Zone manager overview

Category: DNS and Zone Management
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Adding new records

The Zone manager tool is used to add, delete and/or update zone records for a particular domain name.  Zone records direct an incoming request (i.e. point) to a domain name or subdomain to a specified server, whether it’s with Netregistry or any other hosting provider. 

To add a record to the zone:

  1. Click on a type: A or CNAME or MX or NS or TXT or SRV. 
  2. Refer to the following list detailing the fields and their general descriptions when creating or modifying zone records.
    • Name - Left blank, the domain name will be added. If a name is added will create a subdomain.
    • TTL – Default is 3600. The time that the record remains valid after it has been retrieved. Affects the time the record remains valid on the cache in seconds, e.g 3600 seconds = 1 hour
    • Host – For an A-record the host must be a IP Address of the host. For a CName record, the host must be a valid domain name. For NS records the host must be a valid domain name.
    • Is host fully qualified? – A fully qualified host name will be a complete domain address. If not ticked (i.e. not fully qualified), the current domain is appended to the exchange in order to attempt to resolve the MX address
    • Exchange – The server that contains the mail until it is retrieved.
    • Preference – The order in which the MX exchange is handled.  Should one exchange fail the second highest priority exchange is used to attempt to resolve the request.
    • TXT – Any text.  Typically used to record information about the domain name.
    • Priority – The priority of the server to receive the incoming mail request. The lowest number receives the highest priority.
    • Weight – Service Record (SVR) – the relative weight for records with the same priority.
    • Port  – Service Record (SVR) – the TCP or UDP port on which the service is to be found.
    • Target – Service Record (SVR) – the canonical hostname of the machine providing the service.
  3. Click [Add Record] after completing the appropriate record entry.

Note:  Creating or altering the zone records will impact the hosting functions of the domain. Modifying the records should not be attempted without the assistance of a qualified system administrator. Netregistry cannot accept responsibility for deletions or modifications that may adversely impact hosting.

More information related to these records is detailed in the following articles.

Removing default records

By default, new A records are initially created in Zone manager, and may be deleted to allow for other records to be added.

If the website is to be hosted by Netregistry, but email services are to be managed by another provider (e.g. Google),  the default MX records may be disabled to allow for new MX records to be created and used.