How to Install PowerDNS on Ubuntu Linux

Why use PowerDNS?

PowerDNS gives administrators complete control over DNS infrastructure. This system offers a scalable solution for managing thousands of records, complete with a modern web interface. Finishing these steps leaves behind a professional DNS management system accessible right from a browser.

Install the MariaDB database server

First, install MariaDB to securely store all DNS records for PowerDNS. This database setup remains crucial before configuring PowerDNS to manage domain information.

Once MariaDB finishes installing 💿, open the terminal and connect to the database:

sudo mysql

Run these commands to create the database and user:

Install PowerDNS

This section explains how to install PowerDNS on the Ubuntu system, providing the software that handles all DNS requests. System DNS resolver settings also get updated to point toward a reliable server like Google's.

Configuring the system resolver starts the installation. This step ensures Ubuntu correctly identifies and uses PowerDNS for domain name resolution, preventing connectivity issues.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install pdns-server pdns-backend-mysql

Import the database structure:

sudo mysql -u pdnsadmin -p pdns < /usr/share/pdns-backend-mysql/schema/schema.mysql.sql

Configure PowerDNS

The PowerDNS configuration file requires database details for connection. Adding database credentials within this file ensures PowerDNS accesses its data storage properly.

sudo nano /etc/powerdns/pdns.d/pdns.local.gmysql.conf

launch+=gmysql
gmysql-host=127.0.0.1
gmysql-user=pdnsadmin
gmysql-password=your_secure_password
gmysql-dbname=pdns

Install the PowerDNS Admin web application

The PowerDNS Admin web application manages PowerDNS settings. Installing this application requires Python and Nginx first. Next, create the PowerDNS Admin folder and set up a virtual environment (a self-contained directory for Python packages).

sudo apt install python3-venv python3-pip gunicorn nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Set up the application folder and virtual environment:

sudo git clone https://github.com/ngoduykhanh/PowerDNS-Admin.git /var/www/html/pdns
cd /var/www/html/pdns
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Run database migrations to prepare the app:

export FLASK_APP=powerdnsadmin/__init__.py
flask db upgrade

Configure PowerDNS and Nginx

Enable the API in /etc/powerdns/pdns.conf by adding:

api=yes
api-key=generate_a_very_long_random_string_here

Restart PowerDNS: sudo systemctl restart pdns

Configure Nginx to serve the site and secure it with HTTPS:

sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com

Start the Service

Systemd starts the PowerDNS Admin application, ensuring the software runs smoothly in the background as a service. This action reloads the system's service manager, then turns on and starts the PowerDNS Admin service.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now pdnsadmin

Open a browser to the domain name, log in, and enter the API key generated earlier to finish the setup.

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