This page explains how to edit a DNS zone as well as how to change its owner.
Editing a DNS zone
In order to edit a DNS Zone, select the name of DNS Zone and enter the DNS Zone management page.
Records of zones that have been added from a remote location cannot be modified from interface. For zones added from remote locations, DNS Manager displays the following warning message: "This zone is managed by Remote Update and can not be edited in the interface."
Sometimes DNS Manager displays also some warning messages that provide information about the reason a zone cannot be loaded by named server, by example this kind of messages:
The zone could not be added to DNS because one or more records are not correct.
zone XXX.XX/IN: NS 'ns.XXX.XX' has no address records (A or AAAA)
zone XXX.XX/IN: not loaded due to errors.
In the DNS Zone Information section, you can view several details:
DNS Zone type: Displays the type of the DNS Zone, which can be Master or Slave; it also displays the number of Transfer IPs for Master zones and the number of Master IPs for Slave zones respectively.
Hosts in this zone: Displays the first and last available IP (these parameters depend on the reverse zone IP class).
Hosts in this zone is displayed only for reverse DNS zones.
Last DNS Zone update: This field displays the last time the DNS Zone was updated by the user or from the remote update location.
Last DNS Zone update source: The source of the last update. The DNS Zone can be updated from the interface or from a remote update location. If the zone was update from a remote location, the icon is displayed. Click this icon to access the configuration page of the respective remote update location.
For zones that have been added from interface, you can add new DNS Records and edit or delete existing Records. Click the DNS Zone name to manage the Zone Records.
For slave DNS zones you cannot add records.
In the list of existing DNS Records, the following details are available:
S indicates whether the record is enabled or disabled. The icon indicates that the record is enabled. Click it to disable the corresponding record. The icon indicates that the record is disabled. Click it to enable the corresponding record. The icon indicates that the record has been temporarily disabled by Round Robin who hasn't been able to access it.
The records status can be modified only for zones added from the DNS Manager control panel.
P indicates whether there are any Round Robin polls monitoring the record. The icon indicates there are Round Robin polls set up for the corresponding record. Clicking it will open the Round Robin polls management page for the record. The icon indicates there are no Round Robin polls set up for the corresponding record.
This column is available only for forward zones added from the DNS Manager control panel.
Host displays the hostname of every DNS Record.
Record type refers to the type of the DNS Record. There are several types of DNS Records.
Record Type
Details
IP Address (A)
Maps a hostname to a 32-bit IPv4 address.
Type A rules have the following format:
hostname. IN A XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
where:
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is the IP address for the hostname.
hostname. is the zone name or one of its subdomains.
Examples:
domain.com. IN A 1.2.3.4
subdomain.domain.com. IN A 1.2.3.4
domain.com. IN A [IP]
Specifies one or more Certification Authorities (CAs) authorized to issue certificates for that domain.
CAA rules have the following format:
hostname. IN CAA flags tag value
where:
flags is an unsigned integer between 0 and 255. It is currently used to represent the critical flag, that has a specific meaning per RFC.
tag is an ASCII string that represents the identifier of the property represented by the record
value is the value associated with the tag.
The CAA record consists of a flags byte and a tag-value pair referred to as a ‘property’. Multiple properties may be associated with the same domain name by publishing multiple CAA records at that domain name.
There are 3 available tags:
issue: explicity authorizes a single certificate authority to issue a certificate (any type) for the hostname.
issuewild: explicity authorizes a single certificate authority to issue a wildcard certificate (and only wildcard) for the hostname.
iodef: specifies a URL to which a certificate authority may report policy violations.
Canonical name record is an alias (or nickname) of one name to another.
The A record to which the alias points can be either local or remote - on a foreign name server. This is useful when running multiple services (like an FTP and a webserver) from a single IP address.
Each service can then have its own entry in DNS (like ftp.example.com. and www.example.com.). It is also used when running multiple HTTP servers, with different names, on the same physical host.
