot and open a support ticket.
• Contact-form emails to your own address never arrive: have email routing set to Remote Mail Exchanger (Step 4).
• A lookup shows a different IP address from the one in cPanel: if the record is Proxied in Cloudflare, that’s expected. Otherwise, check the record again.
• No certificate after a day: both names must reach Blue Arctic before a certificate can be issued. If they do, or your records are Proxied in Cloudflare, open a support ticket.

Still need help?

Open a support ticket from the Client Portal at my.bluearctic.com. Include your domain, the name of your DNS provider, a screenshot of your current DNS records, the exact error text, and what you already tried. Never include a password.