Member Avatar for Member #966941

Hi there!
I need enlightenment on the subject of altering an A record for a website domain name.

I have obtained the correct IP address and provided it to the holder of the domain name records so he can change the A record. As far as i am aware this is all that needs to happen for a website to appear when the domain name in entered into the browser.

But it doesn't.

Instead, when I type my domain name (or IP address) it redirects to ../cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi where a cPanel "Default Web Site Page" loads instead of MY website.

I've contacted my hosting provider for information and assistance but have reached a dead-end. (I usually get good support from my host)

Do you know what the problem could be, and how I can fix it?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by JorgeM

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If a domain resolves to the correct IP but the browser shows cPanel's default page (the /cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi screen), the web server is simply not configured to serve that hostname from your account. fixed this by adding the domain in cPanel as a parked/alias — that tells Apache which account and document root should answer requests for that Host header. and were pointing toward the same area: the issue lives on the server side, not in the A record itself.

Quick checklist to use if this happens again:

  • Verify the A record actually resolves to the intended IP:
    dig +short yourdomain.com
  • Test how the server responds to that Host header (replace IP and domain):
    curl -I -H "Host: yourdomain.com" http://1.2.3.4/

    If the response shows the cPanel default page or a redirect to /cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi, the domain is not associated with your cPanel account (or the Host header is served by a different vhost).

What to check or ask support to do:

  • Ensure the domain is added to the correct cPanel account as an Alias/Parked domain (or as an Addon domain if it should have its own folder). Mention the exact account username and the desired document root (for example: /home/username/public_html).
  • Confirm you edited the authoritative DNS zone (if you use Cloudflare or a registrar DNS panel, update there).
  • Make sure an index file exists in the document root and there are no .htaccess redirects overriding behavior.
  • Allow for DNS TTL propagation (can take up to 48 hours, usually much faster).

If access to cPanel is not available, give support the curl output above so they can see the Host header mismatch; that usually shortens troubleshooting.

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Member Avatar for lps

Have you alter the index file where it should be directed to your site?

Member Avatar for JorgeM

This is not a DNS issue. DNS can only map a name to an IP address, not a URL. So, if you have a record called "www" and it points to a specific IP, when you open the browser and type in that host name, your computer first resolves the host name to the IP and the browser connects on that IP address.

What happens after that, such as the redirect that you are experiencing, is handled by the target application, in this case the web server.

What is happening is that at the web server, the server is reading the HTTP headers and there is a programatic redirect to the target URL.

To get this fixed, your provider needs to either tell you which IP address is correct for your host name, or they need to alter the redirection that is occuring in the back-end.

Member Avatar for Member #920377

Thanks. The redirection has now been set-up. I had to set up a "parked domain" in cPanel. Not sure why my hosting tech support couldn't have told me this. Perhaps its the difficulty I have in communicating what I need because of my minimal understanding the whole DNS/Domain/IP/A record/CMAP malarkey. Another thing learnt, a worthwhile cause! Thanks for your assistance.

Member Avatar for JorgeM

Not a problem. Glad your issue was resolved.

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