1. cPanel & WHM Documentation
  2. cPanel Knowledge Base
  3. DNS
  4. How to Rotate a DNSSEC Key
dnssec dns

How to Rotate a DNSSEC Key

Valid for version 82

Version:

82

84

86

Last modified: July 13, 2022

Overview

This document describes how to rotate a domain’s DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) keys on a server. You can rotate your domains’ DNSSEC keys regularly to increase your DNS record’s security.

Important:

  • We recommend that you rotate your domain’s DNSSEC keys yearly.

  • If you transfer the account to another server, you must create new DNSSEC keys for the account and update the registrar with the new keys. The system does not include DNSSEC keys in an account’s backup file.

  • DNSSEC keys remain on a server after you terminate an account. If you restore an account on the same server from which you deleted it, the account’s DNSSEC keys remain valid.

  • For more information about DNSSEC key rotation, we strongly suggest that you read the RFC 6781 documentation.

Rotate the key

Version 76 through 82

(on PowerDNS 4.1)

To rotate the DNSSEC key, perform the following steps:

  1. Add a new Key Sign Key (KSK) to the domain’s DNS zone. To do this, run the following command: 

    pdnsutil add-zone-key example.com ksk active 2048 rsasha512
    The output will resemble the following example: 
    1
2
3

    Jun 29 15:22:35 [bindbackend] Done parsing domains, 3 rejected, 8 new, 0 removed
Added a KSK with algorithm = 10, active=1
Requested specific key size of 2048 bits
    Note:
    example.com represents your domain.

  2. Increase the DNS zone’s Start of Authority (SOA) serial number. To do this, run the following command: 

    grep "Serial Number" /var/named/example.com.db| sed -e 's/^\s*//' -e '/^$/d' | cut -d';' -f1
## The system will output the serial number. The serial number is 1234567890 in this example.
## Then, increment the serial number by one.
whmapi1 editzonerecord domain=example.com type=SOA serial=1234567890x line=5

For more information on SOA records, read the Edit DNS Zone documentation.

  1. Review the updated zone’s DNSSEC details for the Domain Server (DS) records that correspond to the new key. To do this, run the following command: 

    pdnsutil show-zone example.com
    The output resembles the following example: 
     1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

    Added a KSK with algorithm = 8, active=1
Requested specific key size of 2048 bits
Zone has NARROW hashed NSEC3 semantics, configuration: 1 0 7 9827d1a1a467a387
keys:
ID = 1 (KSK), tag = 41686, algo = 8, bits = 2048    Active: 1 ( RSASHA256 )
KSK DNSKEY = example.com IN DNSKEY 257 3 8 AwEAAa2vycAp3tqgqxXP8Q7TYlWGgUzLMPG/e/zzH3feFA1y1JbXKo0tlM/D6HG+aKrEBottuVIzmtIQcCBhxbDo69MrZ+OsUb1Elbf3ryEKrECRZegG1hjVfR82DDVJFoNYKZPsPSlmLOdbCze+2/liv954U7UayN0Bt1TiYtX9mXJEltkVODaxm4xnr+T49aKN3cC2htZ2Kv+wsmEEgfF403uGx08yvBYaEFj4Um7+Ll1JE/I8R2piwzCxBWkZv1ioDNxKxvS90A5E/GDDRc/91VJeQDKSj412dA/810W6bEhAfXf5EzJT/Usdo+Xo93sf+pM1muFb85ha4VvRFXVJ7nc= ; ( RSASHA256 )
DS = example.com IN DS 41686 8 1 cc2bbc84733abfea5c1c06e42536e56f947eec6f ; ( SHA1 digest )
DS = example.com IN DS 41686 8 2 09ffb322a1697230a8a7b86301f8a80540ed1c78210778fe863f25c08cdfc6c6 ; ( SHA256 digest )
DS = example.com IN DS 41686 8 4 c179cd343402e979cd48638c91d011b0cf5866e8e63d76a15da22597a59f650d36917de1dec35c5a269dd6e7a632cc99 ; ( SHA-384 digest )

ID = 3 (KSK), tag = 31361, algo = 8, bits = 2048    Active: 1 ( RSASHA256 )
KSK DNSKEY = example.com IN DNSKEY 257 3 8 AwEAAdNQ2mk+pMUeDi/vXwEHrptEQHe4wbkEg7xB/V20sFunPX+gcaW5HiFnrcr/5/SAyqlFaQI17u9Revy0pVToSnNPCr3uNA2kt0F/9KqOC5kX8trMKKZlCAf4tbiLoecNpqpPWcCU6/ttGBCaatmor0lTrPD4DElh0/0sb2/2gIdRz1nw/07jTerLGrj6y/1gb7m140K8fZbFQ7HKIUqlzrWqKQVzCQz5oW0dHiok7yK1Z8mj5Mci4Gwl9flsbtjaos0NWKh+N8S2bTfALRT8ucQiZYzYdlRB8UCeXoavYU75kShbNesNBBkmo7hc3R1CdP7TMjDE8f7f30ky8pKvYn0= ; ( RSASHA256 )
DS = example.com IN DS 31361 8 1 0741f7349684a39004e2b0b431a04b4e44f5dc69 ; ( SHA1 digest )
DS = example.com IN DS 31361 8 2 b0cfc8e92dfe77686542032051a1150173075d485fa77656309baefdcbe807b1 ; ( SHA256 digest )
DS = example.com IN DS 31361 8 4 7fdae2e7fb53b4444dde36854cb91a5f03607b30f716e9c28ffb7fc25ee92e7b872cbf697a936a08a637ccb73951a1a9 ; ( SHA-384 digest )

ID = 2 (ZSK), tag = 39844, algo = 8, bits = 1024    Active: 1 ( RSASHA256 )

  2. Add a new DS record for the domain through your nameserver registrar. To do this, follow the directions in our How to Set Up Nameservers in a cPanel & WHM Environment documentation.

