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## Configuring DNS Services

Your control panel works in cooperation with a 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:

- Add resource records to and remove from the template,
- Override the automatic zone configuration with custom settings on a per-domain basis,
- Select another DNS server (for example, switch to Microsoft DNS server from BIND DNS server),
- Switch off the domain name service on this machine altogether, if your provider or another organization is running centralized DNS service (for example, if your Plesk is using Plesk Expand DNS server).

To view the default records in the server-wide DNS template:

1. Go to Server > DNS Settings. All resource record templates will be displayed.

   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:

1. Go to Server > DNS Settings.
2. Click Add New DNS Record in the Tools group.
3. Select the resource record type and specify the record properties as desired.

   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.

4. Click OK.

To remove a resource record from the server-wide DNS template:

1. Go to Server > DNS Settings.
2. Select a check box corresponding to the record template you wish to remove, and click Remove Selected.
3. Confirm removal and click OK.

To restore the original configuration of server-wide DNS template:

1. Go to Server > DNS Settings.
2. Click Restore Defaults in the Tools group
3. Confirm the restoration of the DNS template zone and click OK.

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:

1. Go to Server > DNS Settings.
2. Click SOA Records Template.
3. 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.
4. Click OK. The new SOA record parameters will be set for the newly created domains.

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:

1. Go to Server > DNS Settings.
2. Select Transfer Restrictions Template tab. A screen will show all hosts to which DNS zone transfers for all zones are allowed.

- To add a network to ACL, specify the IP address and mask in the IP address/mask field and click Add Network.
- To delete a network from ACL, select the checkbox corresponding to the required network in the list, click Remove Selected, confirm the removal and click OK.

You can adjust the server-wide DNS recursion settings in Plesk.

1. Click the Server shortcut in the navigation pane.
2. Click DNS Settings in the Services group.
3. Select DNS Recursion tab.
   - To allow recursion for all requests, select Allow for all requests.
   - To allow recurson only for local requests, select Allow for local requests only. For example, the Allow for local requests only option can be helpful if you wish to avoid the usage of DNS server resources by spammers, this option is set by default in Plesk.
   - Select Deny to switch off the recursion.
4. Click OK.

If you are using third-party DNS servers (for example, if your control panel is using Plesk Expand DNS server), and are not running your own DNS server, you should switch off your control panel's DNS server.

To switch off your control panel's DNS server:

1. Go to Server > DNS Settings.
2. Click DNS server.
3. Select the DNS server is switched off option and click OK.