CNAME rules have the following format:
hostname. IN CNAME servername.
where:
hostname. is the zone name or one of its subdomains
servername. is a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) either inside or outside the zone.
Examples:
ftp.domain.com. IN CNAME inside.domain.com.
ftp1.domain.com IN CNAME outside.zone.com.
k1._domainkey.domain.com IN CNAME dkim.zone.com.
RFC 1034 states: “If a CNAME record is present at a node, no other data should be present; this ensures that the data for a canonical name and its aliases cannot be different.” In order for these requirements to be met in DNS Manager, the value specified in the Zone alias name field of the CNAME record cannot be set for the DNS Zone name filed in NS, A, AAAA, SRV, CNAME and TXT records or for the Zone email field in an MX record.
Maps a domain name to a list of DNS servers authoritative for that domain. Delegations depend on NS records.
NS rules have the following format:
hostname. IN NS servername.
where:
hostname. is the zone name or one of its subdomains
servername. is a domain name which specifies an
authoritative host for the specified hostname.
Examples:
domain.com. IN NS ns1.example.com.
domain.com. IN NS ns2.example.com.
The NS records of $ORIGIN are displayed in bold characters. DNS Manager allows to choose in the interface which is the primary nameserver on a zone (required for some local TLDs). In order to set up an NS record as primary check Make primary when you add/edit the desired NS record.
For BIND to take a DNS zone into consideration, at least one NS record must be defined for $ORIGIN in the respective zone.
For best practice, it is recommended to have at least two NS records defined for each public domain.
Allows an administrator to insert arbitrary text into a DNS record. This has been used to implement new functions with DNS support without allocating new record types. For example, this record is used to implement the Sender Policy Framework and DomainKeys specifications.
TXT rules have the following format:
hostname. IN TXT "Text information"
where:
hostname. is the zone name or one of its subdomains
"Text information" can be any type of string including strings generated by SPF Rules
Examples:
domain.com. IN TXT "k=rsa; p=MEwwDQYerwqEWwE"
subdomain.domain.com. IN TXT "this is a test"
Specifies a host which should be authoritative for the specified class. For class C reverse zones, 4PSA DNS Manager accepts NS records for $ORIGIN and supports classless delegation records, as described in RFC 2317, chapter 4.
The NS records of $ORIGIN are displayed in bold characters. DNS Manager allows to choose in the interface which is the primary nameserver on a zone (required for some local TLDs). In order to set up an NS record as primary check Make primary when you add/edit the desired NS record.
For BIND to take a DNS zone into consideration, at least one NS record must be defined for $ORIGIN in the respective zone.
For best practice, it is recommended to have at least two NS records defined for each public domain.
Class A and B zones support NS records for $ORIGIN and inferior class zones and do not support classless delegation records. For class C reverse zones, 4PSA DNS Manager automatically generates CNAME records that correspond to the NS records created for classless delegation records. If the Automatically generate CNAME records for delegated subnets checkbox is selected, then the CNAME records will be automatically generated. This checkbox is available only for NS records with a subnet mask lower than 24 (having a numeric value higher than 24).
NS rules have the following format:
ip_part.host_ip_addr.in-addr.arpa. IN NS servername.
where:
host_ip_addr.in-addr.arpa. is the zone name.
ip_part is the IP section that completes the IP address when prepended to host_ip_addr (for class A, B and D zones, and for class C $ORIGIN NS).
for classless delegation records, ip_part is the IP section that completes the IP address when prepended to host_ip_addr including the subnet mask.
servername. is a domain name which specifies an authoritative host for the specified zone.
Examples:
1.2.3.in-addr.arpa. IN NS ns2.server.com.
1.2.3.in-addr.arpa. IN NS ns3.server.com.
0/29.1.2.3.in-addr.arpa. IN NS example.com.
