Your control panel works in cooperation with the BIND DNS server, which enables you to run DNS service on the same machine where you host Web sites.
Setup of DNS zones for newly added domains is automated: When you add a new domain name to control panel, a zone file is automatically generated for it in accordance with the server-wide DNS zone template and registered in the name server's database, and name server is instructed to act as a primary (master) DNS server for the zone.
You can:
To view the default records in the server-wide DNS template:
The <ip> and <domain> templates are automatically replaced in the generated zone with real IP addresses and domain names.
To add a new resource record to the server-wide DNS template:
Note that you can use <ip> and <domain> templates that will be replaced in the generated zone with real IP addresses and domain names. You can use a wildcard symbol (*) to specify any part of the domain name, and you can specify the exact values you need.
To remove a resource record from the server-wide DNS template:
Plesk updates automatically the zone name, hostname, administrator's e-mail address, and serial number, and writes the default values for the rest of Start of Authority record parameters to the zone files it maintains. If you are not satisfied with the default values, you can change them through the control panel.
To change the Start of Authority (SOA) record settings in the server-wide DNS template:
Usage of serial number format recommended by IETF and RIPE is mandatory for many domains registered in some high-level DNS zones, mostly European ones. If your domain is registered in one of these zones and your registrar refuses your SOA serial number, using serial number format recommended by IETF and RIPE should resolve this issue.
Plesk servers use UNIX-timestamp syntax for configuring DNS zones. UNIX timestamp is the number of seconds since January 1, 1970 (Unix Epoch). The 32-bit timestamp will overflow by July 8, 2038.
RIPE recommends using YYYYMMDDNN format, where YYYY is year (four digits), MM is month (two digits), DD is day of month (two digits) and NN is version per day (two digits). The YYYYMMDDNN format won't overflow until the year 4294.
To change the Start of Authority (SOA) serial number format to YYYYMMDDNN for the server-wide DNS template:
Note: See the sample of SOA serial number generated with the selected format. If the resulting number is less, than the current zone number, the modification may cause temporary malfunction of DNS for this domain. Zone updates may be invisible to Internet users for some time.
To restore the default Start of Authority (SOA) serial number format (UNIX timestamp) for the server-wide DNS template:
Note: See the sample of SOA serial number generated with the selected format. If the resulting number is less, than the current zone number, the modification may cause temporary malfunction of DNS for this domain. Zone updates may be invisible to Internet users for some time.
By default, transfer of DNS zones is allowed only for name servers designated by NS records contained within each zone. If your domain name registrar requires that you allow transfer for all zones you serve:
If you are using third-party DNS servers, and are not running your own DNS server, you should switch off your control panel's DNS server:
To restore the original configuration of server-wide DNS template:
You can specify whether your DNS server should provide recursive service for queries.
With recursive service allowed, your DNS server, when queried, performs all the lookup procedures required to find the destination IP address for the requestor. When recursive service is not allowed, your DNS server performs minimal number of queries only to find a server that knows where the requested resource resides and to redirect the requestor to that server. Therefore, recursive service consumes more server resources and makes your server susceptible to denial-of-service attacks, especially when the server is set to serve recursive queries from clients outside your network.
After your install Plesk, the built-in DNS server defaults to serving recursive queries only from your own server and from other servers located in your network. This is the optimal setting. If your upgraded from earlier versions of Plesk, your DNS server defaults to serving recursive queries from any host.
If you want to change the settings for recursive domain name service: