Lahijan

Records

Add, edit, disable and delete DNS records, with the supported record types, content formats, TTL limits and the validation errors you may see.

Records are the entries in a zone that answer DNS queries: the address of www, the mail servers for the domain, verification tokens and so on. This page covers the supported types, the format each one expects, and how editing and deleting behave.

Open a zone under DNS and use the Records tab. You can filter the list by name or content ("Filter by name or content…") and by type (All types or one type).

Add a record

In the dashboard

  1. On the Records tab, click Add record.
  2. Fill in Name. You can type a short label (www), @ or nothing for the zone apex, or a full name (www.example.com or www.example.com.). The dashboard turns it into the full canonical name for you.
  3. Pick the Type.
  4. Enter the Content in the format for that type (see the table below).
  5. Set TTL (seconds). The default is 3600.
  6. Tick Disabled (served commented-out) if you want to create the record without serving it yet.
  7. Click Add.

With the API

POST /api/v1/dns/zones/{zoneId}/records

sh
curl -X POST https://app.example.com/api/v1/dns/zones/$ZONE_ID/records \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LAHIJAN_TOKEN" \  -H "X-Tenant-Id: $TENANT_ID" \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -d '{"name": "www.example.com.", "type": "A", "content": "203.0.113.10", "ttl": 3600}'
Field Required Notes
name Yes Full canonical name: lowercase, ends with a dot, inside the zone. The API does not expand short labels.
type Yes One of the types in the table below.
content Yes The value, in the format for the type.
ttl No Seconds, from 300 to 86400. Defaults to 3600 when left out.
disabled No true stores the record but does not serve it. Defaults to false.

The response (201) is the stored record, including a prio field for MX and SRV records, taken from the content.

Supported record types

Type Content format Example
A An IPv4 address. 203.0.113.10
AAAA An IPv6 address. 2001:db8::10
CNAME A canonical name (ends with a dot). Not allowed at the zone apex. app.example.net.
MX <priority> <mail server>. Priority 0 to 65535; the server name ends with a dot. 10 mail.example.com.
TXT A quoted string. Inner quotes must be escaped with a backslash. "v=spf1 include:_spf.example.net ~all"
NS A canonical name. ns1.example.net.
SRV <priority> <weight> <port> <target>. Each number 0 to 65535; the target ends with a dot. 10 60 5060 sip.example.com.
CAA <flags> <tag> "<value>". Flags 0 to 255. 0 issue "letsencrypt.org"
PTR A canonical name. host1.example.com.
DS <key tag> <algorithm> <digest type> <digest>. Key tag 0 to 65535, algorithm and digest type 0 to 255, digest as even-length hex. 12345 13 2 3a1f...
TLSA <usage> <selector> <matching type> <certificate data>. Numbers 0 to 255, data as even-length hex. 3 1 1 0c72ac...
SOA <primary ns> <contact> <serial> <refresh> <retry> <expire> <minimum>. Names end with a dot; numbers are 32-bit unsigned integers. ns1.example.com. hostmaster.example.com. 1 10800 3600 604800 3600

Names inside content (CNAME, MX, NS, SRV, PTR, SOA) must be lowercase and end with a dot. A and AAAA addresses are stored in their normalized form, so 2001:0db8:0000::10 is saved as 2001:db8::10.

TTL

The TTL tells resolvers how long they may cache an answer. Lahijan accepts values from 300 (5 minutes) to 86400 (1 day). Anything outside that range is rejected with ttl must be in [300, 86400].

Lower the TTL a day before you plan to change an important record, so the change takes effect quickly. Raise it again afterwards.

One value per name and type

Records with the same name and type form a set (an "RRset"). Lahijan currently writes each record as the entire set for its name and type. In practice:

  • Adding a record replaces whatever was being served for that name and type. If you add a second A record for www.example.com., only the newest one is served, even though both appear on the Records tab.
  • Deleting a record removes every served value for that name and type.

Keep one record per name and type. If you need to change a value, edit the existing record instead of adding another.

Warning

Do not add NS or SOA records at the zone apex. Lahijan already serves the operator's nameservers and SOA for every zone, and a new record at the apex replaces them. Getting them wrong can take the whole domain offline. NS records for a subdomain (delegating sub.example.com. elsewhere) are fine.

Edit a record

You can change a record's content, TTL and disabled flag. The name and type cannot be changed; delete the record and create a new one instead.

  • Dashboard: click Save on the record's row to open Edit record, change Content, TTL (seconds) or Disabled, then click Save.
  • API: PATCH /api/v1/dns/zones/{zoneId}/records/{recordId} with any of content, ttl and disabled:
sh
curl -X PATCH https://app.example.com/api/v1/dns/zones/$ZONE_ID/records/$RECORD_ID \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LAHIJAN_TOKEN" \  -H "X-Tenant-Id: $TENANT_ID" \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -d '{"content": "203.0.113.20", "ttl": 600}'

The new content is validated with the same rules as on creation.

Disable a record

A disabled record stays in Lahijan but is not served. The Disabled column shows Yes for these records. Use it to take a record out of service without losing its value.

Delete records

  • One record: click the trash icon on its row, or call DELETE /api/v1/dns/zones/{zoneId}/records/{recordId} (returns 204).
  • Several records: tick the checkboxes on the rows, then click Delete selected.

The dashboard deletes immediately, without a confirmation step. The change is live on the DNS servers as soon as the call succeeds; resolvers that cached the old answer keep it until the TTL runs out.

Validation errors

Lahijan checks every record before it reaches the DNS servers and returns 400 bad_request with a message that names the problem. Common ones:

Message (shortened) Cause
A record content must be a valid IPv4 address The content is not an IPv4 address, or is IPv6.
AAAA record content must be IPv6, got IPv4 You used an IPv4 address in an AAAA record.
TXT content must be a quoted string The TXT value is missing its surrounding double quotes.
TXT content has an unescaped quote A " inside the value is not written as \".
MX content must be "<priority> <canonical-name>" The priority or server name is missing.
must end with a dot (canonical form) A name in the content has no trailing dot.
must be lowercase (canonical form) A name contains uppercase letters.
name "..." does not belong to zone "..." The record name is outside the zone (API only; the dashboard builds names inside the zone).
CNAME at zone apex is not allowed (strict RFC) You tried to add a CNAME for the zone name itself. Use A/AAAA records there.
ttl must be in [300, 86400] The TTL is out of range.
record type is not supported The type is not in the table above.

Other errors:

  • 409 conflict: a record with the same name, type and content already exists in the zone.
  • 404 not_found: the zone or record does not exist in this tenant.

Record changes are recorded in the audit log.

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