What is PowerDNS?. PowerDNS is an open-source authoritative name server which has been used as an alternative to BIND DNS. PowerDNS offers higher performance with minimal memory usage. An authoritative name server gives records directly from itself as opposed to recursive name servers which query other name servers to get required answers. In this guide, we are going to look at how to install PowerDNS on CentOS 8 with MariaDB and PowerDNS-Admin.
Step 1: Prepare your server
First we are going to disable CentOS SElinux to ensure that it does not prevent any installation we are going to perform.
$ sudo vim /etc/selinux/configEdit the lines as shown so that SElinux is disabled. Save the file and reboot you server
# This file controls the state of SELinux on the system. # SELINUX= can take one of these three values: # enforcing - SELinux security policy is enforced. # permissive - SELinux prints warnings instead of enforcing. # disabled - No SELinux policy is loaded. SELINUX=disabled # SELINUXTYPE= can take one of these three values: # targeted - Targeted processes are protected, # minimum - Modification of targeted policy. Only selected processes are protected. # mls - Multi Level Security protection. SELINUXTYPE=targeted
Reboot your server
sudo rebootStep 2: Install EPEL and Remi repositories.
We need to install PowerDNS dependencies first. In this case, we are installing EPEL repository and REMI for PHP installation. Run the below commands.
sudo dnf -y install epel-release
sudo dnf -y install http://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-8.rpmHaving added the repositories enable PHP 7.4 Remi repository with the below commands.
sudo dnf module enable php:remi-7.4Step 3: Install and Configure MariaDB
Run the below command to install MariaDB on your server.
sudo dnf -y install mariadb mariadb-serverOnce installation is complete, start MariaDB service and enable it to start on boot.
sudo systemctl start mariadb
sudo systemctl enable mariadbMariaDB service is now running. We need to secure it and set root password. Use the below shown commands.
sudo mysql_secure_installationAnswer the prompts as shown:
Answer the prompts as shown:
NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MariaDB
SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE! PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!
In order to log into MariaDB to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user. If you've just installed MariaDB, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.
Enter current password for root (enter for none): Press Enter
OK, successfully used password, moving on...
Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MariaDB
root user without the proper authorization.
Set root password? [Y/n] y
New password: Enter New Password
Re-enter new password: Repeat New Password
Password updated successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
... Success!
By default, a MariaDB installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MariaDB without having to have a user account created for
them. This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother. You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'. This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
By default, MariaDB comes with a database named 'test' that anyone can
access. This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y
- Dropping test database...
... Success!
- Removing privileges on test database...
... Success!
Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far
will take effect immediately.
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
Cleaning up...
All done! If you've completed all of the above steps, your MariaDBNext, we need to create a database for PowerDNS installation and add a user to manage the database. First, login to MariaDB using the below command:
$ mysql -u root -p Enter the password you set above and go ahead to create a database and a user and give the user all rights to the databases.
Enter password: Enter your DB root password Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MariaDB connection id is 17 Server version: 10.3.17-MariaDB MariaDB Server Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others. Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement. MariaDB [(none)]> create database powerdns; Query OK, 1 row affected (0.000 sec) MariaDB [(none)]> create user 'pdns' identified by 'mypassword' ; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.000 sec) MariaDB [(none)]> grant all privileges on powerdns.* to 'pdns'@'localhost' identified by 'mypassword'; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.000 sec) MariaDB [(none)]> flush privileges; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.001 sec)
Once you have the database and user created, create table structures for the created DB by running the below shown MySQL commands:
use powerdns;Run the following MySQL commands
CREATE TABLE domains (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
master VARCHAR(128) DEFAULT NULL,
last_check INT DEFAULT NULL,
type VARCHAR(6) NOT NULL,
notified_serial INT DEFAULT NULL,
account VARCHAR(40) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
) Engine=InnoDB;
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX name_index ON domains(name);
CREATE TABLE records (
id BIGINT AUTO_INCREMENT,
domain_id INT DEFAULT NULL,
name VARCHAR(255) DEFAULT NULL,
type VARCHAR(10) DEFAULT NULL,
content VARCHAR(64000) DEFAULT NULL,
ttl INT DEFAULT NULL,
prio INT DEFAULT NULL,
change_date INT DEFAULT NULL,
disabled TINYINT(1) DEFAULT 0,
ordername VARCHAR(255) BINARY DEFAULT NULL,
auth TINYINT(1) DEFAULT 1,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
) Engine=InnoDB;
CREATE INDEX nametype_index ON records(name,type);
CREATE INDEX domain_id ON records(domain_id);
CREATE INDEX recordorder ON records (domain_id, ordername);
CREATE TABLE supermasters (
ip VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL,
