DNS Zone Designer

A DNS zone authoring tool tuned for VCF deployments. Build forward and reverse zones with all the record types VCF needs (A, AAAA, CNAME, PTR, plus MX/TXT/SRV/CAA/NS for completeness), then export production-ready BIND zone files or Windows DNS PowerShell.

When to use this tool

Use this tool when you need to:

• Pre-populate DNS for a new VCF deployment — every host, vCenter, SDDC Manager, NSX appliance, and Operations VM needs forward + reverse records before you start the install.
• Generate BIND zone files for a Linux DNS server (named/bind9).
• Generate PowerShell for Windows DNS — runs Add-DnsServerResourceRecord for each entry.
• Design DNS for a greenfield environment with no existing zones to import.
• Document the DNS plan for handoff to the DNS team.

How it works

DNS for VCF needs both forward and reverse resolution working:

• Forward zone: esx01.corp.local → 172.16.10.21 (A record)
• Reverse zone: 21.10.16.172.in-addr.arpa → esx01.corp.local (PTR record)

This tool builds both at once — when you add a host A record, the reverse PTR is generated automatically in the right reverse zone. Tabs at the top let you switch between summary, BIND output, Windows PowerShell output, and a deployment checklist.

Step-by-step walkthrough

1. Configure the zone metadata

Top of the form:

• Domain name — your VCF domain, e.g. corp.local, vcf.lab
• Primary nameserver — FQDN of your DNS server, e.g. ns1.corp.local
• SOA email — admin contact (DNS uses admin.corp.local for [email protected])
• Default TTL — 3600 (1 hour) is standard. Use 60s/5m for environments under active change.
• Refresh / Retry / Expire / Negative TTL — defaults are fine for most deployments

2. Add forward records

Click Add record and pick a type:

• A — IPv4 host record (most common for VCF)
• AAAA — IPv6
• CNAME — alias (e.g. vcsa → vc-m01.corp.local)
• MX — mail server
• TXT — SPF, DKIM, verification strings
• SRV — service location (e.g. LDAP, Kerberos)
• CAA — certificate authority authorization
• NS — delegation

Or use the VCF preset button to add the standard VCF host set in bulk: ESX hosts, vCenter, SDDC Manager, NSX Manager (×3 + VIP), VCF Operations.

3. Reverse zones (auto-generated)

The tool auto-detects the subnets used in your A records and generates a matching in-addr.arpa reverse zone for each. PTR records are added automatically. You don't need to manage these by hand — but you can review them in the reverse zones section.

4. Export to BIND

Click the BIND tab to see the production-ready zone file. Standard BIND syntax with SOA, NS records, and all your A/CNAME/PTR entries. Drop into /etc/bind/zones/ on your DNS server, add the corresponding zone block to named.conf.local, reload bind.

5. Export to Windows DNS PowerShell

Click the Windows DNS tab to see PowerShell that uses Add-DnsServerPrimaryZone and Add-DnsServerResourceRecord* commands. Run on a Windows server with the DnsServer module installed (built into Windows Server with the DNS role).

6. Run the checklist

The Checklist tab shows pre-deployment validation:

• Every A record has a matching PTR
• No duplicate hostnames
• SOA fields valid
• NS records present in the apex

Run through these before exporting — fixes any gaps the VCF Installer will trip over.

Examples

$TTL 3600
@   IN  SOA  ns1.corp.local. admin.corp.local. (
              2026041501  ; serial
              3600        ; refresh
              900         ; retry
              604800      ; expire
              3600 )      ; negative TTL
    IN  NS   ns1.corp.local.

esx01      IN  A  172.16.10.21
esx02      IN  A  172.16.10.22
esx03      IN  A  172.16.10.23
esx04      IN  A  172.16.10.24
vc-m01     IN  A  172.16.10.30
sddc-m01   IN  A  172.16.10.31
nsx-m01    IN  A  172.16.10.40
nsx-m02    IN  A  172.16.10.41
nsx-m03    IN  A  172.16.10.42
nsx-vip    IN  A  172.16.10.43

Common mistakes

Related tools

Tools that pair well with DNS Zone Designer:

FAQ