What Is DNS?
Domain Name Service (DNS) is a highly available and scalable authoritative DNS service that translates domain names (such as www.example.com) into IP addresses (such as 192.1.2.3) required for network connection. The DNS service allows users to visit your websites or web applications with domain names.
The DNS service is free and is enabled by default.
Basic Functions
The DNS service provides the following functions:
Maps domain names to public IP addresses so that your users can access your website or web applications over the Internet.
Private domain name resolution
Translates private domain names into private IP addresses to facilitate access to cloud resources within VPCs.
Obtains a domain name based on an IP address. Reverse resolution, or reverse DNS lookup, is typically used to affirm the credibility of email servers.
Returns different resolution results for the same domain name based on the carrier networks or geographic locations of user IP addresses. This significantly reduces network latency for users from different carrier networks and geographic locations.
Accessing the DNS Service
The cloud platform provides a web-based management console as well as REST APIs through which you can access the DNS service.
Management console
A web-based management console enables you to access the DNS service.
If you have already registered an account, log in to the management console, hover on the upper left to display Service List, and choose Networking > Domain Name Service.
Otherwise, register an account with Huawei Cloud by following the instructions in Quick Start and perform the preceding step.
With a few steps, you can start using the DNS service for domain name resolution.
APIs
REST APIs are provided for accessing the DNS service. You can also use the provided APIs to integrate DNS into a third-party system for secondary development. For details, see the Domain Name Service API Reference.
Product Advantages
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Flexible Routing
DNS routes traffic based on multiple criteria, including endpoint health and geographic region. You can configure traffic routing to resolve specific end user requests.
DNS routes traffic based on multiple criteria, including endpoint health and geographic region. You can configure traffic routing to resolve specific end user requests.
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High Performance
A single DNS node can handle millions of concurrent queries. Huawei's global infrastructure allows your end users to quickly access the closest application endpoints that are healthy, minimizing latency.
A single DNS node can handle millions of concurrent queries. Huawei's global infrastructure allows your end users to quickly access the closest application endpoints that are healthy, minimizing latency.
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Easy-of-Use
You can easily configure DNS records using the console or APIs. DNS immediately handles queries once you create a zone and add record sets to it.
You can easily configure DNS records using the console or APIs. DNS immediately handles queries once you create a zone and add record sets to it.
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Robust Security
DNS offers built-in DDoS mitigation and works with Anti-DDoS to ensure that requests from your legitimate end users are not affected.
DNS offers built-in DDoS mitigation and works with Anti-DDoS to ensure that requests from your legitimate end users are not affected.
FAQ
FAQ
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Will I Be Billed for the DNS Service?
DNS is free. You can use the DNS service free of charge.
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Why Was the Email Address Format Changed in the SOA Record?
When you add a record set, you can enter an email address to receive error information and problem reports of the domain name. However, based on RFC 2142, we strongly recommend that you use HOSTMASTER@Domain name as the email address.
Because the at sign (@) has a special meaning in the SOA record set, the system replaces it with a period (.) and includes a backslash (\) before the period in the label before the at sign, but emails are still sent to the email address you specify. For more information, see RFC 1035.
For example, if you enter test.hostmaster@example.com when you create the zone, the email address displayed in the SOA record set is test\.hostmaster.example.com.
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When Will a New Record Set Take Effect?
If a record set is being added for the first time, it takes effect immediately.
If you delete a record set and add it again, it will take effect after the cache for the deleted record set expires. The amount of time is controlled by the TTL value configured for the deleted record set.
In some cases, the carrier may prolong the cache duration of a domain name.
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When Will New DNS Server Addresses Take Effect?
Changes to DNS server addresses can be quickly synchronized to the top-level domain name servers and then be rapidly applied on the entire network. However, some domain name registrars set the TTL value for NS records to 48 hours. If the NS records are cached by a local DNS server, the changes would take effect in 48 hours.
Consult the domain name registrars to learn how long the TTL has been configured for. Do not delete original record sets until the changes take effect to ensure your service continuity.
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Can I Modify a Zone?
No. You can modify only the email address and its description.
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Do I Need to Register Private Domain Names?
Private domain names take effect only in associated VPCs. Therefore, you do not need to register them.
You can customize any private domain name, other than .com, as long as it complies with domain name specifications. All private domain names are free.
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What Is a PTR Resolution?
Generally, DNS is to resolve a domain name to an IP address. When you access a website domain name, DNS maps the domain name to the IP address of the website, so you can access the website content.
Reverse resolution obtains domain names or host addresses based on IP addresses. It is usually used in scenarios such as anti-spam and logging.
Anti-spam: Query the domain name of the mail server based on the IP address of the sender's mail server to obtain the reputation of the domain name.
Logging: Query the domain name or host name based on the IP address to distinguish service data.
An A record is stored under a zone. Reverse resolution is to add the reverse top-level domain .in-addr.arpa. For example, the PTR record of IP address 192.0.2.255 is stored in 255.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa.
By default, a reverse domain name in the format of ecs-x-x-x-x.compute.hwclouds-dns.com is added to Huawei Cloud EIP. Resolve the PTR record of the EIP to obtain the default reverse domain name. You can also log in to the DNS console, choose PTR Records, and add a PTR record for the EIP. Then the default value will be overwritten.
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Can I Transfer a Hosted Public Domain Name from One Account to Another Account?
You are not allowed to transfer a public domain name hosted on the DNS service from one account to another account.
If you have created a public zone and added record sets to the public zone, you cannot transfer the domain name from one account to another account.
NOTE:If you want to transfer a hosted domain name to another account, delete the public zone created under the current account, create the same public zone under the new account, and add record sets to the public zone. This operation will interrupt domain name resolution. Exercise caution when performing this operation.