nameserver VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
account VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (ip, nameserver)
) Engine=InnoDB;
CREATE TABLE comments (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
domain_id INT NOT NULL,
name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
type VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL,
modified_at INT NOT NULL,
account VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL,
comment VARCHAR(64000) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
) Engine=InnoDB;
CREATE INDEX comments_domain_id_idx ON comments (domain_id);
CREATE INDEX comments_name_type_idx ON comments (name, type);
CREATE INDEX comments_order_idx ON comments (domain_id, modified_at);
CREATE TABLE domainmetadata (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
domain_id INT NOT NULL,
kind VARCHAR(32),
content TEXT,
PRIMARY KEY (id)
) Engine=InnoDB;
CREATE INDEX domainmetadata_idx ON domainmetadata (domain_id, kind);
CREATE TABLE cryptokeys (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
domain_id INT NOT NULL,
flags INT NOT NULL,
active BOOL,
content TEXT,
PRIMARY KEY(id)
) Engine=InnoDB;
CREATE INDEX domainidindex ON cryptokeys(domain_id);
CREATE TABLE tsigkeys (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(255),
algorithm VARCHAR(50),
secret VARCHAR(255),
PRIMARY KEY (id)
) Engine=InnoDB;
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX namealgoindex ON tsigkeys(name, algorithm);
quit;You can confirm if the tables were created as below:
MariaDB [powerdns]> show tables;
+--------------------+
| Tables_in_powerdns |
+--------------------+
| comments |
| cryptokeys |
| domainmetadata |
| domains |
| records |
| supermasters |
| tsigkeys |
+--------------------+
7 rows in set (0.000 sec)Step 4: Install PowerDNS on CentOS 8
First you need to disable systemd-resolve which comes with CentOS by default. This is meant to prevent conflicting ports since PowerDNS will also use port 53
sudo systemctl disable systemd-resolved
sudo systemctl stop systemd-resolvedAlso remove the symlinked resolve.conf and create a new one.
$ ls -lh /etc/resolv.conf
$ echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" | sudo tee /etc/resolv.confNow it is time to install PowerDNS. Use the command below:
sudo dnf -y install pdns pdns-backend-mysql bind-utilsThe default PowerDNS configuration file is /etc/pdns/pdns.conf. Open the file with your favorite editor. By default, PowerDNS used bind as backend. We need to disable this by commenting the line launch=bind and allow MySQL backend configuration. Edit the file as below:
#launch=bind
launch=gmysql
gmysql-host=localhost
gmysql-user=pdns
gmysql-password=mypassword
gmysql-dbname=powerdnsSave the changes and close the file. Go ahead to start PowerDNS service and enable it to start on boot.
sudo systemctl start pdns.
sudo systemctl enable pdnsAllow the DNS service through the firewall as well
sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=dns --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd –reloadAt this PowerDNS is installed and running. You can confirm status using the command below.
$ systemctl status pdnsOutput
Step 5: Install PowerAdmin on CentOS 8
PowerAdmin is a web-based application for managing PowerDNS and it is based on PHP. To install it, we first need to install PHP to enable us to run the application.
sudo dnf -y install httpd php php-devel php-gd php-imap php-ldap php-mysql php-odbc php-pear php-xml php-xmlrpc php-mbstring php-mcrypt php-mhash gettextAlso, install additional php pear packages as shown:
sudo dnf -y install php-pear-DBNow start httpd service and enable it to start on system boot
sudo systemctl start httpd
sudo systemctl enable httpdConfirm httpd service with the below command
systemctl status httpdOutput
Next, you need to download PowerDNS code. Change to /var/www/html and run the sown commands
wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/poweradmin/poweradmin-2.1.7.tgzNow extract the archived file and give it a new name
tar xvf poweradmin-2.1.7.tgz
mv poweradmin-2.1.7/ cd /var/www/html/poweradmin/Allow HTTP and HTTPS protocols through the firewall.
sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=http,https --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd –reloadAt this point we can proceed with online set up for PowerAdmin. Open your browser and type http://
choose your preferred language and click Go to step 2 and in the next page, click Go to step 3
You will see a page to configure your database. Here,use the details that you had used before while creating your PowerDNS database.
Next is to create a user with limited privilege.
Click Go to step 5 where you will see the details of the added user. At this point, you go back to your terminal to grant the new user the named permissions by running the below MySQL command.
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON powerdns.* TO 'lorna'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'mypassword'Now, Go back to the web browser and Click Go to step 6. You will see a page as below, telling you to create the file “../inc/config.inc.php” manually.
On your terminal, run the commands shown:
cd /var/www/html/poweradmin
sudo vim inc/config.inc.phpAnd paste the content from the web page and save the file.
Go back to the browser and click Go to step 7. You will see that you have finished configuration.
To support URLs used by other Dynamic providers,run the commands below:
cd /var/www/html/poweradmin
sudo cp install/htaccess.dist .htaccessNote that you MUST remove the ‘install’ directory to proceed.
sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/poweradmin/installNow go back to your browser and type http://
Login with user ‘admin’ and the password you had set for the admin user and click GO. You will see a page as shown.
Your installation is complete! You can now go ahead to add a master zone.
This has been a step-by-step guide on how to install PowerDNS on CentOS 8 with MariaDB and PowerAdmin.
