cPanel with external DNS and email

[jonhall]

Hi there,
I am currently using cPanel/WHM for web hosting only and using external services for hosting DNS (manually maintained) and email. I have email routing set to remote, but the DNS services in cPanel are still enabled, and the DNS records in cPanel are not synced with the records on the external nameserver. So far this seems to be working, but I am wondering if there are any potential email-related pitfalls with this configuration? Will my websites always use the external resolver that I've configured to look up the mail servers for their own domain when email is sent by the sites? Or is it possible that the local zone files could be used, which don't have the external MX records set up?

If this could cause a problem with local mail delivery, is there a way I can disable the local DNS server / zone files in cPanel so that I don't need to keep them up to date with the external DNS?

Thanks,
Jonathan

 

[cPRex]

Hey there! Nope, there are no pitfalls at all. While cPanel will create local DNS records, they won't be used at all since the DNS doesn't point there. As long as the cPanel account have the mail exchanger value set to "remote" they will continue to use the external DNS records to handle mail.

If you aren't using the local DNS server, you can disable the service completely in WHM >> Service Manager. This won't keep the records from being created, but just shuts off the DNS service.

 

[jonhall]

Thank you!

 

[cPRex]

Sure thing!