Bunny.net DNS

Sell bunny.net DNS hosting from Blesta, with a full self-service record editor, DNSSEC and zone import/export in your client's own area.

What it does

Selling DNS hosting usually means either doing it all by hand for every client, or sending them off to manage records somewhere outside Blesta entirely. This module closes that gap: it provisions a bunny.net DNS zone the moment a service activates, and gives both your staff and your clients a purpose-built records editor right inside Blesta. Clients manage their own A, AAAA, CNAME, TXT, MX, Redirect, SRV, CAA, PTR and NS records, turn on DNSSEC, and import or export a BIND zone file, all without a support ticket. You decide how much of that to sell and at what tier, since record, smart-routing and CDN-proxy limits are all controlled per package.

Key features

• Automatic DNS Zone Provisioning: A bunny.net DNS zone is created the moment a service is activated, and the domain plus the nameservers the client needs to point at are stored on the service and shown on their service page.
• Full Self-Service Record Editor: Clients add, edit, delete, enable and disable A, AAAA, CNAME, TXT, MX, Redirect, SRV, CAA, PTR and NS records without leaving your client area, with TTLs from 15 seconds to one day.
• Smart Routing and CDN Acceleration: Records can use latency-based or geographic smart routing with ping or HTTP monitoring, and can be CDN-proxied for acceleration, all from the same record form.
• Sellable Record Limits: Set a per-package limit on total records, smart routing records and CDN proxy records, where zero means unlimited and minus one turns the feature off entirely. Every limit can be overridden per order with a configurable option, so one package can serve several tiers.
• One-Click DNSSEC: Clients turn DNSSEC on or off for their zone in a click, and the resulting DS record, digest, digest type, algorithm and key tag are shown ready to paste at their registrar.
• BIND Zone File Import and Export: Paste a standard BIND zone file to bulk-import records during a migration, or export the current zone as a BIND file for a backup, straight from the records tab.
• Zone Query Statistics: A statistics tab shows how many queries the zone has served, broken down by record type and by date, so clients can see their DNS traffic at a glance.
• Custom Branded Nameservers: Point each account at your own branded nameservers and SOA email address instead of the defaults, so clients see your hostnames rather than a third party's.
• Suspension That Really Stops DNS: Suspending a service disables the zone's records and unsuspending restores them, while any record the client deliberately switched off stays off, so nothing they disabled comes back unexpectedly.
• Ready-Made Welcome Email: A welcome email template ships with the module and can be assigned to any package, already filled with the details a client needs to get started.
• Full Request Logging: What the module sends to bunny.net and what comes back is recorded in Blesta's own module log, with credentials never written to it.
• Built-In Demo Mode: A Mock API mode runs the whole module from bundled sample data, so you can trial every screen and action before you have a bunny.net account or API key.

Installing Bunny.net DNS

Before you start

• Version 3.x requires Blesta 6.0 or later. On a Blesta 5 install, use version 2.x instead.
• If you are on the leased (subscription) licence, the Blesta Club Subscription Manager must be installed and your subscription active. The owned and owned-source licences have no such requirement.
• You will need a bunny.net account and an account-level API Access Key to provision real zones. If you just want to try the module out first, you don't need either: a built-in Mock API mode runs the whole module from bundled sample data.

1. Upload the files

Upload the extension folder into your Blesta installation so it lands under your Blesta directory at:

components/modules/bunnydns/

For example, on a typical install: /var/www/html/blesta/components/modules/bunnydns/

2. Install it in Blesta

1. Log in to your Blesta admin area with a staff account that has the Modules permission under the Settings group in Manage Staff Groups.
2. Go to Settings > Company > Modules and click the Available tab.
3. Find Bunny.net DNS in the list and click Install.

3. Configure it

1. Under the Installed tab, click Manage next to Bunny.net DNS.
2. Click Add Account to add a bunny.net account. Give it an Account Label of your choosing (this is how it appears throughout Blesta, not the key itself), and paste in your bunny.net Access Key. The key is verified against bunny.net as soon as you save, so a bad key is caught immediately rather than at the first order.
   • To try the module without a bunny.net account, tick Mock API instead of entering a real key - the account then serves built-in sample data for every zone and record action.
   • Optionally tick Use Custom Nameservers and fill in your own two nameservers if you want new zones to point clients at your own branded nameservers instead of bunny.net's defaults, and set an SOA Email if you want zones to use an address other than bunny.net's own.
3. Create a package on this module (or edit an existing one) and set its Record Limit, Smart Record Limit and Accelerated / CDN Proxy Limit - a positive number caps how many of that kind a client's zone may hold, 0 means unlimited, and -1 disables the feature entirely.
4. Assign the welcome email template that ships with the module to the package if you'd like new clients emailed their domain and nameservers automatically.

You're ready to go - see the usage guide for a walkthrough of day-to-day use.

Updating Bunny.net DNS

Upgrading works just like installing: upload the new files over the old ones, then run the upgrade from the same page you installed it on.

1. Back up your current extension files first - good practice before any upgrade.
2. Upload the new version over the existing folder, replacing the old files.
3. Log in to your Blesta admin area and go to Settings > Company > Modules.
4. Find Bunny.net DNS and click Update to run the upgrade.

