Editing PowerDNS (section)

== Features ==
PowerDNS [[Name server#Authoritative name server|Authoritative Server]] ('''pdns_server''') consists of a general purpose authoritative server, and multiple [[library (computer science)|dynamically loadable]] [[Front and back ends|backend]]s that both run [[multi-threaded]]. The core handles all packet processing and DNS intelligence, while one or more backends deliver [[DNS record]]s using arbitrary [[computer storage|storage methods]].

[[DNS zone transfer|Zone transfers]] and update notifications are supported, and the processes can run ''unprivileged'' and ''[[chroot]]ed''. Various ''[[DNS cache|caches]]'' are maintained to speed up query processing. ''[[Run time (program lifecycle phase)|Run-time]] control'' is available through the '''pdns_control''' command, which allows reloading of separate zones, cache purges, zone notifications and dumps [[statistics]] in [[Multi Router Traffic Grapher]] / [[rrdtool]] format. Realtime information can also be obtained through the optional built-in [[web server]].

There are many independent projects to create management interfaces for PowerDNS.

=== DNSSEC ===
The PowerDNS [[Name server#Authoritative name server|Authoritative Server]] supports [[DNSSEC]] as of version 3.0. While pre-signed zones can be served, it is also possible to perform online signing & key management. This has the upside of being relatively easy, but the downside that the cryptographic keying material is present on the servers itself (which is also true of any HTTPS server when not used with a [[Hardware security module|HSM]] for example).