Content DNS

Content DNS is the first service you need to provide when you want to host your own domain name on the internet. Bytemark host the vital ‘name servers’ which you can use to provide this service. They are called:

a.ns.bytemark.co.uk
b.ns.bytemark.co.uk
c.ns.bytemark.co.uk

To ensure continuity for all the domains we host, we have a name server located in each of our Manchester and York data centres, and a third server on an off-site network in Amsterdam, which provides resiliency in the event of any network disruption, and any records served by one server will also be visible on the others.

Using Bytemark’s content DNS Service

Symbiosis users

One of the benefits of running Symbiosis is that DNS changes are handled automatically for you. The Symbiosis documentation has more information if you require it. If you are not running Symbiosis, you will need to manage your DNS records manually as follows…

Managing your DNS Manually

Modifying existing DNS records

If you already have DNS records setup for your domain(s), you must use your existing ‘upload‘ script to submit any changes (as it contains the rsync account details with the relevant ‘authority’).

If you don’t have a copy of your existing upload script and/or DNS files to hand, you can download copies by visiting the following URL (please replace RSYNC_USERNAME and RSYNC_PASSWORD with your rsync details):

https://upload.ns.bytemark.co.uk/get/RSYNC_USERNAME/RSYNC_PASSWORD

If you don’t have a record of your rsync details, please contact support.

Once you have made your required changes, please follow the instructions in the ‘Uploading your DNS records‘ section, below.

Uploading your DNS records

Once you have made your required changes, before you run the upload script, please check the following:

1. Check the permissions on the data files and upload script have not changed. They must be owned by the ‘root‘ user and ‘root‘ group.
2. If you manage more than 1 domain with this upload file (rsync account), check your data directory contains the DNS files for all your domains. The upload script replicates the contents of your data directory on the server, so, if you remove a file from your data directory and run the upload script, your DNS records for that domain will be removed from the server!

When you are ready to proceed, run the upload script to push your changes:

/root/BytemarkDNS/upload

With a little luck you should get the response Uploading to host : completed.

If you have submitted your DNS records for the first time, in advance of switching your name servers to Bytemark, if you are satisfied they are setup correctly, you can now delegate your domains to our name servers:

a.ns.bytemark.co.uk
b.ns.bytemark.co.uk
c.ns.bytemark.co.uk

You should find that your new/updated data will be live within two minutes of adding it, but please bear in mind that DNS changes can take up to 72 hours to fully take effect.

Example Content DNS

If you’re looking for some more information, we have put together a Content DNS Example in the tinydns-data format with IPv6 extensions.