DNS translates a domain name into the address of the server hosting it. If the DNS settings are wrong, the site becomes unreachable or mail stops being delivered — so it is worth understanding what you are changing before you change it.
Plesk creates a DNS zone automatically for every domain you add, using settings prepared for our servers. In most cases the default settings are all you need and nothing has to be changed.
Viewing and editing records
Open Websites & Domains → Hosting & DNS → DNS for the domain concerned. The page lists all the records in the zone.
- Add Record — create a new record. Select the type, enter the name and the value, and click OK.
- Click an existing record to change it.
- Apply the changes when you have finished — Plesk holds pending changes until you confirm them.
The zone also contains an SOA (Start of Authority) record, which identifies this server as authoritative for the zone and controls how zone information propagates. Leave it alone unless you have a specific reason to change it.
The records you are most likely to need
- A — points a name at an IPv4 address. This is what makes example.com and www.example.com resolve to your server.
- AAAA — the same for an IPv6 address.
- CNAME — makes one name an alias for another.
- MX — specifies which server receives mail for the domain. Change this when you move mail to an external provider.
- TXT — holds text values, most often SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for mail, and verification records requested by external services.
DNS changes are not instant. Other servers cache the previous answer for the lifetime of the record — often several hours — so allow time before concluding that a change has not worked. Checking from your own computer alone can also be misleading, because your operating system and browser cache DNS answers too.
Using external DNS servers
If your domains are served by DNS elsewhere, you have two options, both on the same DNS page:
- run the Plesk DNS server as a secondary (slave) server, if you have your own primary server;
- switch off the DNS service for the domain, if external primary and secondary servers are authoritative for it.
The reverse switch, back to a primary server, is made on the same page.
Take care with this: if you disable DNS in Plesk while the domain's name servers still point here, the domain stops resolving altogether. Change the name servers at your registrar first, confirm that the external DNS is answering, and only then disable the service in Plesk.
If something goes wrong
If the site or mail stops working after a DNS change, the quickest fix is usually to restore the previous value of the record you changed. If you are not sure what to restore, open a ticket from your client area with the domain name and a description of what you changed, and we will help.
