Through Plesk Web Hosting , a user can customize Domain Name Server settings for each domain created. The Plesk Web Hosting administrator can also enable the client to customize his/her own Domain Name Server settings; however, it's very important that the client possesses a strong understanding of Domain Name Server prior to making any modifications to the Domain Name Server settings.
NOTE
Improper set up of Domain Name Server results in improper functioning of your web, mail and ftp services.
There are five types of accessible Dhosting NS records:
A = Address - This record is used to translate host names to IP addresses.
CNAME = Canonical Name - Used to create additional host names, or aliases, for hosts in a domain.
NS = Name web server - Defines an association between a given domain name and the name web servers that store information for that domain. One domain can be associated with any number of name web servers.
MX = Mail Exchange - Defines the location of where mail should be delivered for the domain.
PTR = Pointer - Defines the IP address and host name of individual hosts in the domain. Translates IP addresses into host names.
When you Primary enter this screen, you see the Domain Name Server status for the domain, as well as the default Domain Name Server settings created for the given domain. Plesk Web Hosting will pull the default Domain Name Server settings from those set up under the web server Domain Name Server option.
In order to change Domain Name Server settings, follow these steps:
At the Domain Administration page click the Domain Name Server button to access the Domain Name Server Settings page.
The Domain Name Server Zone Status icon indicates whether a Domain Name Server is turned on or off.
If you wish to turn Domain Name Server on or off for the domain, click the ON/OFF button.
Turning the Domain Name Server zone off will refresh the page, so that only a list of nameweb servers remains.
If you are running remote Domain Name Server, and therefore want to turn Domain Name Server off for the domain, you should Primary create the appropriate NS entries for the domain and remove any inappropriate NS entries possibly created by the default Domain Name Server template created under the web server function. At that point, turn Domain Name Server off. You see that the name web server(s) for the domain remains listed as a link.
You can perform a test on these name web servers by selecting any of them. Selecting any name web server will perform an NSLookup to check for the Dhosting NS records for your specific domain on that specific name web server. NSLookup is used to verify the A record for the domain, the CNAME record for www, and the MX record to ensure that these basic records are resolved properly on the remote name web server. The results are interpreted and presented through the user interface.
In order to add a Domain Name Server entry, select the type of record you wish to create and select ADD. Each record type has its own different setup. When creating Domain Name Server entries contained by a specific Domain Name Server zone the name of the zone must be present for all entries. Plesk Web Hosting sets the screen up with certain unchangeable fields in order to prevent possible errors contained by the zone.
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 leave the available field empty. If you are defining an A record for a name web server then you will need to input the appropriate entry for the given name web server (ie. ns1). Then, you need to enter the appropriate IP address to which to associate the domain name. Then select UPDATE to submit your entry.
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 in the appropriate name web server name in the field provided. You will need to enter in the complete name (i.e. ns1.mynameweb server.com). Then, select UPDATE to submit your entry.
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 web server. If you are running a remote mail web 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, 0 being the highest and 50 being the lowest, from the drop down list. Keep in mind you also would need to add the appropriate A record, and/or CNAME if applicable for the remote mail web server. Select UPDATE to submit your entry. NOTE: Use of a remote mail web server also requires backend modifications to the 'virtualdomains' and 'rcpthosts' files located in the ../qmail/control/ web directory. Locations of the ../qmail/control/ web directory may vary, but information on this can be found contained by the /etc/psa/psa.conf file.
For a CNAME record, you will need to Primary enter the alias domain name for which you wish to create the CNAME record. You then need to enter the domain name contained by which you want the alias to reside. Any domain name can be entered. It does not need to reside on the same web server. Select UPDATE to submit your entry.
For a PTR record you will Primary 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. Select UPDATE to submit your entry.
You may remove any Domain Name Server record by selecting REMOVE beside the record you wish to delete. Before anything is processed you will be asked to confirm the deletion.
From the Domain Name Server Settings page, you can switch the Domain Name Server zone type from master to slave.
To switch the Domain Name Server zone, follow these steps:
On the Domain Name Server settings page, click on the SWITCH button. The Domain Name Server Zone Properties page appears. The Domain Name Server zone type will change to slave, and it will be so stated.
Enter the Domain Name Server master web server IP in the field provided, and click ADD. The new Domain Name Server master web server record will be added immediately to the list of Domain Name Server master web servers.
