# Websites, DNS and SSL

> What a customer can do with their own domains in the client panel: sites, DNS records, certificates and speed settings, and what stays with you.

Source: https://www.corepanel.net/docs/client-panel/websites/
Last updated: 2026-10-19
Part of the CorePanel documentation — https://www.corepanel.net/docs

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These are the sections a customer opens to put a site online and keep it reachable:
**Websites** for the names the account serves, **DNS** for where they point, **SSL** for
the certificates and **Optimizations** for speed. Each one works on the customer's own
domains only, within the limits of their plan.

## Websites

**What the customer sees.** Every domain and subdomain the account serves. They can add a
[domain alias or addon domain](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/accounts/domains) and add or remove
[subdomains](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/accounts/subdomains). Per site they set the
[serving mode](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/web/serving-modes), the
[canonical hostname](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/accounts/domains#canonical-hostnames-www-or-not) (`www` or bare)
and [Force HTTPS](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/web/https-redirect).

A **Your plan** card shows how many addon domains, aliases and subdomains they use against
the plan (amber from 75 %, red from 90 %), with one line on what each kind is for — what
cPanel calls a *parked domain* is an alias here. A **Disk space** card shows files and email
against the quota; databases are counted apart.

![The Websites page of the client panel for corepanel.io, in the Classic Blue (light) theme. On the left, a Domains table lists corepanel.io (PRIMARY), the aliases corepanel.dev and corepanel.net of corepanel.io and the addon cp-community.org, each with its web mode, canonical www host and edit and delete actions; below it, a Subdomains table lists app, blog, forum and shop with their parent domain, web mode and document root. On the right, a "Your plan" card gives the main domain with a "Visit site" button, then Addon domain 1 of 5, Alias 2 of 5 and Subdomain 4 of 20, each with a progress bar and a one-line explanation — the alias row noting that cPanel calls it a parked domain — and "8 of 8 names redirect to HTTPS". Under it, a "Disk space" card reads 86 GB with no limit, and says databases (288 MB) are counted apart.](https://www.corepanel.net/_astro/client-panel-sites-light.C-_kxWj-.png)

**What stays with you.** The limits themselves, set on the account or its package, and
[reverse proxy routes](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/reverse-proxy) — a customer choosing the upstream could point
their domain at a service on the server's loopback.

## DNS

The DNS page opens on **tasks**, not record types. Each task writes the records it needs
and shows **what will change**, record by record, before anything is saved:

| Task | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Verify my domain** | Adds the TXT code Google, Microsoft, Meta or Apple gave them; the prefix is added if they paste only the code |
| **Use another email service** | Points MX at Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or back at this server, updates SPF (this server stays in it, because the website still sends from here) and switches the domain's [email delivery](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/client-panel/email#where-mail-is-delivered) to match |
| **Connect a subdomain to a service** | `shop` → `shops.myshopify.com`: a hostname becomes a CNAME, an IP an A or AAAA record |
| **Serve my website from elsewhere** | Points the domain and `www` at another server, and removes records that would keep sending visitors here |
| **Choose who sends my email** | The SPF record as checkboxes; warns from eight DNS lookups and refuses past ten |
| **Add a custom record** | The full editor: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV, CAA, HTTPS, and NS to delegate a subdomain |

New records go in before old ones are removed, so a change that fails halfway leaves the
previous setup working.

![The DNS page of the client panel for corepanel.io, in the Classic Blue (light) theme. Under the title, six task cards: Verify my domain, Use another email service, Connect a subdomain to a service, Serve my website from elsewhere, Choose who sends my email and Add a custom record. Below them, "Records (11)" with a filter box, grouped under Website and Email headings. Each record is a sentence with the technical record under it: "corepanel.io points to the server at 203.0.113.10" over A corepanel.io → 203.0.113.10, "www.corepanel.io is served by corepanel.io" over a CNAME, "Mail that fails the checks goes to spam (DMARC)" over the _dmarc TXT record. The DKIM key, "Signature key that proves mail from corepanel.io is genuine", carries a Managed badge with a lock instead of an actions menu, and a line under it: "The server signs your mail with this key and rotates it on its own."](https://www.corepanel.net/_astro/client-panel-dns-light.5yiFe8T0.png)

Below the tasks, the zone is grouped by purpose — **Website**, **Email**, **Verifications
and other records** — and each record is described in a sentence, with the raw record under
it. Deleting or changing a record the site or mail depends on (the domain's address, `www`,
the MX, `mail`) says what will stop working. If the domain's nameservers do not point at this
server yet, the page says so.

