General
How to edit zones and records?
We recommend a tool such as Terraform, to keep the record definitions in source control and apply the changes with the API. We also have a web-based editor available at https://app.ptrdns.net
How to point a zone at PTRDNS nameservers?
You must log on the control panel of your registrar and enter the names of the PTRDNS nameservers. The nameservers for your zone correspond to the NS records in the zone page; you may point to nameservers from PTRDNS only, or from PTRDNS and another DNS provider if there is an AXFR (zone transfer) configured between the 2.
How to configure incoming AXFR for my zone?
Choose one of your nameservers as primary for the zone, then configure it to send NOTIFY to 5.161.17.13 and 2a01:4ff:f0:3820::53 (intake.ns.ptrdns.net), and allow AXFR requests from these IP. We strongly recommend to configure TSIG keys to secure the zone transfers, without relying on hard-coded IP addresses.
Does PTRDNS implement the full PowerDNS API?
PTRDNS implements the following endpoints:
/servers/localhost/zones
/servers/localhost/zones/{zone_id}
/servers/localhost/zones/{zone_id}/axfr-retrieve
/servers/localhost/zones/{zone_id}/notify
/servers/localhost/zones/{zone_id}/export
/servers/localhost/zones/{zone_id}/metadata
/servers/localhost/zones/{zone_id}/cryptokeys
/servers/localhost/tsigkeys
/servers/localhost/tsigkeys/{tsigkey_id}
The following endpoints are not implemented, the API servers return an error code:
/servers/{server_id}/search-data
/servers/{server_id}/autoprimaries
/servers/{server_id}/cache/flush
Is DNSSEC supported?
DNSSEC is fully supported for all kinds of zones (native, primary and secondary).
Do you have Anycast IPs for the nameservers?
No, at the moment the nameservers are not on Anycast IPs.
Do you have DDoS protection for the nameservers?
Yes, all nameservers are protected from DDoS attacks.
Where are your nameservers located?
PTRDNS nameservers are located in Hetzner US (Ashburn), Hybula NL (Amsterdam) and Crunchbits US (Spokane). More informations are available on our Network page.
How to secure zone transfers (AXFR)?
You can allow a list of IP addresses to transfer your zone, or you can set up TSIG keys to make sure that only secondaries with your keys can transfer your zones.
TSIG keys are strongly recommended, as it avoids having to maintain list of IP addresses.
How does PTRDNS count queries?
The system calculates daily per-zone counts by summing all queries for a given zone regardless of type (A, AAAA, NS, etc.) and then calculates a per-account aggregate by summing the per-query counts. The account page displays the query count for the current month and the number of zones in the account.
How to control how many queries PTRDNS serves?
You can modify the TTL of your records (lower TTLs giving more queries, and vice-versa) and combine PTRDNS servers with other standards-compatible DNS hosting solutions.
Does PTRDNS supports vanity nameservers?
You can create vanity nameservers by adding NS records for your zone pointing to the IP addresses of PTRDNS nameservers. However, this practice is discouraged, since PTRDNS will not automatically update those records if the nameservers change IP address.
Billing
What happens if I stop paying (or I don’t subscribe after the free trial)?
The system will keep serving your zones for a 5 days grace period after a subscription ends. After 5 days the system will disable the zones and it will keep the data for another 25 days, in case you want to reactivate your subscription.
The system will delete the zone and the records 30 days after your subscription has ended.
What happens if my account goes over the query quota?
The system will send a notification when an account is about to go over the monthly query quota, and a second notification when the account is at 110% of the monthly query quota.
Are there discounts for yearly commitments?
At the moment we only offer monthly and quarterly plans.
Other
Is PTRDNS a one-man operation?
It is, and that’s why we promote DNS redundancy, inter-operability and we suggest having more than one DNS provider. Of course, one of those should be PTRDNS.