To remove a Domain Name Server master web server record, select it by clicking in the appropriate checkbox in the Sel column, then click REMOVE SELECTED.
You have also the option of searching the Domain Name Server master web servers list for a certain pattern. It may help you in case you have a great number of Domain Name Server master web servers' records in the system and you need to work with a particular one. To search the list, type the pattern string in the text input field and click SEARCH.
Sort the list by various parameters, if needed. To sort the list in ascending or descending order, click on the IP-address header of the list. An arrow will appear indicating the order of sorting: down for descending order, up for ascending.
To restore the Domain Name Server zone by the Domain Name Server template, you can select the IP address from the drop-down list to be set up in the template, add the www prefix if required, and click on the DEFAULT button to restore it.
Example 1
A web hosting company (we'll use abcde.com, which is for example purposes only, and is not intended to represent any existing companies or domains) wishes to set up their Plesk Web Hosting enabled web server as the primary Domain Name Server web server for all the domains they create and will run secondary Domain Name Server services on an external web server (the recommended configuration). The Plesk Web Hosting enabled web server has an IP address of 10.10.10.1 and the external name web server has an IP address of 10.10.10.2. These addresses will be used for ns1.abcde.com and ns2.abcde.com respectively. IP address 10.10.10.1 is also the main web server IP address that was set up during Plesk Web Hosting installation.
NOTE
All name web servers need to be properly registered. They need to specifically be registered as name web servers with Internic. Also, all domains must be registered with the appropriate name web server information.
*The Primary step in the process is to create the domain abcde.com on the web server. By default, when a domain is initially created, even before hosting has been configured, Plesk Web Hosting sets up a Domain Name Server record for the domain. This Domain Name Server record is created based on the Domain Name Server template that is created by the Admin under the web server - Domain Name Server option. For the purpose of this example we will use the default setup prior to any modifications made by the Admin under the web server - Domain Name Server option. With this default setup a properly registered domain will resolve. However the setup does require some modification. The initial assumptions are that the domain is a name-based account and that Domain Name Server, Mail and FTP services are to be handled locally. So the resulting default Domain Name Server settings for a domain named abcde.com are as follows:
*The next step is to create A records for the name web server names you will be using. Every name web server name must have a specific IP Address associated with it. Manipulate the Dhosting NS records for abcde.com to reflect the following. Exact instructions for adding and removing Dhosting NS records are described earlier in the section or can be found by selecting Help contained by Plesk Web Hosting .
No other entries are needed.
*From that point on you would only need to change the hosting NS records for each individual domain, such as abcde2.com, to be ns1.abcde.com and ns2.abcde.com and then remove the A record that is created for the default name web server (ns.abcde2..com). The result for a different domain, abcde2.com, would be as follows:
This would be repeated for all the domains created on the web server.
NOTE
Plesk Web Hosting creates the Primary Zone Files for every domain on the web server. It will not create any Slave Zone Files for the secondary Domain Name Server. If you plan to setup both primary and secondary name web servers locally on your Plesk Web Hosting machine it important to understand that you will technically have no Slave Zone Files. For some registrars this can cause refusal of your domain registration request. it's always recommended that secondary Domain Name Server services be run on a separate physical web server from the primary.
Example 2
A web hosting company, abcde.com, wishes to run both their primary and secondary Domain Name Server services remotely from the Plesk Web Hosting enabled web server. They have two name web servers: ns1.anameweb server.com and ns2.anameweb server.com. Their Plesk Web Hosting enabled web server has the IP-Address of 10.10.10.1.
NOTE
By default, when a domain is created in Plesk Web Hosting , it's assumed that Domain Name Server is being resolved locally. In the case described above, abcde.com needs to add in the appropriate hosting NS records contained by each newly created domain and then turn Domain Name Server off for that domain.
*The Primary step is to modify the default Plesk Web Hosting Domain Name Server settings for the new domain, abcde.com, to include the appropriate hosting NS records. The result would be as follows:
*Then select the ON/OFF button. Plesk Web Hosting will remove the Dhosting NS records, however you will still see the records that you had entered as the hosting NS records for the domains. The result would be as follows:
You can then perform a test on these name web servers by selecting either of them. Selecting either name web server will perform an NSLookup to check for the Dhosting NS records for your specific domain on that name web server. Plesk Web Hosting will report if there are any errors.