Customizing DNS Zone Configuration for Domains

For each new domain name, your control panel automatically creates DNS zone in accordance with the configuration preset defined by your provider. The domain names should work fine with the automatic configuration, however if you need to perform custom modifications in the domain name zone, you can do that through your control panel.

To view the resource records in a DNS zone of a domain:

1. On your Home page, click the domain name you need.
2. Click DNS in the Services group. A screen will show all resource records for a given domain.

To add a new resource record to the zone:

1. On your Home page, click the domain name you need.
2. Click DNS in the Services group.
3. Click Add New DNS Record in the Tools group.
4. Select a resource record type, and specify the appropriate data:
   • For an A record you will need to enter the domain name for which you wish to create an A record. If you are simply defining an A record for your main domain, then you should leave the available field empty. If you are defining an A record for a name server then you will need to input the appropriate entry for the given name server (ie. ns1). Then, you need to enter the appropriate IP address to which to associate the domain name.
   • For a NS record, you will need to enter the domain name for which you wish to create the NS record. If you are defining an NS record for your main domain, then you will leave the available field blank. Then enter the appropriate name server name in the field provided. You will need to enter the complete name (i.e. ns1.mynameserver.com).
   • For a MX record, you will need to enter the domain for which you are creating the MX record. For the main domain, you would simply leave the available field blank. You will then need to enter your mail exchanger, this is the name of the mail server. If you are running a remote mail server named 'mail.myhostname.com' then you would simply enter 'mail.myhostname.com' into the field provided. You will then need to set the priority for the mail exchanger. Select the priority using the drop-down box: 0 is the highest and 50 is the lowest. Keep in mind you would also need to add the appropriate A record, and/or CNAME if applicable for the remote mail exchange server.
   • For a CNAME record, you will need to first enter the alias domain name for which you wish to create the CNAME record. You then need to enter the domain name within which you want the alias to reside. Any domain name can be entered. It does not need to reside on the same server.
   • For a PTR record you will first enter the IP address/mask for which you wish to define the pointer. Then enter the appropriate domain name for this IP to be translated to.
   • For a TXT record, you will be able to enter an arbitrary text string, which could be a description or an SPF record.
   • For a SRV record, you will need to enter the service name, protocol name, port number, and target host. You can also specify the priority of service and weight of service in the appropriate fields.
5. Click OK to submit the data.

To remove a resource record from the zone:

1. On your Home page, click the domain name you need.
2. Click DNS in the Services group.
3. Select a check box corresponding to the record you wish to remove.
4. Click Remove Selected.
5. Confirm removal and click OK.

To restore the original zone configuration in accordance with the configuration preset defined by your provider:

1. On your Home page, click the domain name you need.
2. Click DNS in the Services group.
3. Click Default.
4. In the IP address drop-down box, select the IP address to be used for restoring the zone and specify whether a www alias is required for the domain.
5. Confirm the restoration and click OK. The zone configuration will be recreated.

To modify the entries in the Start of Authority (SOA) record for a domain:

1. On your Home page, click the domain name you need.
2. Click DNS.
3. Select the Zone Settings tab.
4. Specify the desired values:
   • Refresh Interval. This is how often the secondary name servers check with the primary name server to see if any changes have been made to the domain's zone file. Plesk sets the default value of three hours.
   • Retry Interval. This is the time a secondary server waits before retrying a failed zone transfer. This time is typically less than the refresh interval. Plesk sets the default value of one hour.
   • Expire Interval. This is the time before a secondary server stops responding to queries, after a lapsed refresh interval where the zone was not refreshed or updated. Plesk sets the default value of one week.
   • Minimum TTL. This is the time a secondary server should cache a negative response. Plesk sets the default value of one day.
   • Default TTL. This is the amount of time that other DNS servers should store the record in a cache. Plesk sets the default value of one day.
5. Click OK.