Zones and records
Create a DNS zone, delegate nameservers and pass the NS check, then add, bulk-import and export records.
This page covers putting a domain on Yeap Cloud DNS: creating the zone, changing the nameservers at your registrar, confirming delegation, and adding and managing records.
Create a zone
- Go to DNS → Zones and click Create zone at the top right.
- Step 1, Enter a domain: in Zone name, enter the apex domain, for example
example.com. Internationalized domain names such as中国.comwork too. They are stored in Punycode, and the list still shows the original name. Description is optional. - Step 2, Select a plan: pick a DNS plan for this zone. A free plan activates right away. With a paid plan, you'll be asked to pay after the zone is created, and the zone activates once the invoice is paid.
- Step 3, Complete setup: the page shows the Nameserver list, which are the nameservers assigned to this zone. Click Copy next to each one and keep them.
A domain can exist as only one zone on the platform, and each plan subscription can be linked to only one zone. If you see "Zone already exists", the domain has already been added.
When the zone is created, the system adds its SOA record and the root (@) NS records. These are system records. You can't edit or delete them, and they count toward the record quota.
Change nameservers (delegation)
In your registrar's control panel, set the domain's nameservers to the ones shown in step 3. Copy them exactly as the console shows them, and don't make up your own.
- Enter all of the assigned nameservers and remove any others. Otherwise some queries will still go to your old provider.
- You can look up and copy these nameservers at any time. They're on the Nameservers (NS) card at the top of the zone's records page.
- Nameserver changes usually take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to spread worldwide. The time depends on the registry and on how long the old NS records were cached.
Once a zone is active, it's published to its assigned nameservers. You don't have to wait for the NS switch. For a migration with no downtime, first recreate all of your existing records in the console. Then check the answers with dig @<assigned-nameserver> www.example.com. Change the nameservers at your registrar only after that.
NS check and zone status
The Status column in the zone list shows each zone's status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active | The plan is valid and the zone is published to the nameservers |
| Activation pending | The paid plan isn't paid yet, so the zone isn't published |
| Suspended / Inactive / Terminated | The zone is suspended or its plan has lapsed, and it no longer answers queries. Contact support if you're not sure why |
If a zone is Active but the domain's NS records don't point to us yet, it also shows a Connection pending tag under the status.
How the check works: the platform looks up the domain's current NS records through public DNS. If at least one of them matches a nameserver assigned to the zone, the domain counts as delegated and the Connection pending tag goes away.
- Zones waiting for delegation are checked automatically in the background, in batches about every 10 minutes.
- To check right away, click the Check whether NS records point to our servers icon on the zone's row. If the domain isn't delegated yet, a dialog shows Current NS next to Should point to. You can copy the values from there.
Connection pending is only a reminder. Even before the NS switch, the zone already answers queries on our nameservers.
Add and manage records
In the zone list, click the Manage records icon to open the records page, then click Add record. Each record has these fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The host, relative to the zone. @ is the apex, www means www.example.com, and * is a wildcard. Letters, digits, hyphens and underscores (as in _dmarc) are allowed. Spaces are not |
| Type | See the table below |
| Content | The record value |
| TTL | Cache time in seconds. New records default to 3600. Allowed range is 1–604800 (7 days). Larger values are lowered to 604800 |
| Priority | Priority for MX and SRV. For A/AAAA/CNAME it acts as a weight. See Geo routing |
| Notes | An optional note |
| Traffic routing | A, AAAA and CNAME only. See Geo routing |
Supported record types
| Type | What to enter in Content | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A | An IPv4 address | 203.0.113.10 |
| AAAA | An IPv6 address | 2001:db8::10 |
| CNAME | The target hostname | app.example.net |
| MX | The mail server hostname. Put the preference in the Priority field | Content mx1.example.com, priority 10 |
| TXT | Any text, up to 4096 characters. Quotes are added for you, and text over 255 bytes is split into several strings automatically | v=spf1 include:_spf.example.com ~all |
| NS | A nameserver hostname, used to delegate a subdomain to another DNS provider | Name dev, content ns1.other-dns.com |
| SRV | weight port target. Put the priority in the Priority field | Name _sip._tcp, content 5 5060 sip.example.com, priority 10 |
| CAA | flags tag value, where tag is issue, issuewild or iodef | 0 issue "letsencrypt.org" |
| PTR | A hostname | host.example.com |
For content that is a hostname (CNAME, MX, NS, PTR, and the SRV target), you can include or leave off the trailing dot. The system treats it as a fully qualified name either way.
Validation rules
- A CNAME can't share a name with any other record. For example, if
wwwalready has an A record, you can't add a CNAME forwww, and the reverse is also true. The apex (@) always has NS and SOA records, so the apex can't be a CNAME. - The apex SOA and NS records are managed by the system. The console marks them "System record, cannot be modified".
- If the content is malformed, the save is rejected with an error. Examples are an invalid IP in an A record, or SRV content that isn't in
weight port targetform.
Bulk import
On the records page, click More actions → Bulk import:
Enter one record per line in the text box, or click Import from file to load a text or CSV file. Use this format:
textname|type|TTL|priority|content|geo|commentFor example:
textwww|A|3600|0|203.0.113.10||Web server mail|MX|3600|10|mail.example.com||Mail serverComma-separated CSV works too. Name, type and content are required. A blank TTL defaults to 3600 and a blank priority defaults to 0. The geo field is for advanced use and is normally left blank.
Click Preview import data to check how the lines were parsed, then click Import.
When the import finishes, you'll see how many records succeeded and how many failed. Each record is validated on its own, so a failure on one line (bad format, CNAME conflict, quota exceeded) doesn't stop the others.
Download the zone file
Click More actions → Download Zone file to download the zone's current configuration as a text file (<zone>.zone). This is handy for backups and for checking your records.
In the downloaded file, A, AAAA and CNAME lines carry extra fields that the platform uses for geo routing. The file is not standard BIND format. Remove those fields before importing the file at another DNS provider.
Edit or delete a zone
- Edit zone: you can change the zone's description. The zone name can't be changed.
- Delete zone: click it and confirm. After deletion, the platform's nameservers stop answering for the domain, and the domain stops resolving.
If the domain is still in use, first change its nameservers at your registrar to your new DNS provider and wait for the change to take effect. Delete the zone only after that. If the zone has DNSSEC turned on, remove the DS record first, as described in DNSSEC.