DNS

HostCraft runs PowerDNS as the authoritative nameserver for your domains. A zone is created automatically when you add a domain, and changes go live as soon as you save them.

Who can use this page

Role	What they can do
Account owner	Create and delete zones, add and change records, DNSSEC, import and export, for the account's domains.
Sub-user	Only what the account owner granted. Without DNS permission the DNS item does not appear in the sidebar. A read-only support login can view records, check and export a zone, but all change buttons are hidden.
Mailbox user	No access.
Admin and reseller	The DNS page is part of the customer panel. The admin panel lists domains across accounts under Domains.

The DNS page

Open DNS in the sidebar. If the account has more than one zone, pick it from the Zone list. A link from elsewhere in the panel can open a specific zone directly.

The top of the page shows four tiles:

• Zones: how many zones the account has.
• Records: how many records are in the selected zone.
• Type: the zone type (native or master) and its SOA serial, which goes up each time the zone changes.
• DNSSEC: On or Off.

Below the tiles:

• Nameservers: the NS records in the zone. Set these at your domain registrar so the internet uses HostCraft for your domain.
• DS records: shown only when DNSSEC is on. Publish these at your registrar.
• Records: the record table, with Name, Type, Value and TTL. MX records show their priority before the value. Disabled records are shown struck through. Search by name or value; 15 records per page.

The buttons at the top right are New zone, Check zone, Delete zone, Export, Import zone, Enable DNSSEC (or Disable DNSSEC) and Add record.

Default records

A new zone always gets SOA and NS records. Zones created when you add a domain also get the records the domain needs, typically an A record pointing at your server. When you enable mail for a domain, its MX record is managed for you (see Outbound relay and MX). Check the record table for what your zone actually contains.

Add a record

1. Click Add record.
2. Name: the host name inside the zone. Use @ for the domain itself, or a label such as www.
3. Type: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, SRV, CAA or PTR.
4. Content: the value, for example 203.0.113.42 for an A record or target.example.com. for a CNAME.
5. TTL (seconds): how long resolvers may cache the record. Default 3600, minimum 60.
6. Priority: shown only for MX and SRV. Lower numbers are tried first. Default 10.
7. Click Add record.

The record is served immediately. If the server rejects a value, the reason appears in red in the dialog.

Record types

Type	Use
A	Points a name at an IPv4 address.
AAAA	Points a name at an IPv6 address.
CNAME	Makes a name an alias of another name.
MX	Says which server receives mail for the domain.
TXT	Free text. Used for SPF, DKIM, DMARC and verification tokens.
NS	Delegates a name to nameservers.
SRV	Locates a service, used by some VoIP, chat and Microsoft services.
CAA	Limits which certificate authorities may issue SSL certificates.
PTR	Reverse lookup. Only useful in reverse zones.

Examples

; www as an alias of the domain
www            3600  CNAME  example.com.

; IPv6 address for the domain
@              3600  AAAA   2001:db8::1

; Google site verification
@              3600  TXT    "google-site-verification=abc123"

; Only Let's Encrypt may issue certificates
@              3600  CAA    0 issue "letsencrypt.org"

; Microsoft 365 autodiscover
autodiscover   3600  CNAME  autodiscover.outlook.com.

Disable, enable or delete records

Open the ... menu on a record row:

• Disable record: stops serving the record without deleting it. Enable record brings it back.
• Delete record: removes it after a confirmation.

To change several records at once, tick them in the table and use the bulk actions Enable, Disable or Delete. A line confirms the result, for example "Bulk change applied: 0 created, 3 updated, 0 deleted."

To change a record's value, add the corrected record and delete the old one.

Check a zone

Click Check zone to validate the selected zone. The result shows "Zone check: valid" or "Zone check: problems found", with errors in red and warnings below. Fix errors before you point your registrar at HostCraft.

Create a zone

Zones are normally created for you when a domain is added. To create one by hand:

1. Click New zone.
2. Domain: the zone name, for example example.com.
3. Type: Native (the default, right for almost everyone) or Master.
4. Default A record (optional): an IPv4 address for the domain itself.
5. Click Create zone.

The zone is created with SOA and NS records and selected in the page.

Delete a zone

Click Delete zone and confirm. The zone and all of its records are deleted. The domain stops resolving if its registrar still points at HostCraft.

DNSSEC

DNSSEC signs your records so resolvers can detect forged answers.

Enable DNSSEC

1. Click Enable DNSSEC.
2. The DNSSEC tile turns On and a DS records card appears.
3. Copy each DS record and add it at your domain registrar, in its DNSSEC section. If the card says "No DS records reported yet.", wait a moment and reload.

The registrar may ask for the parts separately: key tag, algorithm, digest type and digest, in that order in the DS record.

Disable DNSSEC

Remove the DS records at your registrar first and wait for the change to propagate (allow a day or two). Then click Disable DNSSEC. Disabling while the registrar still publishes DS records makes the domain fail to resolve for validating resolvers.

Import a BIND zone

Use this to bring records over from another DNS host.

1. Select the target zone and click Import zone.
2. Paste the zone file into Zone file, or click Upload file to load it from disk. It can include $ORIGIN and standard records.
3. Leave Replace existing records (otherwise merge) unticked to add the imported records to what is there. Tick it to replace the zone's records with the file.
4. Click Import.

The dialog reports "Imported N records." Parse problems appear in red.

Export a zone

Click Export. Your browser downloads example.com.zone, a standard BIND zone file. Use it as a backup or to move to another provider.

Tips

Lower the TTL before a move

A day before you change where a domain points, lower the TTL of the affected records to 300. After the change, caches refresh within five minutes. Raise the TTL again afterwards.

MX priority

Lower numbers win. With priorities 10 and 20, mail goes to the 10 server and uses the 20 server only if the first is unreachable.

No CNAME at the apex

A CNAME cannot be used on @, because the apex must also hold SOA and NS records. Use an A or AAAA record with the service's IP address instead.

Long TXT records

A single TXT string is limited to 255 characters. Long values such as DKIM keys must be split into several quoted strings in the same record: "v=DKIM1; k=rsa; " "p=MIIBIjAN...".

Common problems

Problem	Cause and fix
Changes do not show up	Resolvers cache records for the TTL. Wait, or test against the HostCraft nameserver directly with dig @ns1.example.net example.com.
Domain does not resolve at all	The registrar does not list the nameservers from the Nameservers card. Update them at the registrar.
Domain broke after enabling DNSSEC	The DS record at the registrar does not match. Copy it again from DS records.
"No DNS zones yet"	The account has no domains. Add a domain, or create a zone with New zone.
Change buttons are missing	Your login is read-only or lacks DNS permissions. Ask the account owner.
Mail stopped after editing MX	If mail is handled by HostCraft, keep Manage MX records automatically on in the Emails Domains tab instead of editing MX by hand.