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Add domain to Selectel DNS hosting (actual)
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Add domain to Selectel DNS hosting (actual)

For your information

The instructions are for adding a domain to new version of DNS hosting (actual). If you registered in the control panel after January 30, you only have access to DNS hosting (actual).

We are discontinuing support and development of legacy version of DNS hosting. Domains and resource records in DNS hosting (legacy) continue to work, we will warn you in advance if they are discontinued. If you are using DNS hosting (legacy), we recommend move domains to DNS hosting (actual) now to avoid disrupting sites when DNS hosting (legacy) goes down.

  1. If you haven't topped up your balance yet, top up your balance with at least 100 ₽.
  2. Make sure you have the domain name and access to the control panel of the domain registrar where it is registered. If you don't already have a domain name, register it.
  3. Create zone.
  4. Add resource records.
  5. Delegate domain.

1. Top up⁠

DNS hosting is free, but you need to top-up with a minimum amount of 100 ₽ to access the service. This money will remain on balance, you can spend it on other services.

2. Register domain name⁠

Selectel does not provide domain registration and renewal services.

If you don't already have a domain name, you need to register it — rent it from a domain registrar. When the lease expires, the domain lease needs to be renewed to keep the website on the domain running without interruption.

3. Create a zone⁠

A zone is a logical union of the resource records of a domain and its subdomains. You can add any number of zones.

  1. In Control Panel, go to DNS.

  2. Press Add Zone.

  3. Enter the DNS zone name — the name of the domain with a period, e.g., example.com.

  4. Optional: enter a comment — any additional information about the zone. The comment will only appear in DNS hosting.

  5. Press Create Zone. The zone will automatically create NS and SOA records with default values:

    • NS — a.ns.selectel.ru, b.ns.selectel.ru, c.ns.selectel.ru, d.ns.selectel.ru;
    • SOA — a.ns.selectel.ru. support.selectel.ru. <zone_serial_number> 10800 3600 604800 60, where <zone_serial_number> is the zone serial number, which changes when the zone is updated and signals to the caching servers that records need to be cached again.

4. Add resource notes⁠

  1. In Control Panel, go to DNS.

  2. Open the page of the zone you created earlier.

  3. Click Add Record Group. One group will store all resource records of a domain with the same type, such as all IP addresses of a domain in DNS balancing.

  4. Select resource record type in the group — A, AAAA, TXT, CNAME, DNAME, HTTPS, NS, MX, MX, SOA, SRV, SSHFP, SVCB, ALIAS, or CAA.

  5. Enter TTL or leave the default value. TTL — the time in seconds during which a resource entry in the NS server cache is considered up-to-date and does not need to be re-cached. The specified TTL applies to all resource records in the group.

  6. Enter the name of the resource record group — this is the domain for which the group will be created. You can create a group of resource records:

    • for the main domain (zone name) — leave the field blank. For example, leaving the field blank for the example.com. zone will create a group named example.com.;
    • subdomain — enter the first part of its name. For example, if you enter first for the example.com. zone, a group named first.example.com. will be created.

  7. Enter the value of the resource record, for example, for an A record, the IP address to be mapped to the domain name.

  8. Optional: to add another resource record to the group, click Add Value and enter the value of the record.

  9. Optional: enter a comment — any additional information about the group, it will only appear in DNS hosting.

  10. Press Add.

  11. Wait for the added resource record group to propagate to the DNS servers. Spreading can take up to 72 hours.

  12. Optional: check resource records. If after 72 hours the resource records have not appeared on the DNS servers, create a ticket.

5. Delegate management of the domain⁠

In order to transfer control of domain resource records to Selectel servers, the domain must be delegated — you must specify these servers in the domain's NS records.

  1. Go to the control panel of the domain registrar where your domain is registered.
  2. In the NS records, replace the values with Selectel's NS servers: a.ns.selectel.ru, b.ns.selectel.ru, c.ns.selectel.ru, d.ns.selectel.ru. Each server must be listed in a separate entry.