About DNS

This article explains what the DNS area of InfraNest does and how to find your way around it, for anyone who manages domains but isn't a DNS expert.

Overview

• InfraNest manages DNS for all your domains in one place, no matter which provider hosts them — Cloudflare, AWS Route 53, Hetzner, TransIP, GoDaddy, IONOS and Namecheap all work the same way here.
• Import your zones, edit records in one consistent editor, and InfraNest pushes your changes to the provider for you.
• Changes made directly at the provider are pulled back into InfraNest too — if something changes outside InfraNest, it's flagged so you can review it.
• The Security Advisor checks each zone for common email and security records (SPF, DMARC, DKIM, MX, DNSSEC and CAA) and tells you what's missing.
• Templates let you save a standard set of records and roll them out to any zone.
• InfraNest periodically checks what the internet actually sees for your records, and emails you if it differs from what's stored here — nothing is changed automatically.

Find your way around the DNS page

1. Select DNS from the menu — this always opens Overview.
2. Use Overview to see, at a glance, whether anything across your zones needs attention.
3. Select the Zones tab to see the full list of zones you manage.
4. Select Templates to view and manage your saved record templates.
5. Reloading the page or going back in your browser returns you to whichever tab you were last on.

Search for a record across every zone

1. On Overview, use the search box at the top of the page.
2. Type part of a name (like api), a value, an IP address, a server name, or a service name such as Cloudflare or Google Workspace.
3. Review the results, which are grouped by zone — each one explains why it matched, for example "Points at your server web-1".
4. Select a result to open its zone with that record highlighted.
5. Clear the search box to return to the full Overview.

TipYou can open this same search from anywhere in the app with ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows).

An IP address finds records pointing at exactly that address. An IPv6 range, such as 2a01:4f8:c0c:1::/64, finds every record inside it.

Check what needs your attention

1. On Overview, look at the first line for a quick summary: how many zones are fine, how many need you, your total record count, how many zones match what the internet sees, and how many DNS hosts you use.
2. Review the Needs you section, which lists only things that are broken or about to break, most urgent first. This can include:
   • A record pointing at an address you no longer have.
   • A dynamic IP that needs attention.
   • Your changes here have no effect — shown when a domain's nameservers point elsewhere, so edits here aren't being used. InfraNest switches the zone off here after 48 hours if nothing changes.
   • Stopped syncing — shown per DNS host. Select Sync now, or fix the connection directly from the card.
   • The internet sees different records — open the zone to compare and keep the right version.
   • Other problems flagged as errors by the zone's security check, such as two SPF records.
3. When one problem affects several zones, it appears as a single card listing them all — select a zone in the list to open and fix it, or snooze the whole card at once.
4. Use Snooze until tomorrow or This is intentional to set a card aside; a line beneath the cards shows how many are set aside, with Bring back to undo it.

NoteMissing extras like CAA, DMARC or DNSSEC aren't shown in Needs you — check each zone's security tab for those.

5. Scroll to Changes, last 7 days to see a log of every DNS change, what changed, which zone, and who made it. Changes made directly at your provider are marked Outside InfraNest.
6. Check Where your DNS lives to see each DNS host, how many zones it holds, and whether it's connected.
7. Review Tidy up and complete for optional improvements, such as removing an old zone copy or lowering a TTL — nothing listed here is broken. Select Not needed to dismiss a suggestion.

Manage your zones

1. Select the Zones tab to see every zone across all your providers, with its status, provider, record count, and last sync time.
2. Use Search and Filter to narrow the list, or add Tags to organise zones.
3. Use Add DNS zone to discover zones from a connected provider, or Add blank zone to create a new one.
4. Select a zone from the list to open it and manage its records.