Configuring the Recursive DNS

Plesk allows you to configure its DNS server to provide the recursive service for queries. With recursive service allowed, your DNS server, when queried, performs all the lookup procedures required to find the destination IP address for the requester. When recursive service is not allowed, your DNS server performs minimal number of queries only to find a server that knows where the requested resource resides and to redirect the requester to that server. Therefore, recursive service consumes more server resources and makes your server susceptible to denial-of-service attacks, especially when the server is set to serve recursive queries from clients outside your network.

After your install Plesk, the built-in DNS server serves recursive queries only from your own server and from other servers located in your network. This is the optimal setting. If you upgraded from earlier versions of Plesk, your DNS server may be configured to serve recursive queries from any host.

If you want to change the settings for recursive domain name service:

  1. Go to Tools & Settings > DNS Settings, and then go to the “Server-wide Settings” tab.
  2. In the “DNS Recursion Queries” section, select the required option:
    • To allow recursive queries from all hosts, select Allow for all requests.
    • To allow recursive queries from your own server and hosts from your network, select Allow for requests from local network(s) only.
    • To allow recursive queries only from your own server, select Allow for local requests only.
  3. Click OK or Apply.

Configuring Additional DNS Settings

In Plesk, you can configure additional DNS settings to execute custom DNS scenarios. For example, you can add some settings that are not present in the current list or modify existing ones. These settings will override the server-wide ones and will be preserved during all the following DNS configuration updates.

Note: To prevent any errors in the operation of the DNS service, Plesk automatically checks the DNS settings you add or modify for typos or mistakes. If any errors are found, Plesk will not save your changes and you will see the corresponding warning message.

To create or modify an additional DNS setting:

  1. Go to Tools & Settings > DNS Settings, and then go to the “Server-wide Settings” tab.
  2. In the “Additional DNS settings” field, specify the required setting.
  3. Click OK or Apply.