How to configure vanity nameservers in ManageEngine CloudDNS
What are vanity nameservers?
Vanity nameservers enable organizations to rebrand CloudDNS's public nameservers by branding them to a domain of their choice, masking CloudDNS as the original host or DNS provider.
Vanity nameservers are configured in CloudDNS by creating a vanity nameserver template followed by associating the newly created template to the personalized domain name of your choice.
What is a Vanity Nameserver Template?
A Vanity Nameserver Template constitutes a group of vanity nameservers bearing personalized hostnames.
To configure a new vanity nameserver template:
Select the Config menu at the end of the menu bar on the left-hand side.
Under the CONFIGURATION section, select Zones. Select the Vanity Nameservers tab.
To create a new Vanity Nameserver Template, click the Add Template button in the top-right corner.
In the Configure Vanity Nameservers page, enter an identifiable name for the template. Make sure the name you choose is alphanumeric, as CloudDNS only accepts alphanumeric template names.
Select the type of vanity nameserver you'd like to configure based on the specific geographic location of CloudDNS's public nameservers.
All Regions
Select All Regions if you'd like to configure vanity hostnames for nameservers located across the globe.
Specific Region
Select Specific Region if you'd like to configure vanity hostnames for nameservers only from selected regions.
Only one All Region vanity nameserver type and two Specific Region vanity nameserver type can be added.
Once a template is created, CloudDNS allocates a set of IP addresses for the vanity nameserver hosts. All you need to do is associate your personalized domain with the vanity nameserver template and make the domains point to vanity nameservers instead of CloudDNS public nameservers.
Associating a domain with vanity nameservers
To associate a domain of your choice to the new vanity nameservers, you must switch your domain's nameservers from our public nameservers to the newly created vanity nameservers. To do this:
Select the domain name you want to use as the hostname for your vanity DNS nameservers, or create one if you don't have one.
While creating or editing the desired domain, select Yes to enable a vanity nameserver for the domain, and select the newly created Vanity Nameserver Template in the drop-down list adjacent to the VANITY NAMESERVERS label. Click Save.
Once the domain is associated with a Vanity Nameserver Template, a golden icon appears near the domain name indicating the domain is vanity configured.
Click into the vanity configured domain, and navigate to the System NS records section to find that the domain is pointing to personalized hostnames under the associated Vanity Nameserver Template.
Retrieve the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses allocated by CloudDNS for your newly created vanity nameserver.
Now create A and AAAA records for the chosen domain and add the IP addresses as hosts.
Configuring vanity nameservers via API
Header | Form data |
Content-Type application/json authorization Bearer {{access_token}}
| { "zone_id": 702, "zone_name": "yourdomain.com.", "zone_type": 0, "zone_ttl": 86400, "zone_targeting": false, "zone_logging": "{}", "zone_contact": "www.email.com.", "refresh": 43200, "retry": 3600, "expiry": 1209600, "minimum": 180, "org": 3, "any_query": false, "dnssec": false, "vanity": true, "vanity_grp": "test all" }
|
Updating the new vanity nameservers with your domain registrar
Once you are done configuring and associating vanity nameservers with your domains, complete the vanity DNS setup by registering the new vanity nameservers configured under the System NS records with your registrar.
This is required because you must notify your domain registrar about the name server change and that you want to run name servers from your new, personalized domain name. Only then will the end users performing ping, dig, and WHOIS lookups will be able to view your personalized vanity hostnames.
The procedure is now complete. These changes, like all DNS record changes, may take up to 48 hours to fully propagate throughout the domain name system.
Vanity nameservers can be configured for all types of zones in CloudDNS. While the Vanity Nameserver Templates remain editable only for the GeoDNS and Primary zones, editing permissions for Secondary Zone Vanity Nameserver Templates are completely denied. Read more on zone types here.
Reach out to support@meclouddns.com for any product-related questions.
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