Service subdomains provide access to cPanel & WHM interfaces and services. When you create accounts or domains, the system also creates their service subdomains. You can access interfaces and services via the port or the service subdomain. The port has a faster server response time. However, the service subdomain allows access from behind a firewall restricting, for example, port 80 and port 443.
SSL virtualhost configurations use the cPanel service SSL certificate. For example, the cpanel, whm, webdisk, and webmail service subdomains use it. For steps to bypass this, read the Bypass using the cPanel service SSL certificate section below.
The system handles SSL and non-SSL connections separately.
Each service subdomain’s virtualhost binds to the server’s assigned IP addresses.
cPanel & WHM uses Apache’s configuration to enable service subdomains with SSL.
cPanel & WHM uses Domain TLS SNI by default for service subdomains’ SSL certificates.
cPanel & WHM previously referred to service subdomains as proxy subdomains.
Settings
The Service subdomains setting is enabled by default in WHM’s Tweak Settings interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Tweak Settings). We strongly recommend that you do not disable this setting.
In cPanel & WHM version 120 and later, we enable AutoConfig and Autodiscover by default. For more information, read the Domains section of our Tweak Settings documentation.
If your server runs NGINX®, you cannot use the Safari® web browser to log in to a service subdomain. Use another browser, or log in with the service’s port URL.
Access interfaces
Users can access cPanel, WHM, and Webmail using these service subdomains:
Interface
Service subdomain
Secure port
Non-secure port
cPanel
https://cpanel.example.com
https://example.com:2083
http://example.com:2082
WHM
https://whm.example.com
Note:
SSL only secures the whm service subdomain for resellers.
https://example.com:2087
http://example.com:2086
Webmail
https://webmail.example.com
https://example.com:2096
http://example.com:2095
Access services
You can access cPanel & WHM services using these service subdomains:
We strongly recommend that you only use secure ports to access services on your server. For more information about ports on your cPanel & WHM server, read our How to Configure Your Firewall for cPanel & WHM Services documentation.
Bypass using the cPanel service SSL certificate
Warning:
We do not recommend this action.
To prevent the use of the cPanel service SSL certificate for the cpanel, whm, webdisk, and webmail subdomains:
.1Disable the Service subdomains setting in the Domains section of WHM’s Tweak Settings interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Tweak Settings).
.2Use cPanel’s Domains interface (cPanel » Home » Domains » Domains) to create each service subdomain (for example, cpanel, whm, webdisk, and webmail).
.3Redirect each service’s subdomain to the correct secure URL and port:
Service
Subdomain
Redirection
cPanel
cpanel.example.com
https://example.com:2083
WHM
whm.example.com
https://example.com:2087
Web Disk
webdisk.example.com
https://example.com:2078
Webmail
webmail.example.com
https://example.com:2096
When you navigate to webmail.example.com, the server redirects you to https://example.com:2096. Then, it uses the example.com domain’s SSL certificate to secure the connection.