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How to get started with Cloud DNS

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Updated at May 26, 2025

Create DNS zones, add A records for your test VMs, and test domain name resolution.

Getting started

  1. Log in to the management console or sign up. If not signed up yet, navigate to the management console and follow the on-screen instructions.
  2. On the Yandex Cloud Billing page, make sure you have a linked billing account with the ACTIVE or TRIAL_ACTIVE status. If you do not have a billing account yet, create one.
  3. If you do not have a folder yet, create one. While creating a folder, you can also create a default virtual network with subnets in all availability zones.
  4. Create a network and subnets for your test VMs.
  5. Create VMs named test-vm-1 and test-vm-2 in the ru-central1-a availability zone. Make sure test-vm-1 has a public IP address. Connect them to subnets within the same network.

Create a private DNS zone

Domain zones will store resource records.

Create a new domain zone:

  1. Open the Cloud DNS section in the folder where you need to create a DNS zone.
  2. Click Create zone.
  3. Configure the DNS zone as follows:
    1. Zone: testing.
    2. Type: Internal.
    3. Name: test-zone.
    4. Networks: Network hosting your VMs.
  4. Click Create.

Run this command:

yc dns zone create --name test-zone \
--zone testing. \
--private-visibility network-ids=<network_ID>

Where --private-visibility is the ID of the network with your test VMs.

Add resource records to your private DNS zone

  1. Open the list of zones and select test-zone.
  2. Select Records in the left-hand menu.
  3. Click Create record. Configure the record as follows:
    1. Name: test-vm-1.
    2. Type: A.
    3. TTL (in seconds): 600.
    4. Data: test-vm1 internal IP address.
  4. Click Create.
  5. Click Create record once again. Configure another record:
    1. Name: test-vm-2.
    2. Type: A.
    3. TTL (in seconds): 600.
    4. Data: test-vm2 internal IP address.
  6. Click Create.

Run the following commands:

yc dns zone add-records --name test-zone \
--record "test-vm-1 600 A <VM_internal_IP_address>"

Where --record is the record containing the test-vm-1 internal IP address.

yc dns zone add-records --name test-zone \
--record "test-vm-2 600 A <VM_internal_IP_address>"

Where --record is the record containing the test-vm-2 internal IP address.

Test domain name resolution in the private DNS zone

Connect to test-vm-1 over SSH:

ssh <VM_public_IP_address>

On your VM, try accessing test-vm-2 using its domain name:

host test-vm-2.testing.

Make sure the response returns the IP address of the appropriate VM:

host test-vm-2.testing.
test-vm-2.testing has address 10.0.0.9

Create a public DNS zone

If you have a registered domain name, you can create a public domain zone and add a record to it. In this example, we will use example.com as the domain name.

Create a new public domain zone:

  1. Open the Cloud DNS section in the folder where you need to create a DNS zone.
  2. Click Create zone.
  3. Configure the DNS zone as follows:
    1. Zone: example.com..
    2. Type: Public.
    3. Name: test-public-zone.
  4. Click Create.

Run this command:

yc dns zone create --name test-public-zone \
--zone example.com. \
--public-visibility

Add resource records to the public zone

  1. Open the list of zones and select test-public-zone.
  2. Select Records in the left-hand menu.
  3. Click Create record. Configure the record as follows:
    1. Name: www.
    2. Type: A.
    3. TTL (in seconds): 600.
    4. Data: test-vm-1 public IP address.
  4. Click Create.

Run this command:

yc dns zone add-records --name test-public-zone \
--record "www 600 A <VM_public_IP_address>"

Where --record is the record containing the test-vm-1 public IP address.

Delegate your domain name by specifying the addresses of the Yandex Cloud ns1.yandexcloud.net. and ns2.yandexcloud.net. name servers at your registrar.

Test domain name resolution in the public DNS zone

Make sure the created record resolves to the VM's public IP address. Run the following command on your computer:

host www.example.com ns1.yandexcloud.net.

Result:

Using domain server:
Name: ns1.yandexcloud.net.
Address: 84.201.185.208#53
Aliases:

www.example.com has address <test-vm-1_public_IP_address>
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