Plesk: DNS Management

DNS management in Plesk allows you to create and edit DNS records for domains, with the METANET template by default routing all services through the METANET web hosting server. Key advantages include independent DNS settings, integration within Plesk, email DKIM signatures, DMARC policies, and Let's Encrypt wildcard SSL certificates. Features include managing DNS records, editing SOA records, DNS import, and using DNS templates. Access is via the Plesk administration tool. Changes become active only after saving and may take several hours to propagate worldwide.

Introduction
Key Advantages
Features
Access
Basics
Feature: Create/Edit Record
Feature: Edit SOA Records
Feature: DNS Import
Feature: DNS Templates
Activation / Going Live
METANET Template

Introduction

DNS management allows you to create and edit DNS records for domains set up in Plesk. DNS defines which service is handled by which server. The standard METANET template assumes that all domain services (such as website, email, etc.) are operated by the METANET web hosting server. Below you will find an overview of the functionality and basic information on using the environment.

Premium Service: Custom DNS Settings by METANET

Would you like to change DNS records but are unsure how to proceed or prefer not to take any risks? Leave it to our experts and focus on your core business.

Price: according to the Premium Services price list 

How it works:

1. Send us an email at [e-mail].
2. Confirm that you accept the costs for the Custom DNS Settings Premium Service.
3. Include the required DNS records in your email in a copyable format.
4. If the changes should be made at a specific time, please let us know as well.

We will take care of the correct and secure implementation and notify you once the changes have been completed.

 

Key Advantages

• Make DNS settings independently
• Directly integrated into Plesk
• Email DKIM signatures and DMARC policies
• Let's Encrypt wildcard SSL certificates

Features

• Manage DNS records
  The following record types (Resource Records) can be created/modified:
  A, AAAA, MX, CAA, CNAME, NS, PTR, SRV, TXT
• Edit SOA records
  Manage TTL, Refresh, Expiry, etc.
• Import
  The import function allows easy transfer of a complete DNS zone from our other DNS platforms
  such as Managed NS (ns.ch-meta.net/ns.ch-inter.net), DNS Cloud (ch.ch-inter.net), and my.metanet.ch (ch/nl.pro.io).

Access

Log in to the Plesk administration tool. (Forgot password?). DNS management is then accessible under “DNS Settings”:

Basics

Usually, a standard DNS zone is already available for editing. If this is not the case, you can enable the DNS service using the “Enable” function:

Afterwards, you can start editing DNS records.

Basic Functions
Below is a brief explanation of the individual basic functions:

Function	Explanation
Disable	Disables the DNS zone; DNS resolution fails
Master/Slave	Default: Master; Slave: Professional feature for operating your own nameservers
Add Record	Add additional DNS records
Reset to Default	Resets the DNS zone to the original METANET template. Existing records will be removed.
Import DNS Zone	The import function allows easy transfer of a complete DNS zone from our other DNS platforms.
Remove	Deletes selected records

 

Feature: Create/Edit Record

To add another DNS record, select the “Add Record” function:

Then you can select the desired record type (Resource Record) from the drop-down menu:

You can edit existing records by clicking on the respective record.

Note: For the TXT record type, the enclosing quotation marks are automatically added (example: "MS=ms14335100"). In this example, you would only enter MS=ms14335100:

Changes or new entries are applied only after saving the new definition. Unsaved entries are marked with an exclamation mark. Multiple simultaneous changes can be saved together. This reduces infrastructure load and ensures stable operation since repeated service reloads are not required.

After changes, it can take several hours for them to propagate worldwide (DNS propagation).

Feature: Edit SOA Records

Select the "SOA" tab:

You can now adjust the corresponding values. In the example, the TTL (Time to live) is set to 10 minutes:

General explanations of the values can be found on Wikipedia: SOA.

Feature: DNS Import

The import function allows you to import existing DNS zones with just a few clicks. Import is possible from the following nameservers:

Managed DNS (Webhosting / Reseller)	ns/ns2/ns3.ch-meta.net ns/ns2.ch-inter.net (reseller level only)
DNS Cloud	ch/nl/de.ch-inter.net
my.metanet.ch DNS	ch/nl.pro.io

Example Case: Switching from Webhosting Managed DNS Nameserver

You want to be able to manage the DNS zone of your domain, which is currently operated via our Managed DNS infrastructure, independently in the future.

Important: After importing the DNS zone, you must adjust the domain’s nameservers to those of the Plesk server.

To do this, select the "DNS Import" function:

It will then be determined on which nameserver the domain is available for import, and you can start the import:

After selecting "Start Import," the process will begin, and a status window will be displayed:

After successful completion, you can reload the view by clicking "View New DNS Zone" and inspect the imported zone:

Feature: DNS Templates

DNS templates simplify adding DNS records for well-known services such as Office 365 or Google Workspace. Please refer to our online help article Plesk: DNS Templates for using DNS templates.

Activation / Going Live

To activate the domain, enter the two nameservers provided in the message with your domain registrar. Remove any existing nameserver entries; that is, they will be replaced by the two new ones.

If the domain is registered with METANET, proceed as follows:
> Domain Service: Adjust Nameservers

After adjusting the nameservers, it may take a few hours before the warning no longer appears, as the actual reload update at the registrar must be awaited.

METANET Template

The METANET template (standard Plesk DNS template) contains the following DNS records:

A or AAAA <domain>.
A or AAAA mail.<domain>.
A or AAAA webmail.<domain>.
A or AAAA www.<domain>.
A or AAAA *.<domain>.
A ipv4.<domain>.
AAAA ipv6.<domain>.

MX 10 mail.<domain>.

TXT "v=spf1 include:_spf.sui-inter.net +mx +a ~all"
_dmarc.<domain> TXT "v=DMARC1; p=none"

NS ns1.<server>.
NS ns2.<server>.

TTL 1440 seconds