Directadmin – how to handle only website?

DirectAdmin to host your website while leaving DNS and email services managed externally

To add a domain in DirectAdmin to support only the website (while the DNS and email are managed elsewhere), follow these steps:

1. Log into DirectAdmin:
   • Access your DirectAdmin control panel by entering the DirectAdmin URL and logging in with your username and password.
2. Add the Domain:
   • Navigate to the User Level (if you’re not already there).
   • Click on Domain Setup.
   • Click the Add Another Domain button.
   • Enter the domain name in the Domain field.
   • Set any necessary options, but make sure you only check options relevant to the website hosting.
3. Disable Local DNS Management:
   • After adding the domain, you need to ensure that DirectAdmin is not managing the DNS records for this domain.
   • Navigate to DNS Management.
   • You can either disable DNS management or simply not configure any DNS records here, as they are being handled elsewhere.
4. Set Up the Web Root:
   • Ensure the document root (public_html or another directory) for the domain is set up properly under the domain’s settings.
   • You can upload your website files to the domain’s web root directory via the File Manager or FTP.
5. Ensure the Email is Not Managed by DirectAdmin:
   • If DirectAdmin is not to handle the email for this domain, ensure that the email-related configurations are not set up.
   • Navigate to Email Accounts and verify no email accounts are created for this domain.
   • Navigate to MX Records and ensure no local MX records are configured.
   • Untick: “Use this server to handle my e-mails. If not, change the MX records and uncheck this option.” and click Save.
6. Update DNS Records on External DNS Provider:
   • Go to your external DNS provider where the domain’s DNS is managed.
   • Set up an A record pointing to the server IP address where your DirectAdmin instance is hosted.
   • Ensure that the MX records and other relevant DNS settings (like CNAME, TXT records for email verification, etc.) are configured as required for your email provider and other services.

Summary of Key Steps:

1. Add the domain in DirectAdmin under Domain Setup.
2. Ensure DNS management is not active in DirectAdmin.
3. Do not set up email accounts or local MX records in DirectAdmin.
4. Point the domain’s A record to your DirectAdmin server IP in the external DNS provider.
5. Keep all other DNS and email configurations at your external providers.

Following these steps will allow DirectAdmin to host your website while leaving DNS and email services managed externally.