How to Create a DNS Zone in ISPConfig

This guide shows you how to create a DNS zone in the ISPConfig control panel using the built-in DNS Wizard. A DNS zone is the container that holds all of the DNS records for a domain, so it is sometimes simply called the domain's DNS or its zone file. The wizard creates the zone and a sensible starter set of records in one step, so you do not need to understand every record type before you begin. This article is for Noiz clients whose hosting plan includes the DNS module in ISPConfig and whose domain uses, or is about to use, the Noiz nameservers.

Last reviewed: 27 July 2026, against ISPConfig 3.3.1p1, the release Noiz runs. This guide is written for Noiz hosting and is kept current against ISPConfig. It complements, and does not replace, the official ISPConfig documentation linked below.

Official Documentation Reference

• ISPConfig Documentation: DNS Basics covers how DNS resolution works and how it applies to an ISPConfig server.
• ISPConfig Documentation: Creating Web Sites walks through the DNS Wizard as part of setting up a first site.
• HowtoForge: Setting up your own name service with ISPConfig gives background on zones, records and creating zones manually.
• ISPConfig documentation overview is the index of official ISPConfig documentation, including the user manual.

Prerequisites

• You can log in to the ISPConfig control panel and your panel shows the DNS module in the top menu. If it does not, your plan may not include DNS management; contact Noiz support to confirm.
• A registered domain, for example yourdomain.com, whose nameservers point at the Noiz nameservers, or which you are about to point there through your domain registrar.
• The IP address your domain should resolve to. If you have already created the site, this is the address shown in the IPv4-Address field of the website; see How to Create a Website in ISPConfig. It is also listed in your Noiz welcome email.

When You Need to Create a DNS Zone

A DNS zone in ISPConfig only answers queries when your domain is delegated to the nameservers of your hosting account. You would typically create a zone when:

• You have added a new domain to your hosting and want the Noiz nameservers to answer DNS queries for it.
• You are moving a domain's DNS hosting to Noiz from your registrar or another provider, and need the zone in place before you change the nameservers.
• You want to manage records such as MX, TXT or CNAME in the ISPConfig panel; the zone must exist before individual records can be added to it.

If your domain's DNS is hosted elsewhere, for example at your registrar or a third-party DNS service, a zone created in ISPConfig has no effect until the domain's nameservers are changed to point at the hosting nameservers. Nameserver changes are made at your registrar, not inside ISPConfig.

Create the Zone with the DNS Wizard

The official manual recommends the DNS Wizard over creating a zone manually, because the wizard builds the zone from a template and automatically creates the common records a domain needs, such as the www, mail and nameserver entries. You can adjust or extend the records afterwards.

Step 1: Open the DNS Wizard

1. Log in to the ISPConfig control panel.
2. Click the DNS module in the top menu.
3. In the left-hand menu, under DNS-Wizard, click Add DNS-Zone. The page that opens is headed DNS Zone Wizard.

The zone list carries the same wizard on a button, so if you are already looking at your zones you can click Add new DNS Zone with Wizard there instead.

Step 2: Complete the Wizard Form

Fill in the form as follows. Depending on how the zone template is set up for your account, some fields may already be filled in for you or may not appear at all. That is normal: hidden fields use preset values chosen by the template, typically the correct Noiz nameservers and contact address.

