Using External DNS Servers

Although Plesk provides all the instruments to run DNS on your server,
you also can host the DNS zones on an external DNS server. This may be
your own separate server or a third-party DNS service such as Amazon
Route 53 (http://aws.amazon.com/route53/) or DynECT
(http://dyn.com/dns/dynect-managed-dns/).

There are two situations:

• You use only an external DNS server.

  You can exclude the DNS server component from your Plesk
  installation. To do this, use the custom type of installation (refer
  to the Deployment
  guide
  for details) and deselect the corresponding component (BIND DNS
  server support on Linux and Microsoft DNS server on Windows). In
  this case you cannot manage zones through Plesk. You can use external
  DNS server instead.

• You use both an external DNS server for storing the zones information
  and Plesk’s DNS server for managing zones through Plesk.

  If you want to use an external DNS service, there is no need to
  switch off the local DNS server. The local DNS server can be switched
  either on or off - in both cases the management of zones takes place
  on the Plesk’s DNS server, and the changes in zones are then
  propagated to the external DNS.

  By default, Plesk is unable to automatically propagate changes in DNS
  zones to external DNS servers. To make this possible, you should
  write an integration script. The script should communicate with the
  DNS server’s backend (like API) and apply all DNS zones changes
  occurred in Plesk.
  Learn how to prepare such a script.

When you use an external DNS server, and at the same time the Plesk’s
local DNS server is installed, all Plesk features related to DNS are
supported and work as usual, namely:

• DNS template, zones, and records management by means of the Plesk
  GUI, command-line utilities, and API requests.
• APS applications that use the DNS aspect.
• Other services that use DNS, for example, DKIM spam protection,
  Sender Policy Framework, and DMARC. To learn more, see the sections
  Antispam Tools.

Therefore, users can still change DNS settings of domains even if the
local DNS service is switched off unless the local DNS server is
uninstalled. This is true for domains created before you switch off…