Last
Updated: 01/23/2026
( 13 minutes reading )
DNS (Domain Name System) is one of the most important components of your hosting environment. It controls how your domains resolve to your server, how email routing is handled, and how external services communicate with your website.
Plesk provides a centralized interface where you can manage server-wide DNS settings, including DNS templates, default DNS zones, DNS server configuration, and how DNS is handled for newly added domains.
Managing global DNS settings ensures consistency across your domains, simplifies DNS management, and helps prevent misconfigurations.
In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of managing global DNS settings in Plesk.
First and foremost, please ensure you are logged in to your Plesk control panel. To do that, please enter your IP address, hostname, or domain name inside your web browser’s search bar and add “:8443” at the end. It should look something like: “https://yourdomain.com:8443”. By doing so, you will be prompted by a login form that requests your username and password.
After logging in with your username and password, Plesk will automatically display the “Websites & Domains” page, which will serve as the index page from where you can manage everything related to your websites and domains on Plesk.
To manage DNS on a server-wide level, please click on the “Tools & Settings” option from the left-hand menu.
After doing that, please locate the “General Settings” section and, underneath it, please click on “DNS Settings”.
The DNS Settings are the primary location for configuring how DNS records are created for all domains and for server-wide DNS settings.
On that page, you will have complete control over everything related to the DNS service on your Plesk server.
The Zone Record Template defines the default DNS records applied to every new domain added to Plesk. These records include:
When you update the DNS Template, Plesk can automatically apply these changes to existing DNS zones if you choose to synchronize them.
To modify the default DNS records, please click on the individual record, which in turn will open a side menu that will allow you to modify it.
Depending on the record you selected, you can change different parameters of the DNS zone. In our case, we selected the Name Server record; thus, we can update the following:
Please click “Save” to save your changes.
To add a new record, please click the “+ Add Record” button at the top left of the middle table section, which contains all the DNS record templates.
Performing the action above will reveal the same side menu as mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Please fill in the required fields and press the “Save” button at the bottom to add a new record.
Finally, to remove a record, please use the tickbox corresponding to the DNS record you want to remove.
Afterward, please press the “Remove” button and confirm the prompt to delete it.
After making changes to the DNS Template, you may want to apply them to all existing domains using local DNS. To do that, please locate the “Apply DNS Template Changes” button located above the table section and click on it.
Afterward, please confirm the action so the changes are applied. This ensures that all domains follow the updated DNS configuration.
Depending on your Plesk version, you can also manage global DNS server configuration. To do that, please click on the “Server-wide Settings” tab, located above the table section.
Once you are redirected to the “Server-wide Settings” tab, there you will be able to edit the following settings:
These settings affect how your server handles DNS queries overall. To save them, please click the “OK” button at the bottom of the page to be redirected to the “Tools & Settings” page, or click the “Apply” button to save the changes and remain on the same page so you can review them and confirm they are correct.
To maintain consistent, secure DNS across your servers, we have compiled a list of practices below that you can refer to and apply. Of course, our recommendations are based on years of field experience and are also used to manage our own servers at HostArmada.
As you can see, Plesk makes it easy to manage global DNS settings using its DNS Template and server-wide DNS configuration tools. By updating your DNS Template and synchronizing changes across domains, you ensure consistency, improve stability, and reduce the chances of DNS misconfiguration.
We hope this tutorial was helpful, and we kindly encourage you to review your DNS settings periodically - especially after adding new services, email systems, or subdomains.
Nikola is an accomplished tech-savvy extraordinaire with over six years of experience in the web hosting field. He started as a customer care representative and quickly rose the ranks to become a support supervisor and, eventually - the head of the technical department in HostArmada. His deep understanding of the client's needs, combined with his technical knowledge, makes him the perfect man to create the ideal harmony between client satisfaction and professional problem-solving. You will often find him creating helpful tutorials, articles, and blog posts that help existing customers get around.
Learn more about Plesk in the other tutorials that we have:
