## SOA Default Records Setup

The SOA (start of authority) record is the most crucial record in a DNS entry. It conveys more information than all the other records combined. This record is called the start of authority because it denotes the DNS entry as the official source of information for its domain.

The SOA record is one of the most complex entries available. It specifies a lot about a domain: the name of the master nameserver ('the primary'), the hostmaster and a set of numbers indicating how the data in this domain expires and how often it needs to be checked.

Every zone file must contain a SOA record.

Together with DNS templates that define the default structure of the rest of resource records, the ability of SOA record templates creation and specifying a particular TLD a SOA template is to be applied allows you to explicitly specify the structure of domain zone files created automatically.

One of the SOA record templates can be specified as a default one. This record is to be applied to all TLDs that do not have a specific SOA record template assigned.

To add a default SOA template, enter no TLDs into a SOA configuration form.

You can create one SOA record template per one TLD.

Each SOA template has an owner account (i.e., a vendor) specified. By default, the owner is Provider account if a SOA template is added from Provider Control Center, or Reseller account, if a SOA template is added from Reseller Control Center. The Owner field in a SOA record configuration form is read-only.

To add a default SOA record:

1. Open the Domain Manager submenu and select Setup.
2. Click on the SOA Defaults tab on the set of Domain Manager settings.
3. Click the Add SOA Default button.
4. Fill the form that appears:
   1. Enter a TLD (starting from a dot or without a dot - does not matter) you want to assign the SOA template to into the TLD field. This SOA template wil be applied to all zone files created for all domains registered in this TLD.
   2. Type the hostname of the master name server for a zone into the Master Name Server field.
   3. Enter the a contact e-mail address for the zone into the Responsible person e-mail field.
   4. Into the Refresh field enter the refresh period, i.e., the frequency the data in a zone is to be refreshed, in seconds.
   5. Into the Retry field enter the retry period, i.e. how often a failed attempt to pull a zone should be retried, in seconds.
   6. Into the Expire field enter how long the failed attempts to pull a zone can last before a zone is to be considered as expired.
   7. Negative caching TTL. This setting, which defaults to 3600 seconds, puts a maximum on the amount of time negative entries are cached. A query for which there is authoritatively no answer is cached to quickly deny a record's existence later on, without putting a heavy load on the remote server. In practice, caches can become saturated with hundreds of thousands of hosts which are tried only once.
5. Click the Update button to save settings and add a SOA record template.

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