How to change serial no. format for DNS zone?

[Nicksput]

Hi there,
I am trying to change the format of the serial no. in DNS zones in Plesk 8.3. I want the format to be YYYYMMDDnn. Could someone please assist?
Thanks
nicksput

 

[breun]

Plesk for Linux uses the number 'seconds since Epoch' as its DNS serial numbers (tinydns format). It's not impossible to write a script that changes all of your zonefiles and have Plesk run that after any changes, but I wonder if it's worth the trouble. Do you really need the other format?

 

[Nicksput]

Thanks for your reply. I thought that there'd be a possible mysql insert for the Plesk database to change the format. I found such for Plesk 8.2 but it did not work for me. However I believe your question concerning the requirement of the other format caused me to try out some configurations and in fact I do not need it to get things work. The only thing that confused me has been a tool on denic.de to check the nameservers and that it complained about different formats in the zone files. I do not really get rid of the feeling that this stuff will be a closed book to me forever.

 

[breun]

There's just two formats, and although some RFC may prefer the YYYYMMDDnn format it really shouldn't cause any problems to use the other format. The only real requirement is that the serial number increases every time you update your records. This is the case with both formats. The tinydns format was coined because the YYYYMMDDnn format allows for 'only' 100 changes a day and they thought that was a needless limitation. The other format allows you to change your records every second if you wish.

I believe Plesk for Windows can use either format by changing a setting in the psa database, but I don't believe it works in the Linux version. I haven't tried it yet (also because I don't have the need).

 

[Nicksput]

Thanks for the information, I did not know why the tinydns format was coined. I use now tinydns format and it works. I tried to change this setting in the psa database and it didn't work in the Linux version.