DNS management EDIS 2022

First login in PDNS Admin

After you have successfully created a user for the DNS administration portal PDNS-Admin and set a password, we would like to show you how to make DNS settings.

Log in to the PDNS Admin Portal. You can administrate all domains that are managed in your client account (and for which there are DNS entries hosted at EDIS). If not all domains are displayed, please contact our team.

PDNS Admin with a standard EDIS DNS entry

The following example shows a DNS entry for hosting domains and emails at EDIS. We use this example to describe the functions and fields of PDNS-Admin.

The Name column

The Name column contains information about what a DNS entry refers to - to the domain itself or to a subdomains within the given domain.

* The Asterisk

The * pronounced asterisk, stands for "wildcard" and describes "everything" that can be separated in front of your domain (by a period). The asterisk entry applies to every (also not explicitly defined) subdomain, such as www .test-edis.at, new .test-edis.at, shop .test-edis.at, photos .test-edis.at, . ..)

The @ sign

Entries with an @ sign refer to the domain itself. The @ sign is a placeholder and stands for the domain itself, without naming it explicitly each time.

Hostnames

Hostnames, like mail in the example above, describe subdomains within the given domain. In the above example, mail stands for the host name or the subdomain mail.test-edis.at.

The >>Type<< column

A Records

The largest part of the resolution from domain names to IP addresses on the Internet currently still takes place via the type A record. The data field (Data) holds an IPv4 address . These entries make it possible for Internet users to enter a domain in their web browser (instead of an IP address) and while technically being forwarded to the respective IP address of the server in charge. In the background, the entered domain is resolved into an IPv4 address via the Domain Name Service (DNS)... This process is compareable to looking up a phone number in a telephone register.

AAAA Records

An AAAA record - also known as "Quad-A" record - works like the A-Record. Instead of an IPv4 address, an IPv6 address is entered, which is used to resolve the domain name to an IPv6 address for the IPv6 protocol. The four A (AAAA) come from the fact that an IPv6 address is four times the length of an IPv4 address (A record).

CNAME records

A CNAME record (CNAME stands for Canonical Name) is an alias , i.e. an additional name, for a host name that has already been defined elsewhere (which in turn refers to an IPv4 and/or IPv6 address). A hostname provided with a CNAME adopts the settings (IP addresses) of the target. If the IP address of the target changes, this change is automatically inherited to the hostname that has the target set via the CNAME.

A CNAME has a hostname in the Data field, such as myPage.beiwix.de, but no URL.

TXT Records

A TXT record contains text. TXT entries either contain "unstructured" notes readable by human users, but can also contain machine-usable information.

If you enter a TXT entry (e.g. an SPF record), another small input window opens.

The >>Status<< field

The status entry in each line determines whether an entry is active "Active" or inactive "Disabled". Active entries are taken into account when answering inquiries. Inactive entries ("Disabled") are not taken into account when answering inquiries.

The >>TTL<< field

TTL stands for "Time To Live" and describes the time (in seconds) that a DNS entry may be cached by browsers or or server without making a fresh DNS lookup. After the TTL has expired, it cannot be guaranteed that the entry in the cache is still valid and a new request must be sent to the name server and a new valid record must be fetched (and stored in cache again).

If you have to change DNS entries regularly or you are planning a migration of services and you want to make short-term changes to DNS entries, it makes sense to set this value lower. In the case of a TTL of 86400 seconds (24 hours), changes would only be propagated to the Internet after the 24-hour period has expired. If you want to change the value from 86400 to 10 minutes (600 seconds), this change would take effect after 24 hours only. From then on, the newly set value of 10 minutes applies and subsequent changes will be propagated after the 10 minutes TTL.

In the event of a DNS failure, higher values (some hours) are safer. In any case, more comfortable values should be considered when you need to be flexible (migrations, change of provider, ...).

Any comments or notes on an entry can be entered in the Comment field.