When Plesk hosts a domain's DNS zone, every record that tells the internet where your website and email live is managed under the domain's DNS Settings. This guide explains how to add and change records, when Plesk's DNS is actually used, and how to troubleshoot changes that do not seem to work.
Before you start
- Know where your domain's nameservers point. Plesk DNS only matters if the registrar lists the Plesk server's nameservers (for example
ns1.yourhost.com). Check with the WHOIS checker. - Your account needs the DNS zone management permission. If you do not see DNS Settings, ask your provider or reseller.
Open the DNS zone
- Log in to Plesk and go to Websites & Domains.
- Under the domain, click Hosting & DNS → DNS (in older layouts, DNS Settings).
You see the full zone: NS, A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV and CAA records created from the server's DNS template.
Add a record
- Click Add Record.
- Choose the Record type.
- Fill in the fields. Leave the domain part empty to create a record for the root domain itself.
- Click OK, then Update in the yellow bar if Plesk asks you to apply changes.
| Type | Typical use | Example value |
|---|---|---|
| A | Point a name to an IPv4 address | shop → 203.0.113.10 |
| CNAME | Alias one name to another | www → example.com. |
| MX | Deliver email to a mail server | mail.example.com, priority 10 |
| TXT | SPF, DKIM, DMARC, domain verification | v=spf1 a mx ~all |
| CAA | Limit which CAs may issue SSL | 0 issue "letsencrypt.org" |
Edit or remove records
Click a record's host name to change it, or tick records and click Remove. Be careful with the NS records and the main A record – removing them takes the site offline. Use Restore Defaults only if you want to rebuild the zone from the server template, because it erases your custom records.
Point email or the website to another provider
- Google Workspace or Microsoft 365: delete the existing
MXrecord formail.example.com, add the provider's MX records, and replace the SPF TXT record. Then disable the local mail service under Mail → Mail Settings so Plesk does not keep mail locally for that domain. - Website elsewhere: change the root
Arecord and thewwwrecord to the new IP address.
When DNS is hosted somewhere else
If your registrar or Cloudflare hosts DNS, changes in Plesk have no effect. In that case go to Hosting & DNS → DNS and click Disable (or switch the DNS service to Slave if you use a secondary setup), then copy the records you need to the external provider. This avoids confusion about which zone is active.
Troubleshooting
- Change not visible: DNS is cached for the TTL (often 1 hour or more). Query the server directly:
dig @your-server-ip example.com A. - Record ignored: confirm the registrar uses the Plesk nameservers. If not, edit DNS where the nameservers point.
- CNAME conflict: a name with a CNAME cannot have any other record. Delete the A or TXT record with the same name first.
- Let's Encrypt fails after DNS changes: wait for propagation, then reissue from SSL It!.