Question IONOS as secondary dns?

[marc_rn]

Server operating system version

Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS

Plesk version and microupdate number

Plesk Obsidian v18.0.72_build1800250915.05

Hello everyone,

maybe someone here can help me out — I’m a bit stuck.

I’m running a Plesk server on IONOS (linux vps) and would like to use it as an authoritative DNS server. My domain is registered with INWX, and I’d like to point it to my Plesk nameserver.

To avoid dealing with glue records, I used a different domain where I created A and AAAA records for ns1 and ns2 pointing directly to my Plesk system. I also configured those entries in my Plesk DNS template.

Now, I’ve set exactly these ns1 and ns2 as nameservers for my INWX domain and opened port 53 on IONOS. However, the nameserver still doesn’t seem to resolve correctly. I’ve tried a few different approaches already, but I’m wondering if there’s maybe some specific issue with IONOS here?

Anything particular I need to keep in mind?

I’ve never set up a hidden primary or secondary DNS configuration in Plesk before, but I’ve followed all the usual documentation as far as I can tell.

Environment:
Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS
Plesk Obsidian v18.0.72_build1800250915.05 (Ubuntu 24.04)

 

[Kaspar]

However, the nameserver still doesn’t seem to resolve correctly.

Can you provide some more details here? What does not resolve correctly? And what have done exactly to test that your name server resolves?

 

[marc_rn]

@Kaspar

Hey, thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

When I pointed the nameservers to my Plesk ns1 and ns2, the .ms domain registry just didn’t accept them. It was like they tried doing a DIG on the address or maybe even an AXFR zone transfer but nothing worked.

Thing is, everything looked fine on my end. My tests, like:

dig @pleskhostname ns1.example.com A

or even:

dig ns1.example.com A

always returned a valid result. Whether I queried directly or used a public resolver, the response was there. But for some reason, the registry didn't apply the nameserver update. Now, though, it looks like it’s finally working.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to run full tests until my ISP’s DNS cache clears.

Are there any general things to keep in mind when running the BIND server on Plesk? Is it just about making sure port 53 is open? Is there a solid guide you’d recommend?

And I’m not sure if I should open a second ticket for this, but since you seem to be an API expert:
Can I primarily use Plesk as a nameserver? I was planning to hit it pretty hard via the XML API setting up tons of subdomains and also creating a large number of email accounts.

Is there some sort of magic threshold where you need to start scaling on different plesk systems? Or can you theoretically just throw more hardware at it and Plesk will handle thousands of entries without breaking a sweat?

Kind regards to you!