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DNS hosting: quick start
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DNS hosting: quick start

For your information

These are the instructions for adding a domain to new version of DNS hosting (actual) through the control panel. If you registered in the control panel after January 30, 2024, you have access only to DNS hosting (actual).

We're slowly shutting down legacy according to stages. If you are using DNS hosting (legacy), we recommend that you transfer domains to DNS hosting (actual) now to avoid disruption of sites when DNS hosting (legacy) is down.

  1. Make sure you have a domain name and access to the control panel of the domain registrar where it is registered. If you do not already have a domain name, register him.

  2. Create an area.

  3. Add resource records.

  4. Delegate the domain.

You can create a zone and add resource records via Terraform. To do this, if necessary top up for a minimum amount 100 ₽ and register a domain name then create a zone with resource records following the instructions in the Terraform documentation Create a zone with resource records in DNS hosting (actual).

1. Register a domain name⁠

Selectel does not provide domain registration and renewal services.

To add a domain to your hosting, you must first register it — rent a domain name from a domain registrar. When the lease expires, the domain lease needs to be renewed so that the site on the domain works without interruption.

2. Create a zone⁠

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

  1. Top up for a minimum amount 100 ₽to access the service. DNS hosting is free of charge, this money will remain on your balance and you can spend it on other services.

  2. In control panels from the top menu, press Products and select DNS hosting.

  3. Click Add a zone.

  4. Enter the DNS zone name — the name of the domain with a dot, for example, example.com..

  5. Click Add. 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 IS. a.ns.selectel.ru. support.selectel.ru. <zone_serial_number> 10800 3600 604800 60where <zone_serial_number> — zone serial number, which changes when the zone is updated and signals to the caching servers that records need to be cached again.

3. Add resource records⁠

  1. in control panels from the top menu, press Products and select DNS hosting.

  2. Open the zone page that previously created.

  3. Click Add. In DNS hosting (actual), resource records are stored in groups — one group contains all resource records of a domain with the same type. For example, a group of NS records contains four records with a reference to Selectel NS servers.

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

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

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

  6. Enter TTL or leave the default value. TTL is the time in seconds for 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 entries in the group.

  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 and enter the value of the record.

  9. Optional: enter a comment — any additional information about the group. The comment will be displayed only in DNS hosting.

  10. Click Add.

4. Delegate 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 entries, 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.

  3. Wait until added resource records will propagate to DNS servers. Propagation can take up to 72 hours.

  4. Optional: check resource records. If after 72 hours the resource records have not appeared on authoritative DNS hosting servers: a.ns.selectel.ru, b.ns.selectel.ru, c.ns.selectel.ru, d.ns.selectel.ru, file a ticket.