How to enable AXFR for cPanel controlled domains in PowerDNS

Introduction

You may want to transfer a domain's zone to another DNS server or cluster. This article provides the steps to enable AXFR for servers running the PowerDNS nameserver.

Procedure

1. Access the server's command line as the 'root' user via SSH or "Terminal" in WHM.
2. Open /etc/pdns/pdns.conf in your preferred text editor.
3. Locate the disable-axfr line.
4. Set the disable-axfr value to no.

   disable-axfr=no

5. Locate the allow-axfr-ips line.

   # allow-axfr-ips=127.0.0.0/8,::1

6. Uncomment the line and replace 127.0.0.0/8,::1 with the remote server's IP address.

   allow-axfr-ips=203.0.113.2

7. Save the changes and exit the text editor.
8. Rebuild the DNS configuration.

   /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/rebuilddnsconfig

9. If you have DNSSEC enabled for a domain, you will also need to disable nsec3 semantics for that domain.

   whmapi1 unset_nsec3_for_domains domain=$domain.tld

   Please note that "$domain.tld" must be replaced with the DNSSEC domain enabled.

Additional resources

How do I use AXFR to obtain a copy of a zone?