WDNS DNS Management Addon

WDNS lets you manage the DNS zones of domain names from inside WISECP. You create the zone and the customer edits their own records from their own panel. The quota and the permitted record types stay within the package you defined.

Reaching the Screen

From the menu follow Tools → Addons, then click the WDNS row in the list. Address: {admin}/tools/addons/WDNS

If the addon is off, an Enable button appears in the list. Enabling installs the required tables. Without a valid WDNS licence the screen opens, but operations that write to the DNS server do not run.

What Is on the Screen

The screen is divided into nine tabs. Each tab answers a separate question.

Supported DNS providers

When you add a server you choose a driver. The driver decides how WISECP talks to that provider.

What a driver supports is shown on the server row. If the provider does not support DNSSEC, the signing option never appears on those zones.

Before You Configure

• A valid WDNS licence.
• At least one DNS provider account or your own PowerDNS server, and that provider's API credentials.
• At least one package if you are selling to customers. A customer without a package cannot create zones.
• If you sell domain names, the nameservers must point at this DNS server. Otherwise records are written but nobody sees them.

Settings

Server fields

Filled in the window that opens from the Add Server button on the DNS Servers tab.

Before saving, confirm access with the Test Connection button. If the test fails, creating a zone will fail too.

Package fields

Addon settings

Setup and Operation

Adding a server

1. Open the DNS Servers tab and click the Add Server button.
2. Choose the driver and enter the credentials that provider asks for.
3. Click Test Connection; the result appears in the same window.
4. Save once the test passes. The server joins the list and is ready to hold zones.

Defining a package

1. On the Packages tab click the Add Package button.
2. Set the limits and the permitted record types.
3. In Linked products choose which product grants the package.
4. Save. Customers who own that product can now create zones.

Creating a zone and editing records

1. On the Zones tab click the Add Zone button, then choose the domain name and its owner.
2. Save; the zone is created on the selected server and the nameserver records are written.
3. Click the zone in the list. The record list is read live from the provider.
4. Use Add Record to enter a new record. Saving writes to the provider immediately; there is no separate publish step.

Records sharing a name and type are grouped into one row. Saving a row replaces every value under that name and type. A value you leave out is removed.

Bulk replace

1. On the zone page click the Bulk Replace button.
2. Enter the text to search for and the text to put in its place.
3. Click Preview; the affected records are listed and nothing is written.
4. Once you have checked the list, click Apply.

This is the quickest way to change an IP address across every record when a server moves.

Applying a record set

1. On the Record Sets tab click the Add Set button.
2. Enter the records. Write {$domainname} instead of a domain and the set fills in each zone's own name.
3. Save, then choose it with the Apply Set button on a zone page.
4. Check which records the preview will add and confirm.

Attach a set to a package as its default and every new zone under that package gets it automatically. Customers can define their own sets too; yours they may only apply, never edit.

Turning on DNSSEC

1. On the zone page click the DNSSEC button.
2. Click Start Signing; the provider generates the keys.
3. Copy the DS record shown on the screen.
4. Enter that DS record at the domain's registrar. If the domain is registered with you, the domain page accepts it.

Turning it off runs in the opposite order: remove the DS record at the registrar first, wait, then stop the signing. Done the other way round the domain stops resolving for a while.

Defining reverse DNS

1. On the Reverse DNS tab click the Add Delegation button.
2. Choose the IP block and the customer allowed to use it.
3. Save. The customer can now write PTR records for addresses inside that block from their own panel.

The customer sees only the addresses delegated to them and can write only to those. The block itself is never shown to them.

Backing up and restoring

1. On the zone page click the Back Up button; the zone's current state is stored.
2. To go back, find the entry on the Backups tab.
3. Click Restore and read the preview.
4. Confirm; the zone returns to its state in that backup.

A backup can also be downloaded as a file and uploaded into another installation.

Moving a zone to another server

1. On the Zones tab click the Move button on the zone's row.
2. Choose the target server and start.
3. The zone is copied to the target first and the record counts are compared.
4. If verification passes, the copy on the source server is released. If it fails, the move stops and the source stays in place.

Importing and exporting a zone file

The Export button on the zone page produces a standard zone file that can be handed to another DNS server directly. Import reads such a file and lists its records; they are written after you confirm.

Things to Watch

Privileges

The addon screen depends on the addon privilege of the Tools section. An administrator without it does not see the WDNS row in the list.

Related Screens

• Addon Management
• Domain Registrar Modules
• WIPAM IP Management Addon