DNS Templates and Handling DNS

Summary

This article provide a summary for creating DNS templates from MachPanel DNS manager and handling DNS (Exchange, SharePoint, CRM, Skype For Business etc.).

Applies To

Managing and Adding DNS Templates

• For automatic handling of DNS for Exchange and SharePoint etc. you have to create appropriate DNS Templates for each service.

• To add a new DNS template, navigate to Home >> Service Director >> DNS Manager >> DNS Templates and click Add DNS Template button.

• In the Template Add tab first add the title of the template in the Template title field. Enter the 'Template Title' and fill in the required fields i.e records name, type, priority and hostname. There are columns as shown below:

*No template creation is done in case of Domain Registration

1. Name: Specify the name of the host e.g. WWW.
2. Class: A 16 bit value which defines the protocol family or an instance of the protocol. The normal value is IN = Internet protocol.
3. Type: There are different types of DNS zone records. These numerous record types give you flexibility in setting up the servers in your domain. The most common types of zone records are:

• NS: Name Server records (NS) state the authoritative name servers for the given domain.
• An A (Address) record is a "host record" and it is the most common type. It is simply a static mapping of a hostname to an IP address. A common hostname for a Web server is 'www' so the A record for this server gives the IP address for this server in the domain.
• An MX (Mail eXchanger) record is specifically for mail servers. It's a special type of service-specifier record. It identifies a mail server for the domain. That's why you don't have to enter a hostname like 'www' in an e-mail address. If you're running SmarterMail (mail server) and IIS (Web server) on the same system (i.e. the same system is acting as both your Web server and e-mail server), both the A record for the system and the MX record would refer to the same server.
• A CNAME (Canonical Name) record is an alias record. It's a way to have the same physical server respond to two different hostnames. Let's say you're not only running SmarterMail and IIS on your server, but you're also running WU-FTPD so it also acts as an FTP server. You could create a CNAME record with the alias name 'ftp' so people would use ftp.your-domain.com and www.your-domain.com to access different services on the same server.
• TXT: Text information associated with a domain.
• SRV: A Service record (SRV record) is a specification of data in the Domain Name System defining the location, i.e. the hostname and port number, of servers for specified services.​​

     4. Priority: To offer some fail-over protection for e-mail, MX records also have a Priority field (numeric).
     5. Host: Specify IP Address of server where service is provisioned or actual domain name using customization keys..  
     6. Options: You can remove form here.

Integrate WebHosting Server & DNS service

• Now you need to integrate a Web (Hostmatic Server) and add a DNS Service to the Hostmatic server. Please check the following KB article on how to integrate web hosting.

http://kb.machsol.com/Knowledgebase/Article/50283

 Enabling DNS for Exchange

• To handle DNS in Saas hosting (Exchange, SharePoint, CRM, Skype For Business etc.) Check the option Handle DNS from servers by selecting the Server Group >> Server>> Edit. See the snapshot below:

Select the check box for Handle DNS in Exchange server settings.

• Select primary DNS Server from drop down list. DNS Servers must have been added before in MachPanel WebHosting Module
• Select the DNS template for this server
• Enter CAS server or CAS array public IP

Validate DNS

To validate DNS go to path: Home > Service Director > Exchange Hosting > Exchange Accounts > Manage Service
Select Mail Domains tab as shown below:

 ​

Enabling DNS for SharePoint:

• Navigate to Home >> Service Director >> SharePoint Hosting >> Server Groups. Click on the appropriate server to open the desired server list. Then click on 'edit' against the server for which you want to enable automatic DNS handling. Now you will see a check box for 'Handle DNS':

• Select primary DNS Server from drop down list. DNS Servers must have been added before in MachPanel WebHosting Module

Enabling DNS for Domain Registration:

• Navigate to Home » Service Director » Domain Names » Accounts.
• Click on the Settings tab and check the 'Handle DNS' box: