What is SOA (Start of Authority) record?

The SOA means Start Of Authority. The SOA record defines the beginning of the authoritative DNS zone and specifies the global parameters for the zone. These parameters include the primary name server, the email of the domain administrator, the domain serial number, and several timers relating to refreshing the zone.

Every DNS zone registered in ClouDNS must have an SOA (Start of Authority) record. There is one SOA record per zone.

Example of SOA record can be seen below:

Why do you need a SOA record?

The SOA record contains a core information about your zone. It is not possible for your zone to work without that information. Therefore, it is mandatory to have a SOA record for each of your zones.

How to create a DNS SOA record?

The SOA is been added automatically for every DNS zone hosted at ClouDNS. You could adjust the SOA values from within the “SOA Settings” button for each of your Zones.

Note: Managing SOA records is not available for Free users.

The SOA record has the following structure:

• Serial number - The revision number of this zone file. Increment this number each time the zone file is changed. It is important to increment this value each time when a change is made so that the changes will be distributed to any secondary DNS servers. In our system, the serial number is automatically incremented on each DNS zone change.
• Primary name server (NS) - The host name for the primary DNS server for the zone. The Primary NS, set by default, is ns11.cloudns.net. If you enter an invalid primary name server, it will be changed back to ns11.cloudns.net
• DNS admin e-mail - The e-mail address of the person, responsible for administering the domain's zone file. If you enter an invalid e-mail for DNS administrator, it will be changed back to support@cloudns.net.
• Refresh Rate - The time in seconds that a secondary DNS server waits before querying the primary DNS server's SOA record to check for changes. The refresh rate varies from 1200 do 43200 seconds.
• Retry Rate - The time in seconds that a secondary server waits before retrying a failed zone transfer. Usually, the retry rate is less than the refresh rate. The default value is 1800 seconds. The retry rate varies from 180 to 2419200 seconds.
• Expire time - The time in seconds that a secondary server will keep trying to complete a zone transfer. If this time expires before a successful zone transfer, the secondary server will expire its zone file. The secondary will stop answering queries, as it considers its data too old to be reliable. The default value is 1209600 seconds.
• Default TTL - The minimum time-to-live value applies to all resource records in the zone file. This value is supplied in query responses to inform other servers how long they should keep the data in the cache. The default value is 3600 seconds (1 Hour).

How to add a SOA Record - Step by Step video:

SOA record VS NS record

Despite the fact, that both records are mandatory for the normal work of your zones, their roles are quite different.

SOA record is a kind of documentary record, automatically generated along with the initial creating of your DNS zone. It contains a valuable and obligatory information such as the DNS admin email address, the primary name server, the DNS zone’s serial number, and few other values.

The NS records identify the name servers, responsible for your DNS zone. In other words, the NS records tell which servers can be contracted to obtain the records pertaining to the domain.

How to start managing SOA records with ClouDNS?

1. Open free trial account from here - free for 30 days, regular price $2.95/month (Premium S)
2. Verify your e-mail address
3. Log into your control panel
4. Create new Master DNS from the [add new] button - read more here
5. Click on the SOA settings icon and configure it as you need

Support of SOA records

ClouDNS provides full support for SOA records. Each DNS zone has a SOA record, but the main settings - admin mail, primary name server and so on can be changed only by customers with active non-free subscription. All DNS hosting plans here includes SOA record management:

• Premium DNS
• DDoS Protected DNS
• GeoDNS

Default SOA parameters

If you are on one of our paid plans, you can set up default SOA parameters that will be used, when you create a new zone or reset your current SOA details. This can be done from the profile settings of the account.

How to setup default SOA parameters:

1. Log in with your ClouDNS account.

2. Enter into your profile settings by clicking on your e-mail link at the top of the page.

3. In the SOA settings pane you can set up default values for DNS admin e-mail, Primary NS, Refresh rate, Retry rate, Expire time, and Default TTL then click on the Save button.

Note: This feature is available for Premium, DDoS Protected, and GeoDNS subscriptions.

FAQ

Question: How come I don't see the SOA record along with my other records at my DNS zone management page?

Answer: SOA record is not listed with the stack of your other records at your DNS zone management page. Its values can be modified from within the "SOA Settings" button for each of your zones.

Question: I am a Free user of yours and I want to manage my SOA details. What I have to do?

Answer: SOA settings are available to premium account only. You must upgrade in order to manage your SOA settings.

Question: Online checkers alarm me with "Primary Name Server Not Listed At Parent". How to fix this warning.

Answer: We recommend you to check your SOA settings and make sure that one of your domain's name servers is specified as Primary NS in the SOA record. It is a common warning when customers use custom name servers, but the Primary NS in the SOA record has been left to the default.