  3. Wait 24 to 48 hours for the DS record to propagate.

    Warning:

    If you do not wait for the DS record to propagate, your domain may experience DNS resolution issues.

  4. Remove the domain’s old KSK. To do this, run the following command: 

    pdnsutil remove-zone-key example.com key-id
    Note:

    keyid represents the old KSK’s key ID. The pdnssec show-zone command’s output contains the key’s ID.

Version 60 through 74

(on PowerDNS 3.0 and 4.0)

To rotate the DNSSEC key, perform the following steps:

  1. Add a new Key Sign Key (KSK) to the domain’s DNS zone. To do this, run the following command: 

    pdnssec add-zone-key example.com ksk 2048 active
    The output will resemble the following example: 
    Added a KSK with algorithm = 8, active=1
Requested specific key size of 2048 bits
    Note:

    example.com represents your domain.

  2. Increase the DNS zone’s Start of Authority (SOA) serial number. To do this, run the following command: 

    grep "Serial Number" /var/named/example.com.db| sed -e 's/^\s*//' -e '/^$/d' | cut -d';' -f1
## The system will output the serial number. The serial number is 1234567890 in this example.
## Then, increment the serial number by one.
whmapi1 editzonerecord domain=example.com type=SOA serial=1234567890x line=5
    For more information on SOA records, read the Edit DNS Zone documentation.

  3. Review the updated zone’s DNSSEC details for the Domain Server (DS) records that correspond to the new key. To do this, run the following command: 

    pdnssec show-zone example.com{
    The output resembles the following example: 
     1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15

    Jun 29 15:32:56 [bindbackend] Done parsing domains, 0 rejected, 8 new, 0 removed
Zone is not presigned
Zone has NSEC semantics
keys:
ID = 2 (KSK), tag = 65017, algo = 8, bits = 2048    Active: 1 ( RSASHA256 )
KSK DNSKEY = example.com IN DNSKEY 257 3 8 AwEAAcvy22Lte30KEn2ZJ/+TIdvmIKM8m2TzIlKlV3zB8OGi8UEixkowAwvefbRaxlMmbqmUJE2Gn6rjNPoJBANjAaf8DkchdDIfyyfVJKKjuqAb5hr8hW4BcapZquiRmpXinVHLmQmAxt1rGAo5zdIwpntk3fjsPnEC/dGCJeWzVrUTkX9ucYJRG+4yE9xEzMyx89Vnwn+UWBdoQejtthm6IqNC5ilPQDrfTi/cj//5LTXUNGxs8329qgGtQP9uUf0SOaf3PUIWux2n7b1IRKqZ7cN9EAQCU0ye2D38xqpegsM726lzK//QOuj66I9p+c6l5owKzTMPWsbVKqmx5SEJAYc= ; ( RSASHA256 )
DS = example.com IN DS 65017 8 1 4b3114ef11b7c329703b986bf0a1eae971f37257 ; ( SHA1 digest )
DS = example.com IN DS 65017 8 2 d6b31f08f67486dbf7dafac825f180f3907b1b9bf55481b028c2a67ea3a2e38c ; ( SHA256 digest )
DS = example.com IN DS 65017 8 4 97bf836b64506d7dc9cea16ae8ac512c76eecf35f2260c5296d816ca45927a5b69beb66c2e98007e48fc957a85f29684 ; ( SHA-384 digest )

ID = 3 (KSK), tag = 33926, algo = 8, bits = 2048    Active: 1 ( RSASHA256 )
KSK DNSKEY = example.com IN DNSKEY 257 3 8 AwEAAYV+hR7YDw6hfEPh1DHKmycHmQKB4P0JuIVd/eNAu2Q40jbPkxsBUYUcviZDdGcIYgO7Giu7lGePytebMDBAk9y46saAaTh4RK8cu4sN2sefx+rBj3CZB9lVU5KmePQHYDVlompP/Gh+pmCcBGKhzMwwK9QXz+FG4Yn3AJSQfzsEUKxRhoTIhxFmbraG4Zuf6iBj1D7VPFJBJc6TsfJZvC1nMaN2MQSphwrOdIVVCBJYUNy8VzbflAv/ItpTBBH0BXhyNcADEIFwp0R53v4KxWb483Hb5SOaLjdUFQ4RBQ21Lly1MKVuq3xH1dXdqT1N6IIBKlZpMgjaNfDLw4d36K0= ; ( RSASHA256 )
DS = example.com IN DS 33926 8 1 1687f21b62f9ea9a140048060b4f469ded1e5276 ; ( SHA1 digest )
DS = example.com IN DS 33926 8 2 260765a78971aea6ca50504403efcb45a1dcad45d00ceba07bef3ed1ca954592 ; ( SHA256 digest )
DS = example.com IN DS 33926 8 4 72939651d3df84b85861213fe2c26293b081a518cf6431ddc0e21a9e30fc683166305697e6fe8fc7427db0eb5f4057bf ; ( SHA-384 digest )

  4. Add a new DS record for the domain through your nameserver registrar. To do this, follow the directions in our How to Set Up Nameservers in a cPanel & WHM Environment documentation.

  5. Wait 24 to 48 hours for the DS record to propagate.

    Warning:

    If you do not wait for the DS record to propagate, your domain may experience DNS resolution issues.

  6. Remove the domain’s old KSK. To do this, run the following command: 

    pdnssec remove-zone-key example.com key-id
    Note:

    keyid represents the old KSK’s key ID. The pdnssec show-zone command’s output contains the key’s ID.

Additional Documentation