1. Template: leave this on Default unless Noiz has told you to pick a different template. The template decides which records the wizard creates.
2. Client: this field appears only for administrator and reseller accounts, and sets who owns the zone. On a client account the zone is assigned to you automatically.
3. Server: this only appears when more than one DNS server is available to the account. Where a single DNS server is assigned, as on a standard Noiz plan, the zone is placed on it without asking.
4. Domain: enter the domain the zone is for, for example yourdomain.com. A trailing dot is not required here; yourdomain.com is sufficient.
5. IP Address: enter the IPv4 address the domain should point to, for example 203.0.113.10 (an example address; use the one for your own account). The wizard will point yourdomain.com, www.yourdomain.com and mail.yourdomain.com at this address; you can change individual records later.
6. NS 1: the hostname of the primary nameserver, for example ns1.yourhostdomain.com. If this field is visible and empty, use the nameserver hostnames from your Noiz welcome email. No trailing dot is needed. The hostname you give here has to resolve to the server the zone is created on, which is why it is normally preset for you.
7. NS 2: the hostname of the secondary nameserver, for example ns2.yourhostdomain.com.
8. Email: the email address of the zone administrator, for example [email protected]. Enter it as a normal email address; the wizard converts it to the format DNS requires.
9. DKIM: read only, and nothing to decide. The tick box is shown greyed out and already ticked. It does not generate a DKIM key. If an email domain for the same domain already exists on your account with DKIM switched on, the wizard copies that key's public half into a TXT record named after the DKIM selector, for example default._domainkey.yourdomain.com. If there is no such email domain, no DKIM record is added and the zone is created as normal.
10. Sign zone (DNSSEC): leave this unticked unless you specifically intend to sign the zone. DNSSEC only works once signing data from the zone is also published at your domain registrar, so it is a separate task with its own steps.
11. Click Create new DNS zone. The panel returns you to the zone list.

What the Wizard Creates for You

With the Default template, the wizard creates the zone together with this starter set of records for yourdomain.com:

• An A record for yourdomain.com pointing to the IP address you entered.
• An A record for www.yourdomain.com pointing to the same address.
• An A record for mail.yourdomain.com pointing to the same address.
• Two NS records naming the primary and secondary nameservers you entered as authoritative for the zone.
• An MX record for yourdomain.com pointing to mail.yourdomain.com at priority 10, so mail for the domain is delivered to that host.
• A TXT record for yourdomain.com holding a starter SPF policy of v=spf1 mx a ~all, which permits the hosts named in the MX and A records to send mail for the domain.

The zone's timing values are taken from the template too, not from anything you type into the wizard. The stock ISPConfig Default template uses a record lifetime (TTL) of 3600 seconds, a refresh of 7200 and an expiry of 604800. These defaults suit most accounts and you do not normally need to change them. A template customised for your account may use different values and may create a different set of records, so treat the list above as the stock behaviour rather than a guarantee.

Check and Adjust the New Zone

1. Still in the DNS module, click Zones under the DNS heading in the left-hand menu. Your new zone appears in the DNS-Zones list with Active showing Yes. A zone that is not active is highlighted in red in the list instead.
2. Click the zone to open it. It opens on the Records tab, showing the records the wizard created. Here you can edit or delete existing records, and add further ones using the buttons for each record type, such as A, CNAME, MX and TXT.
3. The Zone settings tab holds the zone-wide SOA values built from the template: the primary nameserver, the zone administrator address, the serial number, and the refresh, retry, expire, minimum and TTL timers.

Note that on the Records tab, fully qualified names must end with a trailing dot, for example yourdomain.com., while plain host names such as www must not. The wizard handled this for you, but keep it in mind when adding records of your own.

Changes to a zone are written out to the nameserver by a background process rather than the moment you click save. While a change is still queued, an information panel appears above the list reading The following changes are not yet populated to all servers, followed by the pending item, for example Create DNS zone. The panel warns that storing updates can take up to a minute, and it clears once the change is live on the server.

Troubleshooting

• The NS 1, NS 2 or Email fields are missing from the wizard: the zone template for your account presets these values, so the wizard hides the fields. This is expected and the correct values are used automatically.
• The zone exists but the domain does not resolve: check at your registrar that the domain's nameservers point at the Noiz nameservers. After a nameserver change, allow up to 24 to 48 hours for the change to propagate worldwide.
• The wizard will not create the zone and reports an error: a zone name can exist only once on the server, so the wizard refuses rather than creating a duplicate. Open DNS > DNS > Zones and edit the existing zone instead. If you cannot see it, it may belong to another account; contact Noiz support.
• You entered the wrong IP address: open the zone under DNS > DNS > Zones and edit each A record on the Records tab to correct the address. Remember that yourdomain.com, www and mail each have their own record.
• The max. number of DNS zones for your account is reached: each hosting plan allows a set number of DNS zones, and the wizard shows this message instead of the form once you hit it. Delete an unused zone or ask Noiz support about increasing the allowance.

If you get stuck at any point, open a support ticket with the Noiz support team and include the domain name, the IP address you entered in the wizard, and a screenshot of any error message the panel shows.