Setting up reverse DNS

Reverse DNS (rDNS) is quite simply the method of resolving an IP address into a domain name, just as the domain name system (DNS) resolves domain names into associated IP addresses.

This tutorial will guide you through setting up reverse DNS in DNS Made Easy.

Step1
First you will need to find out who owns your IP block (usually this is your ISP or hosting provider). You will need this as they will have to delegate your IP block to the DNS Made Easy name servers for reverse DNS resolution. If they will not delegate the IPs to DNS Made Easy then there is no reason to continue and you can ask them to set the reverse DNS for you.

Just as your Domain is delegated to use DNS Made Easy nameservers (by notifying your registrar) so must your IP block. Usually an ISP or hosting company will only do this if you have 256 IPs (a full class C) or more, but some companies have been known to make an exception.

Once your ISP or hosting company has agreed that they will assign the reverse DNS to DNS Made Easy ask them for the zone name that you will need to create.

A reverse DNS zone is slightly different than a normal domain name.

The zone (domain) "1.168.192.in-addr.arpa" would actually be the reverse DNS for the 192.168.1 class C. So this would handle the reverse DNS for IPs 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.256.

If your IP block is smaller than a class C then your zone (domain) might look like this "0/25.1.168.192.in-addr.arpa" or "0-25.1.168.192.in-addr.arpa". These would actually be the zone that would handle 128 IPs. This would actually be the zone for the IPs 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.128.

Step 2
Add your zone (domain) into the DNS Made Easy system. This is done just as you would by entering any domain into the DNS Made Easy system. NOTE: You will not want to use any Domain wizards as they will not really help you. You can just use the classic Domain setup.

At the end of adding your domain to the DNS Made Easy system you will be assigned a group of name servers. These are the name servers that you will want to tell your ISP or hosting company to delegate the reverse DNS to.

Step 3
Tell your ISP or your hosting provider the name servers that they will have to delegate your IPs to. This is important that they do this. This step is exactly the same idea when you tell your regsitrar to use DNS Made Easy nameservers for your doamin.

Step 4
You will then want to add PTR records as needed.

So if you had the zone (domain) "1.168.192.in-addr.arpa" and you created a PTR record with the following values:
Name: '32'
Value: 'systems.example.com.'

Then the end result would be that the reverse DNS for the IP 192.168.1.32 will be "systems.example.com.".

That's about it. Adding reverse DNS to your IPs is really easy with DNS Made Easy!