Start with basic install of Debian (I used 9.9.X) – no packages and simply replace “password” with your mysql password, and nsX.domain.tld with your actual domain name (name server).
Install OpenSSH Server:
apt-get install openssh-server
Allow root to SSH into machine:
nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
allow root logins = yes
If using Proxmox let’s install QEMU:
apt-get install qemu-guest-agent
If using ESXi:
apt-get install open-vm-tools
I like to install a few other tools:
apt-get install htop vnstat net-tools ntp locate apt-transport-https
If using ESXi:
echo blacklist i2c_piix4 >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf update-initramfs -u -k all
If using Proxmox we need another package:
apt-get install lsb-release
wget -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/php.gpg https://packages.sury.org/php/apt.gpg echo "deb https://packages.sury.org/php/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/php7.3.list
Let’s update our sources:
apt-get update
Now to install some web requirements:
apt-get install apache2 mariadb-server php7.3 php7.3-mysql php7.3 php7.3-json php-apcu
Configure the database:
mysql_secure_installation
Create the directory web access files will reside:
mkdir -p /var/vhosts/nsX.domain.tld/
Let’s download the latest release:
cd /tmp wget https://dl.pdnsmanager.org/pdnsmanager-2.0.1.tar.gz tar xzf pdnsmanager-2.0.1.tar.gz cd pdnsmanager-2.0.1 cp -R * /var/vhosts/nsX.domain.tld/
Create an Apache configuration file:
nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/nsX.domain.tld.conf
<VirtualHost 0.0.0.0:80>
ServerAdmin email@emailaddress.com
ServerName nsX.domain.tld
DocumentRoot "/var/vhosts/nsX.domain.tld/frontend"
Require all granted
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^index.html$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule !^/api/.* /index.html [L]
Alias /api /var/vhosts/nsX.domain.tld/backend/public
<Directory /var/vhosts/nsX.domain.tld/backend/public>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^ index.php [QSA,L]
Assign ownership:
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/vhosts
Enable the required Apache modules:
a2enmod rewrite
Enable the configuration and start restart Apache:
a2ensite nxX.domain.tld service apache2 restart
Now we need to create a database:
mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE pdns; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON pdns.* To 'pdns'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'password'; quit;
Complete the setup via a browser:
http://ip-address/setup
Install the DNS server:
apt-get install pdns-server pdns-backend-mysql
select >>> NO
Copy the configuration file:
cp /etc/powerdns/pdns.conf /etc/powerdns/pdns.conf.original
Remove the configuration file:
rm /etc/powerdns/pdns.conf
Create a new configuration file:
nano /etc/powerdns/pdns.conf
allow-axfr-ips= allow-recursion=127.0.0.1 config-dir=/etc/powerdns daemon=yes disable-axfr=no guardian=yes local-address=0.0.0.0 local-port=53 master=yes slave=yes module-dir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/pdns setgid=pdns setuid=pdns socket-dir=/var/run version-string=powerdns include-dir=/etc/powerdns/pdns.d
Make a copy of the configuration file:
cp /etc/powerdns/pdns.d/bind.conf /etc/powerdns/pdns.d/bind.conf.original rm /etc/powerdns/pdns.d/bind.conf
Make a copy of the configuration file:
cp /etc/powerdns/pdns.d/pdns.local.gmysql.conf /etc/powerdns/pdns.d/pdns.local.gmysql.original rm /etc/powerdns/pdns.d/pdns.local.gmysql.conf
nano /etc/powerdns/pdns.d/pdns.local.gmysql.conf
launch=gmysql gmysql-host=localhost gmysql-port=3306 gmysql-dbname=pdns gmysql-user=pdns gmysql-password=password gmysql-dnssec=no
Let’s restart the service:
service pdns restart
Finally, doublecheck the hostname is correct:
hostnamectl set-hostname nsX.domain.tld
PDNS Manager has very poor error parsing / checking. It will allow you to create records with spaces and other non-standard characters. It’s always best to run pdnsutil to check all zones via the console:
pdnsutil check-all-zones -v