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---
title: Customer wants to change nameservers or move a domain
panel: WHM
symptoms:
  - domain not working after a move
  - wants to use another host
  - wants us to take over the domain
  - moving my website to another host
  - change the nameservers to my new provider
  - domain stopped working after the move
  - transfer the domain to me
  - point the domain at my new server
---

# Customer wants to change nameservers or move a domain

## 1. Find out which direction the move is

**Why:** the customer moving their domain to us and the customer moving
their domain away from us need opposite things from us and different
things from them. One needs a domain added and a zone in place first.
The other needs a warning about what is about to stop working. Doing the
wrong one first is how a domain ends up pointed at nothing.

**In WHM:** Account Information > List Accounts shows whether the domain
is already an addon on the account.

**In the terminal:** `grep -i <domain> /var/cpanel/userdata/*/main` shows
whether any account on the server holds the domain.

**Care:** this only reads.

## 2. If they are moving to us, get the domain on the account first

**Why:** the domain has to be an addon on an account we control before
the delegation changes, otherwise the delegation points at a server that
has never heard of the domain and the site is down for everyone until
that is fixed.

**In cPanel:** Domains > Addon Domains, then Domains to confirm it.

**In WHM:** Account Functions > Create a New Account or the account's
domain list.

**In the terminal:** `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/updateuserdomains`

**Care:** adding the domain creates the DNS zone for it. Check the zone
afterwards, because a domain that comes in with a zone full of the old
host's records will keep pointing at the old host no matter what the
delegation says.

## 3. If they are moving away, tell them what is about to stop

**Why:** mail that is routed through us stops when the delegation moves,
and so does anything pointed at a subdirectory they own rather than a
domain they own. The customer needs to know that now, not after they
have moved and something has quietly stopped.

**In cPanel:** Email > Email Routing shows the domain's mail routing,
and Domains shows any subdomains they own.

**In WHM:** DNS Functions > Email Routing Configuration for the mail
side, and the account's domain list for the rest.

**In the terminal:** `grep -A5 -i routing /var/cpanel/userdata/<user>/main`

**Care:** this only reads. Do not change anything on the account without
saying what you are changing and why.

## 4. Get the zone right before the delegation moves

**Why:** there is no halfway state where both hosts serve. Once the
delegation changes, the old server stops being asked and only the new
one's records are used. So the new zone has to be right before the
change, not after.

**In cPanel:** Domains > Zone Editor.

**In WHM:** DNS Functions > DNS Zone Manager.

**In the terminal:** `dig +short NS <domain>` and then check the zone
the server holds for that domain.

**Care:** this only reads.

- https://docs.cpanel.net/whm/dns-functions/add-a-dns-zone/
- https://docs.cpanel.net/whm/dns-functions/dns-zone-manager/

## 5. Confirm which registrar holds the domain

**Why:** a domain bought through a reseller sits at a different
registrar, and the customer often does not know which. Finding that out
early saves a call where they cannot find the nameserver setting.

**In the terminal:** `dig +short NS <domain>` gives the nameservers, and
the registrar's own site tells them where to change them.

**Care:** this only reads.

- https://docs.cpanel.net/knowledge-base/dns/how-to-identify-your-registrar/