Modify an Account

Overview

The Modify an Account interface allows you to make changes to an existing account.

Modify an account

To modify an account, perform the following steps:

1. Select the desired account and click Modify.

2. Make changes to the settings in the sections below.

3. Click Save.

Basic information

This section allows you to edit the following settings:

• Primary Domain — Enter a new primary domain.

• Username — Enter a username. The new username must meet the following requirements:

  • You must choose a unique username that contains 16 characters or fewer.
  • The username must contain only letters and numbers.
  • The username cannot start with a number or the string test.
  • If you plan to use MySQL or PostgreSQL as a database engine, the first eight characters must be unique on the system to prevent issues with database prefixing and account transfers. However, this restriction does not apply to servers that run MariaDB.
    Note:

    • You can disable database prefixing with the Add prefix to names of new databases and database users setting in the SQL section of WHM’s Tweak Settings interface (WHM >> Home >> Server Configuration >> Tweak Settings).
    • Only the root user can rename a self-owned reseller account.
    • For more information about username restrictions, read our Reserved, Invalid, and Misconfigured Usernames documentation.
      
    Warning:

    • If you must change the account username, we recommend that the new name be the same length or shorter. A longer name may cause MySQL® to truncate the account’s database names and database usernames, which causes problems.
    • If you change the username of an account, the following problems may occur:
      • You cannot use the associated websites and databases while the data transfers to the new username.
      • The system renames the user’s home directory.
      • Make certain to verify the account’s integrity after the transfer finishes.
        

• Rename prefixed databases and database users — The system selects the Rename prefixed databases and database users checkbox by default. Deselect this checkbox to rename only the cPanel account itself.

  • If database prefixing is active on the server, this function changes the names of associated database objects (databases and database users) to use the first eight characters of the new username as a database prefix. For example, if you change the example username to example1, the system will rename the example_db database to example1_db and the fred_db1 user to example1_db1, but name of the steve database will not change.

    Important:

    • When you rename an account, you can rename the account’s databases and database users to preserve the visual correspondence between database names and the username. However, this causes errors in applications that depend on the previous names.

    • If you do not rename the prefixed databases and database users, PostgreSQL® users cannot log in until they reset their passwords.

  • MySQL does not allow you to rename a database. When cPanel & WHM “renames” a database, the system performs the following steps:

  • The system creates a new database.

  • The system moves data from the old database to the new database.

  • The system recreates grants and stored code in the new database.

  • The system deletes the old database and its grants.

    Warning:

    • If any of the first three steps fail, the system returns an error and attempts to restore the database’s original state. If the restoration process fails, the API function’s error response describes these additional failures.
    • In rare cases, the system creates the second database successfully, but fails to delete the old database or grants. The system treats the rename action as a success; however, the API function returns warnings that describe the failure to delete the old database or grants.
      

• Account Owner — Select a new account owner from the list of resellers.

• Contact Email — Enter a new contact email for the account’s owner.

• Default Locale — Select a new default locale.

• cPanel Theme — Select a theme from the menu. To modify the theme and associated style for multiple accounts, use the /scripts/modify_accounts script.

• Mail child node — Displays the currently linked mail child node server. The linked server performs the mail tasks for the cPanel account. For more information, read our How to Use Server Profiles documentation.

• Enable Apache SpamAssassin™ — Enable or disable Apache SpamAssassin’s Spam Filters for the account.

  Note:

  You cannot modify this setting if you enable the Apache SpamAssassin™: Forced Global ON setting in WHM’s Exim Configuration Manager interface (WHM >> Home >> Service Configuration >> Exim Configuration Manager).

Linked Server Nodes

This section allows you to offload specific tasks to a linked node. Select whether to use the local server or a remote child node to handle mail functionality. You can select from the following settings:

• Use only this server. — The cPanel account’s mail functionality will only exist on the local server.
• Mail child node — Select a linked mail child node server to handle the cPanel account’s mail functionality.

Resource Limits

This section allows you to edit the following settings:

• Package — Select a hosting plan, which defines the limitations of the account. Click Change to navigate to the Upgrade/Downgrade an Account interface (WHM >> Home >> Account Functions >> Upgrade/Downgrade an Account).

• Disk Space Quota (MB) — Enter the amount of space on the server’s hard drive for the new account, in Megabytes (MB).

• Monthly Bandwidth Limit (MB) — Enter the maximum amount of data that the new account can transfer each month, in Megabytes (MB).

• Max FTP Accounts — Enter the maximum number of the account’s FTP accounts.

• Max Email Accounts — Enter the maximum number of the account’s email accounts.

• Mail Quota per Email Address (MB) — Enter maximum size that the account can define when it creates an email account, in Megabytes (MB).

