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How to point a subdomain somewhere with DNS

Maxim Tsitsejev
Updated

Applies to: All plans.

Before you start: You need access to your client area at my.maxinodes.com, and the destination you want the subdomain to reach — either an IPv4 address (for an A record) or a hostname (for a CNAME). Your DNS is managed by us, on our own nameservers, and you edit it in the client area DNS manager, not the cPanel zone editor.

To point a subdomain such as blog.yourdomain.com or shop.yourdomain.com somewhere with DNS, add one record in your client area DNS manager: an A record if you have an IP address, or a CNAME if you have a hostname. This is how you send a subdomain to an external service — a page builder, a status page, a shop platform, an app host, and so on.

Note: This guide is for sending a subdomain elsewhere by DNS. If you instead want the subdomain to be a folder on your Maxinodes hosting (with its own files), create it in cPanel — see How to create a subdomain. For that, no DNS step is needed; the record is built for you.

Choose A or CNAME

  • Use an A record when the service gives you an IPv4 address (for example 203.0.113.10).
  • Use a CNAME record when the service gives you a hostname to point at (for example target.somehost.com). The CNAME makes your subdomain an alias of that hostname.

If a service offers both, a CNAME is usually easier because the target can change their IP without you having to update anything.

Add the record

  1. Go to my.maxinodes.com and select Login.
  2. Open Domains from the top menu, find the domain, and open its DNS management option.
  3. Choose to add a new record.
  4. Select the record type — A or CNAME.
  5. In the name (host) field, enter just the subdomain prefix — for example blog or shop. Do not type the full blog.yourdomain.com; the zone adds the rest for you.
  6. Enter the value:
    • A — the IPv4 address your service gave you.
    • CNAME — the target hostname your service gave you.
  7. Save the record.

Result: The new record appears in the list and starts to propagate. Once propagation completes, your subdomain reaches the destination you set.

Pointing a subdomain at your Maxinodes hosting

If the destination is your own Maxinodes site, add an A record to 185.185.49.198 and an AAAA record to 2a00:7c80:0:286:c::10, with the subdomain as the name. In most cases you do not need to do this manually — creating the subdomain in cPanel sets it up automatically. See How to create a subdomain.

Important: Customer websites are served over both IPv4 and IPv6 (dual-stack). When your domain uses our nameservers, the zone we create already contains both the A and the AAAA records for your domain, www, cpanel and ftp — you do not have to add those. Any other subdomain you point at us here is one you set up yourself, so give it both an A record to 185.185.49.198 and an AAAA record to 2a00:7c80:0:286:c::10 if you want IPv6 visitors to reach it directly.

Leave the mail hostnames alone. A new hosting zone also has mail, webmail, autoconfig and autodiscover records for the mailboxes included with your plan. Don't point them elsewhere or turn them into a CNAME for an outside service, or mail apps and webmail stop finding your mailboxes. (If your email is on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, set up autodiscover as their instructions say.)

After it resolves: SSL

Once the subdomain reaches a Maxinodes site, AutoSSL issues a free certificate so it loads over HTTPS — see Free SSL (AutoSSL) and how to force HTTPS. If the subdomain points at an external service, that provider issues the certificate, not us.

Troubleshooting this task

  • The subdomain does not resolve yet. DNS changes take time to propagate — usually minutes, up to a few hours, and rarely up to 24–48 hours. See How long does DNS propagation take?.
  • Records here seem to have no effect. Confirm your domain is actually pointed at our nameservers, ns1.maxinodes.com and ns2.maxinodes.com — otherwise records added here are ignored. See How to point your domain to Maxinodes (set your nameservers).
  • I added a CNAME but it conflicts. A host cannot have a CNAME alongside other records (such as an A or MX) for the same name. Use a CNAME or an A record for the subdomain, not both.
  • I edited records in cPanel and nothing happened. The cPanel zone editor does not control live DNS here. Make the change in your client area DNS manager.
  • I used the full subdomain as the name. Enter only the prefix (blog), not blog.yourdomain.com, or the record ends up at blog.yourdomain.com.yourdomain.com.

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