Maps an IPv4 address to the canonical name for that host. Setting up a PTR record for a hostname in the in-addr.arpa. domain that corresponds to an IP address implements reverse DNS lookup for that address.
PTR rules have the following format:
IPaddress IN PTR hostname.
where:
IPaddress is the IPv4 address in the IN-ADDR.ARPA. domain
hostname. is the corresponding location in the domain name space
A canonical name record is an alias of one name to another. According to RFC 2317, CNAME records are only supported in C class reverse zones. CNAME rules have the following format:
ip_part.network.host_ip_addr.in-addr.arpa. IN CNAME ip_part.host_ip_addr.in-addr.arpa.
where:
ip_part is the IP section that completes the IP address when prepended to host_ip_addr
network is the subnet mask
host_ip_addr.in-addr.arpa. is the zone name
Examples:
0.1.2.3.in-addr.arpa. IN CNAME 0.0/29.1.2.3.in-addr.arpa.
1.1.2.3.in-addr.arpa. IN CNAME 1.0/29.1.2.3.in-addr.arpa.
...
7.1.2.3.in-addr.arpa. IN CNAME 7.0/29.1.2.3.in-addr.arpa.
Allows an administrator to insert arbitrary text into a DNS record. This has been used to implement new functions with DNS support without allocating new record types. For example, this record is used to implement the Sender Policy Framework and DomainKeys specifications.
TXT rules have the following format:
ip_part.host_ip_addr.in-addr.arpa. IN TXT "Text information"
where:
ip_part is the IP section that completes the IP address when prepended to host_ip_addr
Specifies a host which should be authoritative for the chosen class.
The NS records can be defined only for $ORIGIN.
The NS rules have the following format:
ipv6_part.host_ipv6_addr.IP6.ARPA. IN NS servername.
where:
ipv6_part is the IP section that completes the IP address when prepended to host_ipv6_addr.
host_ipv6_addr.IP6.ARPA. is the zone name.
servername. is a domain name which specifies an authoritative host for the defined zone.
For example:
1.0.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.0.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.0.A.B.C.D.E.F.IP6.ARPA. IN NS example.com.
5.5.1.3.2.1.0.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.0.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.0.A.B.C.D.E.F.IP6.ARPA. IN NS example.com.
For more information about this record type, see RFC4291.
Reverse record (PTR)
This record type maps an IPv6 address to the canonical name for that host. Setting up a PTR record for a hostname in the IP6.ARPA. domain that corresponds to an IPv6 address implements reverse DNS lookup for that address. The PTR rules have the following format:
IPv6_address IN PTR hostname.
where:
IPv6_address is the IPv6 address in the IP6.ARPA. domain
hostname. is the corresponding location in the domain name space
For example:
8.b.d.0.1.0.0.2.IP6.ARPA. IN PTR test.com.
1.1.1.1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.8.B.D.0.1.0.0.2.IP6.ARPA. IN PTR test.com.
*.1.1.1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.8.B.D.0.1.0.0.2.IP6.ARPA. IN PTR test.com.
For more information about this record type, see RFC4291.
Record Type
Details
Nameserver (NS)
Maps a domain name to a list of DNS servers authoritative for that domain. Delegations depend on NS records.
NS rules have the following format:
hostname. IN NS servername.
where:
hostname. is the zone name or one of its subdomains
servername. is a domain name which specifies an authoritative host for the specified hostname.
Examples:
1.2.e164.arpa. IN NS ns1.example.com.
1.2.e164.arpa. IN NS ns2.example.com.
5.1.2.e164.arpa. IN NS ns1.example.com.
The NS records of $ORIGIN are displayed in bold characters. DNS Manager allows to choose in the interface which is the primary nameserver on a zone (required for some local TLDs). In order to set up an NS record as primary check Make primary when you add/edit the desired NS record.
For BIND to take a DNS zone into consideration, at least one NS record must be defined for $ORIGIN in the respective zone. For best practice, it is recommended to have at least two NS records defined for each public domain.
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