How to change the Primary IP Address of a WHM/Cpanel server

This is for CentOS/RHEL based servers.

Steps in WHM: Log into WHM and go to Basic cPanel & WHM Setup.

Change the Primary IP here with the option that says “The IP address (only one address) that will be used for setting up shared IP virtual hosts”

Edit /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
Change the IPADDR and GATEWAY lines to match the new IP and Gateway for the new ip

Edit /etc/sysconfig/network
Change the GATEWAY line here if it does not exist in the ifcfg-* file.

Edit /etc/ips
Remove the new primary IP from this file if it is present
Add the old primary IP to this file with the format


 <IP address>:<Net Mask>:<Gateway>

Edit /var/cpanel/mainip
Replace the old primary IP with the new primary IP

Edit /etc/hosts
Replace the old primary IP with the new one if needed. The hostname’s dns will need to be updated too

Restart the network service to make the new IP the primary

# service network restart

Note: You’re probably going to be disconnected at this point, and have to log in to ssh using the new primary ip.

Restart the ipaliases script to bring up the additional IPs

# service ipaliases restart

Run ifconfig and make sure all IPs show up correctly

Update the cpanel license to the new primary IP

Verify you can still log in to WHM and there is no license warning