Version-specific notes

• v3.0.0: Requires Blesta 6.0 or later - upgrade Blesta first, then the module. Blesta 5 installs should stay on 2.x. Nothing changes in your accounts, packages or services; the staff screens take on the Blesta 6 admin theme (light and dark), the Add/Edit Account forms gain a Back button, and on the staff Manage Records tab a record's additional options open by clicking the row or its chevron. The client area is unchanged.
• v2.0.0: This is a feature release. Suspending a service now disables its zone's records and unsuspending restores them (leaving anything a client deliberately disabled still disabled); the records tab gained per-record Enable/Disable, DNSSEC management with DS-record display, and BIND zone file import/export; each service now stores its bunny.net nameservers and exposes them as the {service.nameserver_one} / {service.nameserver_two} welcome-email tags, and a default welcome-email template ships with the module; a new Statistics tab shows query totals; and the three package limits (Record, Smart Record, CDN Proxy) can now be overridden per order with a Quantity or Select configurable option. This version also fixes a number of issues from earlier releases, including record saves/deletes that could act on the wrong zone, a blank record limit on the service details panel, SOA Email values that could leave an orphaned zone at bunny.net if rejected, and several others - see CHANGELOG.log for the full list. No manual migration steps are required; run the upgrade and review the new package limit and welcome-email options if you'd like to use them.
• v1.1.0: Accounts are now named with an Account Label of your choosing instead of showing the raw API key. Running the upgrade generates a label for each existing account automatically (for example "Account ending 30da"); rename them to something meaningful under Settings > Company > Modules > Bunny.net DNS > Manage if you'd like. The Access Key is now write-only - it is no longer shown in the accounts list or pre-filled when editing an account, so leave the field blank when editing to keep your stored key. The {module.access_key} email tag has been removed and replaced with {module.name}; update any email templates that referenced the access key. This version also fixes the SOA Email setting, which previously had no effect unless custom nameservers were also enabled - re-save any affected zones at bunny.net if you need their SOA address corrected.

Using Bunny.net DNS

For your staff

Managing bunny.net accounts

Go to Settings > Company > Modules, open the Installed tab, and click Manage next to Bunny.net DNS. This lists your Accounts (each one a bunny.net API credential) and Account Groups. Click Add Account to add another, or use the pencil (edit) and trash (delete) buttons next to an existing one; a delete asks for confirmation first, and the Add/Edit forms have a Back button to return to this list. An account's fields are its Account Label, Access Key (write-only: leave it blank when editing to keep the stored key), Mock API, Use Custom Nameservers with two nameserver fields, and SOA Email.

Setting package limits

On a package assigned to this module, open its Module tab. Record Limit, Smart Record Limit and Accelerated / CDN Proxy Limit each take -1 (feature disabled), 0 (unlimited), or a positive whole number (the cap). Each of the three can also be overridden per order with a Quantity or Select configurable option of the matching name, so one package can offer several tiers.

Adding a service to a client

From a client's profile, use Add Service, choose a Bunny.net DNS package, and under Bunny.net DNS Options enter the Domain the zone should be created for (leave ID blank; it's the bunny.net zone ID and only ever needs setting by hand if you're relinking an existing zone). Submitting provisions the zone and stores the domain and the two assigned nameservers on the service.

Quick zone glance from the services list

On a client's profile, in the Services list, click a Bunny.net DNS row to expand an inline summary: Domain, Records, Smart Routing Records, CDN Proxy Records, Nameserver One and Nameserver Two. When a limit is unlimited the panel just shows the current count; when it's capped it shows "used / limit"; when the feature is disabled it shows "Disabled".

Managing a client's zone

Open the service (Manage from the services list) to reach its tabs: the standard Basic Options, Add-ons and Advanced Options, plus this module's own Manage Records and Statistics.

Manage Records has three sections:

• DNSSEC at the top: an Enable DNSSEC button, or, once enabled, the DS Record, Key Tag, Algorithm, Digest Type and Digest to hand to the client's registrar, plus a Disable DNSSEC button.
• Add a Record: Type, Host, Record and TTL, plus a row of extra fields (CDN Proxy, Weight, Monitor Type, Smart Routing Type, and more) that changes depending on the record Type you pick.
• Edit Existing Records: every record in the zone with Save, Disable / Enable and a trash (delete) button per row (delete asks for confirmation first); click the row or its chevron to open the same extra-fields panel for that record.

Below that, Import / Export lets you paste a BIND zone file into the text box and click Import Zone File to bulk-add records, or click Export Zone File to have the current zone written out into a read-only box underneath for backup.

Statistics shows a Total queries served figure, a Queries by Record Type table, and a Queries Served table broken down by date.

For your clients

Clients reach the same zone from their own Services area. Opening the service shows a sidebar with Information, Manage Records, Statistics and Return to Dashboard. The Manage Records and Statistics tabs work exactly like the staff versions described above, styled for the client portal. As on the staff side, clicking a row on the client's own Services list also expands the same Domain / Records / Smart Routing Records / CDN Proxy Records / Nameserver summary inline.

Good to know

• Suspending a service disables every record in its zone; unsuspending re-enables them, except any record the client had already switched off from the tab themselves, which stays off.
• Deleting a record cannot be undone. The confirmation dialog is generic (it doesn't repeat the record's host or value), so double-check the row before confirming.
• A record's Type can't be changed once created (bunny.net has no type-change operation); delete it and add a new one instead.
• Record validation is handled by bunny.net itself, so an invalid value is rejected with bunny's own error message rather than a Blesta-side check.