  Note:

  When you adjust this value it does not affect existing email accounts.

• Max Mailing Lists — Enter the maximum number of the account’s mailing lists.

  Note:

  The Mailman application handles mailing lists. For more information, read Mailman’s overview documentation.

• Max SQL Databases — Enter the maximum number of each available type of SQL database. For example, if you set this value to 5 and allow MySQL® and PostgreSQL databases, the account can create up to five MySQL databases and up to five PostgreSQL databases.

• Max Subdomains — Enter the maximum number of the account’s subdomains.

• Max Parked Domains — Enter the maximum number of the account’s parked domains (aliases).

• Max Addon Domains — Enter the maximum number of the account’s addon domains.

• Max Passenger Applications — Enter the maximum number of the account’s Passenger applications.

• Maximum Hourly Email by Domain Relayed — Enter the maximum number of emails that a domain can send per hour. This value defaults to Unlimited. You can also set this value to 0 to allow unlimited outbound emails.

  Note:

  • This setting sets the same limit for every domain on the account.
  • To set different limits for each domain, read our How to Set Email Send Limits documentation. If you set different limits for each domain, default displays the limit that you set for the account’s primary domain.
    

• Maximum percentage of failed or deferred messages a domain may send per hour — Defines the maximum percentage of failed or deferred messages that a domain sends before your server temporarily blocks outgoing mail from that domain.

  • This value defaults to Unlimited.
  • The system examines outgoing and local mail over the previous hour to determine whether the domain exceeds the limit.
  • When a domain exceeds the limit, it cannot send mail until the domain no longer exceeds the limit.

Account Enhancements

Account Enhancements allow you to control whether a cPanel account can access a third-party application, without modifying the account’s package settings. Select the checkbox for each Account Enhancement that you wish to enable for the cPanel account.

Privileges

This section allows you to edit the following settings:

• Reseller Privileges — Select this checkbox to grant reseller privileges to the account.

• CGI Privilege — Select this checkbox to grant the ability to serve CGI files to the account.

• Shell Access — Select this checkbox to enable SSH access for the account.

DNS Settings

This section allows you to edit the following settings:

• Enable DKIM on this account — Select this checkbox to create DKIM records for all of the account’s zones.

  Important:

  If you disable DKIM, the system will delete any existing DKIM records on the account.

• Enable SPF on this account — Select this checkbox to create SPF records for all of the account’s zones.

  Warning:

  If you disable SPF, the system will delete any existing SPF records on the account.

  Note:

  • cPanel & WHM uses v=spf +a +mx+ipv4:local_address ?all as the default SPF record. Add a custom SPF record to the appropriate DNS zone template to override this setting.
  • If the account’s owner has also enabled SPF, the system automatically rewrites this record when you use WHM’s Assign IPv6 Address interface (WHM >> Home >> IP Functions >> Assign IPv6 Address) to assign an IPv6 address.
    

Package Extensions

If you included any package extensions with the account or its package, a Package Extensions section displays at the bottom of the interface. Some extensions may include variables that you can edit. Any settings or settings that you can edit appear below the extension name.

Remove missing extensions from package

If any of the account’s extensions are not currently installed on the server, a warning message appears.

If you do not wish to install the missing extensions, perform the following steps to remove them from the account’s chosen package:

1. Select the Remove missing extensions from package checkbox.

2. Click Save Changes to remove the extensions from the package.

3. The Package Conflict Resolution dialog box appears. Select the desired setting and click Proceed.

Package Conflict Resolution

The Package Conflict Resolution dialog box appears if you attempt to save settings that do not match the account’s assigned package. If this dialog box appears, select the desired setting and then click Proceed. You can choose one of the following settings:

• Upgrade/downgrade the account to a package that matches the new properties — Changes the account’s package to a package that matches your chosen settings. This setting only appears if one or more packages that match exist. Select the desired package from the menu.

• Create a new package with this name — Creates a new package with your chosen settings.

  • The system upgrades or downgrades the account to this package.
  • The default name for the new package follows the oldpackagename_accountname format, where oldpackagename represents the name of the account’s previous package, and accountname represents the account’s name. You can also enter a new package name.

• Update package (package name) with these new values — Updates the current package to the chosen settings.

  Warning:

  If you choose this setting, the system applies the new settings to all of the accounts that use this package.

• Set this account to have no package — Dissassociates the account from a package.

  Note:

  If you choose this setting, the system continues to associate the account with the current package extensions, because the system stores package extension data in the account’s userdata file.

• Keep this account on package (package name) (not recommended) — Continues to associate the account with its current package, but the settings in the account’s userdata file do not match the settings in the package file.

  Warning:

  We do not recommend that you use this setting, because the system could easily overwrite the chosen account settings with the package settings.