DNS Zones

How-To:

Purpose

The following procedures explain how to add a new DNS zone to an InterWorx Control Panel server.

In many cases, you don't need to manually create a DNS zone for your domains. DNS zones are created automatically when creating SiteWorx Accounts and Pointer Domains.

Procedure - Add a New DNS Zone

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Add ] link.
  5. Enter the domain name in the Domain field. Be sure that you do NOT include the www prefix.
  6. Enter the IP address for this domain in the IP address field.
  7. Specify the other values as needed. Defaults are provided.
  8. Click the button.
  9. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: Zone added successfully.

Prerequisites

A DNS zone must exist.

Purpose

The following procedures explain how to delete a DNS zone from an InterWorx Control Panel server.

You should not delete DNS Zones that are attached to SiteWorx accounts, even if DNS for those domains is hosted elsewhere.

Procedure - Delete a DNS Zone

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Delete ] link in the Action column next to the DNS zone you wish to delete.
  5. Click on the confirmation screen that appears.
  6. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: Zone deleted successfully.

Prerequisites

A DNS Zone must exist.

Purpose

The following procedures explain how to edit a DNS zone's SOA properties.

Edit a Zone's (SOA) Primary Nameserver

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Edit ] link in the Action column.
  5. Locate the Primary Nameserver field.
  6. Enter the new value for the Primary Namesever.
  7. Click the button.
  8. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: Zone edited successfully.
This will almost always be handled automatically for you when creating SiteWorx accounts and you are urged to only alter this value if you know what you are doing. This nameserver is listed on your SOA record for this domain and setting it to an incorrect value could cause your site or any of your DNS records not to function properly.

Edit a Zone's (SOA) Contact E-mail

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Edit ] link in the Action column.
  5. Locate the Contact E-mail Address field.
  6. Enter the new value for the e-mail address.
  7. Click the button.
  8. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: Zone edited successfully.

Edit a Zone's (SOA) Refresh Time

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Edit ] link in the Action column.
  5. Locate the Refresh Time field.
  6. Enter the new value for the refresh time.
  7. Click the button.
  8. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: Zone edited successfully.

Edit a Zone's (SOA) Retry Time

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Edit ] link in the Action column.
  5. Locate the Retry Time field.
  6. Enter the new value for the retry time.
  7. Click the button.
  8. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: Zone edited successfully.

Edit a Zone's (SOA) Expire Time

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Edit ] link in the Action column.
  5. Locate the Expire Time field.
  6. Enter the new value for the expire time.
  7. Click the button.
  8. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: Zone edited successfully.

Edit a Zone's (SOA) Minimum TTL

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Edit ] link in the Action column.
  5. Locate the Minimum TTL field.
  6. Enter the new value for the minimum TTL.
  7. Click the button.
  8. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: Zone edited successfully.


Prerequisites

A DNS Zone must exist.

Purpose

The following procedures explain how to create various types of DNS records.

Procedure - Add an A Record

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Records ] link in the Action column.
  5. You will see a list of all of the DNS records for the zone/domain.
  6. Locate the fields at the bottom of the table.
  7. In the field beneath the Host column, enter the host name.
  8. Select A in the drop-down list beneath the Type column.
  9. In the field beneath the Target column, enter the target IP address.
  10. In the field beneath the TTL column, enter the length of time (in seconds) to cache this DNS record.
  11. Click the button.
  12. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: DNS record successfully added.

Procedure - Add a CNAME Record

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Records ] link in the Action column.
  5. You will see a list of all of the DNS records for the zone/domain.
  6. Locate the fields at the bottom of the table.
  7. Select CNAME in the drop-down list beneath the Type column.
  8. In the field beneath the Host column, enter an alias.
  9. In the field beneath the Target column, enter the canonical name.
  10. In the field beneath the TTL column, enter the length of time (in seconds) to cache this DNS record.
  11. Click the button.
  12. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: DNS record successfully added.

Procedure - Add an NS Record

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Records ] link in the Action column.
  5. You will see a list of all of the DNS records for the zone/domain.
  6. Locate the fields at the bottom of the table.
  7. Select NS in the drop-down list beneath the Type column.
  8. In the field beneath the Target column, enter name of the DNS server you would like to list as authorative for the domain.
  9. In the field beneath the TTL column, enter the length of time (in seconds) to cache this DNS record.
  10. Click the button.
  11. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: DNS record successfully added.

Procedure - Add an MX Record

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Records ] link in the Action column.
  5. You will see a list of all of the DNS records for the zone/domain.
  6. Locate the fields at the bottom of the table.
  7. Select MX in the drop-down list beneath the Type column.
  8. In the field beneath the Host column, enter the canonical name for the mail server.
  9. In the field beneath the Target column, enter an integer value to 'rank' the MX record.
  10. In the field beneath the TTL column, enter the length of time (in seconds) to cache this DNS record.
  11. Click the button.
  12. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: DNS record successfully added.

A higher rank (lower number) means that this MX record will take precedence over lower ranked (higher number) MX records when the mail is delivered for this domain.


Procedure - Add a PTR Record

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Records ] link in the Action column.
  5. You will see a list of all of the DNS records for the zone/domain.
  6. Locate the fields at the bottom of the table.
  7. Select PTR in the drop-down list beneath the Type column.
  8. In the field beneath the Host column, enter the IP address in ".in-addr.arpa" style format. For example, if you want to make a PTR record for the IP 216.239.37.99 you would make the host field "99.37.239.216.in-addr.arpa"
  9. In the field beneath the Target column, enter the hostname to be shown when a reverse DNS lookup is performed.
  10. In the field beneath the TTL column, enter the length of time (in seconds) to cache this DNS record.
  11. Click the button.
  12. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: DNS record successfully added.

For PTR records to work you will have to get your ISP to delagate the reverse DNS authority to you.


Procedure - Add a TXT Record

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Records ] link in the Action column.
  5. You will see a list of all of the DNS records for the zone/domain.
  6. Locate the fields at the bottom of the table.
  7. Select TXT in the drop-down list beneath the Type column.
  8. In the field beneath the Target column, enter the string to be returned.
  9. In the field beneath the TTL column, enter the length of time (in seconds) to cache this DNS record.
  10. Click the button.
  11. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: DNS record successfully added.


Prerequisites

A DNS Zone and associated records must exist.

Purpose

The following procedures explain how to delete DNS records.

Procedure - Delete a DNS Record

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Records ] link next to the DNS zone you wish to delete the record from.
  5. You will now be looking at the table of DNS records for the zone you chose.
  6. Click the [ Delete ] link next to the DNS record you wish to delete.
  7. Click on the confirmation screen that is displayed.
  8. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: DNS record successfully deleted.

Prerequisites

A DNS Zone and associated records must exist.

Purpose

The following procedure explains how to edit DNS records.

Procedure - Edit a DNS Record

  1. Click the Icon System Services menu item if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Icon DNS Server menu item if it is not already open.
  3. Click the Icon Zones menu item.
  4. Click the [ Records ] link next to the DNS zone you wish to edit the records for.
  5. Click the [ Edit ] link in the Action column for the record you wish to edit.
  6. Editing of the record properties will occur in-line. Change the fields as desired.
  7. Click the button in the Action column.
  8. You will see the following message at the top of the screen: Record edited successfully.