DNS Templates

DNS templates in Poweradmin allow you to create standardized sets of DNS records that can be applied to multiple zones, streamlining zone management and ensuring consistency across domains.

Template Management

Templates are managed through the Poweradmin interface and stored in the database. Each template can contain multiple DNS records of various types (A, CNAME, MX, etc.) that will be applied when the template is used.

Templates support placeholders that are automatically substituted:

• [ZONE] - replaced with the actual domain name
• [SERIAL] - replaced with current date + sequence (YYYYMMDD00)
• [NS1], [NS2], etc. - replaced with configured nameservers
• [HOSTMASTER] - replaced with configured hostmaster email

Zone Template Application

When Changing a Zone's Template

When you change a zone's template on the edit page:

• Only template-generated records are overwritten - the system specifically deletes records that were originally created from templates
• Manual records are completely preserved - any records you added manually remain untouched
• Changes are immediate - template application happens instantly when you save the change
• SOA records are handled specially - existing serial numbers are preserved and incremented appropriately

How Poweradmin Tracks Template Records

Poweradmin maintains a database table (records_zone_templ) that tracks which DNS records were created from templates. This allows the system to:

• Identify which records can be safely replaced during template updates
• Preserve manually added records during template changes
• Maintain the relationship between zones and their source templates

Template Synchronization

Manual Updates Only

Important: Zones do NOT automatically update when templates are modified. This is by design to give administrators explicit control over when changes are applied.

Methods to Apply Template Changes

Individual Zone Update:

1. Go to Edit Zone page
2. Change the template dropdown (even to the same template)
3. Save changes - this triggers a template refresh

Bulk Zone Update:

1. Go to Edit Template page
2. Click "Update Zones" button
3. This updates ALL zones currently using that template

No Automatic Sync Indicators

Poweradmin does not currently provide interface indicators showing which zones are "out of sync" with their templates. Administrators must manually track when template changes need to be applied to existing zones.

Permissions

Zone Template Operations

Different template operations require different permissions:

• Creating zone templates: Requires zone_templ_add permission
• Listing zone templates: Requires zone_master_add OR user_is_ueberuser permission
• Editing/deleting zone templates: Requires user_is_ueberuser OR (zone_templ_edit AND template ownership)
• Adding/editing/deleting template records: Requires user_is_ueberuser OR (zone_templ_edit AND template ownership)

Applying Templates to Zones

• Creating zones with templates: Requires zone_master_add OR zone_slave_add permission
• Changing existing zone templates: Requires zone editing permissions (zone_content_edit_own for owned zones or zone_content_edit_others for other zones)
• Unlinking zones from templates: Requires user_is_ueberuser OR zone editing permissions (zone_content_edit_own/zone_content_edit_others OR zone_meta_edit_own/zone_meta_edit_others)

Permission Templates

Poweradmin also supports permission templates (different from zone templates):

• Adding permission templates: Requires templ_perm_add permission
• Editing permission templates: Requires templ_perm_edit permission
• Deleting permission templates: Requires user_edit_templ_perm permission

Configuration

Template display in zone listings can be controlled via the interface.zonelist_template setting in your configuration file.

See Also

• Permissions - For detailed permission requirements
• Basic Configuration - For template-related settings