Hesitating to enable DNSSEC, heard stories of domains going dark
DNSSEC prevents an attacker from injecting forged DNS answers into a resolver cache. The risk on activation lives at the registrar's DS-record handling: set a DS while your zone is no longer signed correctly and validating resolvers see your domain as bogus.
Try this first
- 1First pick a DNS host that fully automates DNSSEC (Cloudflare, Vercel DNS, deSEC, NS1). Running BIND with DNSSEC yourself is more maintenance than SMB needs.
- 2At the DNS host: enable DNSSEC. It generates KSK + ZSK and gives you a DS record.
- 3At the registrar (TransIP, Versio, GoDaddy, etc.): place the DS record. From then on resolvers validate your zone.
- 4Wait 48 hours and test with dnssec-analyzer.verisignlabs.com or dnsviz.net that the chain holds: parent (TLD) points to your DS, your NS serves valid RRSIG.
- 5Document: DNSSEC changes the procedure for migrating between DNS hosts (first rollover, then transfer, then DS). Do not just flip NS.
When to bring us in
If you want to enable DNSSEC without falling into traps, we can plan the rollout including registrar DS update and monitoring.
See also
- Domain expires tomorrow and nobody saw the emailAn expired domain doesn't transfer instantly. There's a redemption window, but you pay extra.
- Unsure whether to enable auto-renewDisabling auto-renew only makes sense for domains you'll truly drop. For anything live, just keep it on.
- New registrar asks for auth code, can't find itEPP code or transfer code is the password to move a domain from registrar A to B.
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