DNS Management Setup

The SOA record

ns	The name of the name server that was the original or primary source of data for this zone. (meaningless to this DNS system) ex: primary.example.com. (default ns.conexim.com.au.)
email	A name which specifies the mailbox of the person responsible for this zone. This should be specified in the mailbox-as-domain-name format where the `@' character is replaced with a dot. (meaningless to this DNS system) ex: postmaster.example.com. (default hostmaster.conexim.com.au.)
serial	A "version number" for this zone. DNS servers that rely on AXFR for zone transfers use this to determine when updates have occurred. Popular values to use are the Unix timestamp or a date in the form YYYYMMDD, followed by an extra version VV. ex: 2002052901
refresh	The SOA record of the primary server is checked every refresh seconds by the secondary servers; if it has change, a zone transfer is done. (meaningless to this DNS system) ex: 10800 (default 28800)
retry	If a secondary server cannot reach the primary server, it tries it again every retry seconds. (meaningless to this DNS system) ex: 3600 (default 7200)
expire	If for expire seconds the primary server cannot be reached, all information about the zone is invalidated on the secondary servers (i.e., they are no longer authoritative for that zone). (meaningless to this DNS system) ex: 60400 (default 604800)
minimum	The minimum TTL field that should be exported with any RR from this zone. ex: 86400 (default 86400)
ttl	The time interval that this resource record may be cached before the source of the information should again be consulted. Zero values are interpreted to mean that the RR can only be used for thetransaction in progress, and should not be cached. ex: 86400 (default 86400)

The RR records

name	The name (beneath the origin) that this RR describes. Wildcard values such as `' or `.sub' are supported. ex: foo
type	The type of resource record ('A','AAAA','CNAME','MX','NS','SRV','TXT').
data	The data associated with this resource record. For `A' and `AAAA' records, this is an IP address in dotted-decimal format. For `CNAME', `MX', and `NS' records, this is a name (can be just a machine name if the name is within the origin zone, or a FQDN). For `TXT' records, any text. `SRV' records must contain three values in this field, separated by whitespace (SPACE or TAB). The first field is a number specifying the weight for this entry. The second field is a number specifying the port on the target host of this service. The last field is a name specifying the target host. ex: 127.0.0.1 (A or AAAA) ex: foo (CNAME, MX, or NS within this zone) ex: foo.example.com. (CNAME, MX, or NS outside this zone) ex: 0 9 box.example.com. (SRV record)
aux	An auxillary numeric value in addition to data. For `MX' records, this field specifies the preference. For `SRV' records, this field specifies the priority. ex: 10
ttl	The time interval that this resource record may be cached before the source of the information should again be consulted. Zero values are interpreted to mean that the RR can only be used for the transaction in progress, and should not be cached. ex: 86400 (default 86400)

Other resources

RFC 1034

Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names - Concepts and Facilities", STD 13, RFC 1034, November 1987.

RFC 1035

Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names - Implementation and Specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, November 1987.

RFC 1537

Beertema, P., "Common DNS Data File Configuration Errors", RFC 1537, October 1993.

RFC 2317

Eidnes, H., et. al., "Classless IN-ADDR.ARPA delegation", BCP 20, RFC 1537, March 1998.

RFC 2782

Gulbrandsen, et al., "A DNS RR for specifying the location of services (DNS SRV)", RFC 2782, February 2000.