![The "Use another email service" dialog over the DNS page. Google Workspace is chosen over Microsoft 365 and This server. A warning says new mail goes to the chosen service from the moment this is saved, so the same addresses must exist there first; that mail this server sends to the customer's own addresses goes to that service too, instead of the mailboxes here; and that the website keeps sending from this server, which stays in the sending list. Under "What will change", the SPF record is first replaced by one that adds include:_spf.google.com and keeps a mx; then the new MX smtp.google.com with priority 1 is added, and only after it the old MX mail.corepanel.io is removed.](https://www.corepanel.net/_astro/client-panel-dns-mail-light.B319_5qM.png)

**What the customer cannot change** is shown with a lock and a reason, and the server
refuses it:

- the domain's **nameservers** (`NS` at the apex) and the **DKIM key the server signs
  with** (another provider's key, such as `google._domainkey`, is theirs);
- an **ACME challenge** while a certificate is being issued;
- the server's **own hostname and nameservers**, and names that belong to **another
  account**;
- a CNAME at the apex or beside other records. A zone holds up to 500 records.

The zones are the account's primary domain, addon domains and aliases; a subdomain's
records live in its parent's zone.

**Turning it off.** **Settings → Client panel → Let customers edit their DNS records** is
on by default. Off, the page stays readable and tells the customer you manage the records.

**A read-only zone says why.** When a customer cannot edit a zone, the notice at the top
of the page names the reason: customer DNS editing is turned off; the name has no zone
of its own (edit it in its parent); a parent domain is hosted for another account; or
the zone also holds the server's own hostname or nameservers. A task link such as
**Verify my domain** lands on that notice instead of opening its dialog.

## SSL

**What the customer sees.** The [managed certificates](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/ssl-certificates) of their
sites: which hostnames are covered, whether each is valid and when it renews.

**Installing a commercial certificate** is also theirs, and on by default. Turn it off in
**Server → Settings → Client panel** if you prefer to do it yourself — that stops
installing, never removing. Whatever the switch says:

- it covers the **web** only; mail and FTPS keep the automatic certificate;
- they may only name hosts their own account owns;
- the **panel's own hostname** is always excluded.

## Optimizations

**What the customer sees.** The [Optimizations](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/web/optimizations) section for their
own sites: WebP, Early Hints, and on Pro and Business the minification and page cache.
Switches the edition does not include are not shown at all — the client panel carries no
upsell.

They can also set the [browser cache](https://www.corepanel.net/docs/web/optimizations#browser-cache-how-long-a-visitor-keeps-a-file)
lifetime per kind of file. Each starts at **Server default**, which names your server-wide
value. When the site's own `.htaccess` decides instead, an amber chip says so and opens that
file in their file manager.

![The Optimizations screen of the client panel in its light theme: a site selector reading corepanel.io · primary, then Automatic WebP and Early Hints (HTTP 103) each with Default, On and Off, the Speed Optimizer block with Minify JavaScript and Minify CSS switches and the dynamic page cache's Off, Evaluate and On, a gzip compression row marked Enabled, and at the bottom the Browser cache block: seven categories — Pages, CSS and JavaScript, Images, Fonts, Audio and video, Documents, Everything else — each on Server default with the server's value in brackets, such as Server default (1 hour) for CSS and JavaScript. Small amber chips sit under three of them: .htaccess · 1 hour · /wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/ under Pages; .htaccess · 30 days under Images, whose selector is dimmed; and .htaccess · 1 year · 3 of 5 types under Fonts.](https://www.corepanel.net/_astro/client-panel-optimizations-light.BRfVgnJZ.png)

**What stays with you.** The server-wide defaults, the page cache's **evaluation report**
and the **manual purge**. WordPress sites purge on their own through the CorePanel plugin.