Account Registration
To start using NexDNS, create an account on the registration page.
Required fields
- Name – your display name (maximum 100 characters, no HTML)
- Email – a valid email address (maximum 180 characters)
- Password – must meet the strength requirements below
- Password confirmation – must match the password exactly
- Accept Terms of Service – you must agree to the terms to register
You can optionally subscribe to the newsletter during registration.
Password requirements
- Minimum 10 characters
- At least one lowercase letter
- At least one uppercase letter
- At least one digit
- At least one special character (e.g. !@#$%)
- Must not be a commonly used password
Email verification
After submitting the registration form, you must verify your email address before you can log in.
- Check your inbox for a verification email from NexDNS.
- Click the verification link in the email.
- Once verified, your account becomes active and you can log in.
If you do not receive the email, you can request a new one from the registration success page. You must wait 60 seconds between resend requests.
Creating Your First Zone
A DNS zone is a domain whose DNS records you manage through NexDNS. You need an active subscription to create zones.
Steps to create a zone
- Navigate to Zones in the left sidebar and click Create Zone.
- Enter your domain name (e.g., example.com). The domain name is validated and converted to lowercase automatically.
- Select an NS Server Group. This determines which nameservers will host your zone. The first available group is pre-selected.
- Click Create. The zone is created immediately.
What happens behind the scenes
When you create a zone, the system performs several operations automatically:
- The domain name is checked for availability – a domain can be hosted on only one NexDNS account.
- The zone is provisioned on the NexDNS nameservers automatically.
- A SOA (Start of Authority) record and NS (Name Server) records are created automatically.
- Slave zones are created on the secondary DNS servers in the NS group for zone replication.
Auto-generated SOA record
The SOA record is created with these default values:
- Primary NS – the first nameserver in the assigned NS group
- Admin email – the SOA contact address (a default contact; customizable on plans with NS aliases).
- Serial – 1 (incremented automatically on changes)
- Refresh – 10800 seconds (3 hours)
- Retry – 3600 seconds (1 hour)
- Expire – 604800 seconds (7 days)
- Minimum TTL – 3600 seconds (1 hour)
Auto-generated NS records
NS records are created automatically based on the servers in your selected NS group. These records point to the nameservers that host your zone. You should configure the same nameservers at your domain registrar.
Slave zones (optional)
If your subscription plan supports it, you can also create slave zones. A slave zone replicates DNS data from an external master server. You need to provide the master server IP address.
Updating your domain registrar
After creating a zone, update the nameserver records at your domain registrar to point to the NexDNS nameservers shown on the zone detail page. DNS propagation typically takes 24 to 48 hours.
Adding DNS Records
Once your zone is created, you can add DNS records to it. NexDNS supports 14 record types.
How to add a record
- Open your zone from the zone list.
- Click Add Record.
- Select the record type, fill in the required fields, and set the TTL.
- Click Create. The record is published immediately.
Supported record types
Below is the complete list of supported record types with their required fields.
| Type | Purpose | Key fields |
|---|---|---|
A | Maps a name to an IPv4 address | name, address (IPv4) |
AAAA | Maps a name to an IPv6 address | name, address (IPv6) |
CNAME | Creates an alias to another hostname | name, hostname |
MX | Routes email to a mail server | name, priority, host |
TXT | Stores arbitrary text (SPF, DKIM, verification, etc.) | name, value |
NS | Delegates a subdomain to other nameservers | name, hostname |
SRV | Locates a service (host + port) | name, priority, weight, port, target |
CAA | Controls which CAs may issue certificates | name, flags, tag, value |
PTR | Reverse DNS – maps an IP to a hostname | name, hostname |
ALIAS | Like CNAME but allowed at the zone apex | name, hostname |
DNAME | Redirects an entire DNS subtree to another domain | name, hostname |
DS | DNSSEC Delegation Signer – links child zone to parent | name, keytag, algorithm, digest_type, digest |
TLSA | Associates a TLS certificate with a domain (DANE) | name, usage, selector, matching_type, certificate |
TTL – time to live in seconds. The default value is 3600 (1 hour). Valid range is 0 to 2,147,483,647.
Common fields
- Name – use @ or leave empty for the zone apex. Use a hostname like www for subdomains. Wildcard records (e.g., *) are also supported.
- TTL – time to live in seconds. The default value is 3600 (1 hour). Valid range is 0 to 2,147,483,647.
Validation rules
- CNAME records cannot be created at the zone apex (@). Use ALIAS instead.
- CNAME records cannot coexist with other record types at the same name. If a CNAME exists, no other records can be added at that name, and vice versa.
- NS records at the zone apex are managed automatically. You can only create NS records for subdomain delegation.
- TTL must be between 0 and 2,147,483,647 seconds.
For detailed information on each record type, including validation rules and examples, see DNS Records documentation.