DNS Zone Serial #'s

[jwgreene]

For the love of god please change to a date format for zone serial #'s.. Not that difficult to implement I don't believe.

 

[jchost]

I second that.

 

[BoXie]

Agree .. as it is now (time since 1970 or something) ... it violates RFC's.

If i'm not mistaken.

 

[federal_reserve]

Agreed.

Funny how some of the most important parts of the web server functionality goes overlooked.

 

[Cranky]

It violates RFC's but let's be honest, it really doesn't make the least bit difference. It's been like this since very early versions of Plesk, it works fine.

 

[jwgreene]

Yes, it works fine, but if I have to manually edit a zone file, I like to update to a serial that at least makes somewhat sense. if my serial is 2006033001 I know I have updated that zone once alread that day. The same goes for doing a lookup on the SOA for troubleshooting.. just makes things easier is all.

 

[Cranky]

Yeah but you shouldn't really be editing the DNS zone, you should be doing it via Plesk interface or dnsmng via shell. I think they could be doing more useful stuff than changing this really, it's no huge problem.

 

[jwgreene]

Point well taken.. just so used to doing things direct it takes some getting used to use plesk for everything..

 

[BoXie]

Originally posted by Cranky
It violates RFC's but let's be honest, it really doesn't make the least bit difference. It's been like this since very early versions of Plesk, it works fine.

Indeed .. it's no huge problem allthough it can be fixed according to RFC's in about 10 minutes. But hey, we are better of with an Acronis module/frontend for a piece of backup software that costs 700 dollar

 

[Ales]

I seem to remember that the date format was just a recommendation in the RFC. My memory might be playing tricks on me, though.

 

[eugenevdm]

This is what dnsreport.com says about zones created in Plesk:

"WARNING: Your SOA serial number is: 1132648384. That is OK, but the recommended format (per RFC1912 2.2) is YYYYMMDDnn, where 'nn' is the revision. For example, if you are making the 3rd change on 02 May 2000, you would use 2000050203. This number must be incremented every time you make a DNS change.

Your SOA serial appears to be the number of seconds since midnight 01 Jan 1970 when the last DNS change was made (tinydns format). That works out to be Tue Nov 22 03:33:04 2005 EST."

I would be nice to make Plesk DNS RFC1912 2.2 format compliant.

 

[Cranky]

Originally posted by Ales
I seem to remember that the date format was just a recommendation in the RFC. My memory might be playing tricks on me, though.

Yep, it's a recommendation.

 

[paco]

It should be at least selectable for the admin.

Before I started using Plesk I used the YYYYMMDDnn for the SOA-Serial. Unfortunately those entries don't get pushed out, since the "new" serial is less than my original before I used Plesk.

But what is such an admin SW worth if you have to modify DNS in this case manually anyway ?

@SWSOFT: Come on engineers... I had already a trouble-ticket with this and you solved it pretty well for 7.5.4 sending me a new "dnsmng"-binary - why can't you just implement this as an feature within 8.0 ?

Kind regards,
Paco

 

[eugenevdm]

hear hear! If you received a binary why can't we?

 

[crossconnect]

Not for nothing, but the serial number for the com and net TLDs is in timestamp format.

Why is this such a big deal?

 

[crnunez]

Hello,
I have also this trouble. Dows anybody know any solution for this?

http://www.dnsreport.com/tools/dnsreport.ch?domain=mydomain.com

SOA Warm

SOA Serial Number

WARNING: Your SOA serial number is: 1148071110. That is OK, but the recommended format (per RFC1912 2.2) is YYYYMMDDnn, where 'nn' is the revision. For example, if you are making the 3rd change on 02 May 2006, you would use 2006050203. This number must be incremented every time you make a DNS change.

How Can I correct this for all my domains and for the new domains? Thanks!!!

Plesk 8.0.1 RHEL4

 

[Ales]

It's just a warning, you don't need to fix anything.

 

[crnunez]

but the recommended format (per RFC1912 2.2) is YYYYMMDDnn, where 'nn' is the revision. For example, if you are making the 3rd change on 02 May 2006, you would use 2006050203. This number must be incremented every time you make a DNS change.

http://www.dnsreport.com/tools/dnsreport.ch?domain=swsoft.com doesn't have this problem, any serious website should have all check in PASS (green, NOT Warning, NOT red)...

It's very important adjust and correct this problem...

 

[crossconnect]

Of all the things you could worry about in Plesk, this is surely the least of your concerns. It has absolutely zero effect on the operation of your server.

The WARN rating just happens to be the opinion of dnsreport.com that your DNS zone doesn't meet its criteria, but why should they decide how to run your server? Make your own determination about how to run your DNS zones according to your needs, and worry less about what dnsreport.com says.

But that's just my two cents. If you get a warm fuzzy feeling from having all PASS ratings, then go ahead.

 

[squorpeeon]

It is just a warning at it does not affect the operation of the DNS, however if you are a host catering to developers, businesses and techies then it makes a huge difference.

I for one have always queried DNS reports before hosting with anyone. All items must pass, including multiple MX records and nameservers. It just gives your customer some re-assurance that you, as a host, are keeping up with the industry and compliance.

Anyone can can grab a celeron cpanel machine for 69USD/mo and call themselves a web host. Not everyone can actually host and know what the *&%$ they are doing.