Chapter 3. Installing on Microsoft Windows

Note

PowerDNS support for Windows is, as of 1.99.12, very recent and therefore quite 'beta'. For reliability, we currently advise the use of the Unix versions. Furthermore there is no support for master or slave operation in the ODBC backend, which is the only one provided currently. This will be fixed soon.

As of 1.99.12, PowerDNS supports Windows natively. PDNS can act as an NT service and works with any ODBC drivers you may have.

To install PowerDNS for Windows you should check if your PC meets the following requirements:

If your system meets these requirements, download the installer from http://www.powerdns.com/pdns/. After downloading the file begin the installation procedure by starting powerdns-VERSION.exe.

After installing the software you should create a valid ODBC source. To do this you have open the ODBC sources dialog: Start->Settings->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Data Sources (ODBC).

We'll use the example zone database that is included in the installation to explain how to create a source.

When you are in the ODBC sources dialog you activate the System DSN tab.

Note

It is important to create a System DSN instead of an User DNS, otherwise the ODBC backend cannot function.

Press Add..., then you have to select a driver.

Select Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb).

Use PowerDNS as the DSN name, you can leave the description empty.

Then press Select... to select the database (ie. C:\Program Files\PowerDNS\powerdns.mdb).

Press Ok and you should be done.

For more information, see Section A.10.

3.1. Configuring PDNS on Microsoft Windows

You can specify program parameters in the pdns.conf file which should be located in pdns directory (ie. C:\Program Files\PowerDNS\).

To see a list of available parameters you can run pdns.exe --help.

Note

A default configuration file has been supplied with the installation.