Install power DNS with SQL server support.

apt update
apt full-upgrade
apt install pdns-backend-sqlite3 pdns-backend-mysql pdns-server

systemctl stop pdns

Now setup MySQL for power DNS.

apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client
rehash
mariadb-secure-installation

mysql
CREATE DATABASE pdns CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci;
CREATE USER 'pdns'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'pdns';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON pdns.* TO 'pdns'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
SELECT User,Host FROM mysql.user;
+-------------+-----------+
| User        | Host      |
+-------------+-----------+
| mariadb.sys | localhost |
| mysql       | localhost |
| pdns        | localhost |
| root        | localhost |
+-------------+-----------+
4 rows in set (0.002 sec)
exit

mysql -updns -ppdns pdns < /usr/share/doc/pdns-backend-mysql/schema.mysql.sql

mysql -updns -ppdns pdns
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A

Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 22
Server version: 11.8.2-MariaDB-1 from Debian -- Please help get to 10k stars at https://github.com/MariaDB/Server

Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

MariaDB [pdns]> show tables;
+----------------+
| Tables_in_pdns |
+----------------+
| comments       |
| cryptokeys     |
| domainmetadata |
| domains        |
| records        |
| supermasters   |
| tsigkeys       |
+----------------+
7 rows in set (0.001 sec)

Example domain.

INSERT INTO domains (id,name,type) values (1,'example.com','MASTER');

Domain type can be MASTER, SLAVE or NATIVE (NATIVE does not automatically sync with slaves).

Example records.

You may replace “999” with a serial number generated like this:

php -r 'print time() . "\n";'

INSERT INTO records (domain_id,name,type,prio,content,ttl) VALUES (1,'example.com','SOA',0,'ns1.example.com hostmaster.example.com 999 10800 10800 108000 1800',1800);
INSERT INTO records (domain_id,name,type,prio,content,ttl) VALUES (1,'example.com','NS',0,'ns1.example.com',10800);

local-address=127.0.0.1,::1

#### MYSQL CONFIG
launch=gmysql
gmysql-host=localhost
gmysql-port=3306
gmysql-dbname=pdns
gmysql-user=pdns
gmysql-password=pdns
gmysql-dnssec=no

#### AXFR CONFIG
disable-axfr=no
allow-axfr-ips=127.0.0.1,::1

#### SECURITY
setuid=pdns
setgid=pdns

#### MASTER
primary=yes

#### SLAVE
secondary=no

#### LOGGING
loglevel=4
query-logging=no
log-dns-details=no

#### TTL
default-ttl=900

systemctl start pdns

dig ANY example.com @::1

; <<>> DiG 9.20.11-4-Debian <<>> ANY example.com @::1
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 7985
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 1232
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;example.com.                   IN      ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.            10800   IN      NS      ns1.example.com.
example.com.            1800    IN      SOA     ns1.example.com. hostmaster.example.com. 999 10800 10800 108000 1800

;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: ::1#53(::1) (TCP)
;; WHEN: Wed Sep 03 20:42:25 BST 2025
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 113

dig AXFR example.com @::1

; <<>> DiG 9.20.11-4-Debian <<>> AXFR example.com @::1
;; global options: +cmd
example.com.            1800    IN      SOA     ns1.example.com. hostmaster.example.com. 999 10800 10800 108000 1800
example.com.            10800   IN      NS      ns1.example.com.
example.com.            1800    IN      SOA     ns1.example.com. hostmaster.example.com. 999 10800 10800 108000 1800
;; Query time: 4 msec
;; SERVER: ::1#53(::1) (TCP)
;; WHEN: Wed Sep 03 20:40:31 BST 2025
;; XFR size: 3 records (messages 3, bytes 264)

Update serial in SOA and then send notify to slave.

eg. with serial 1688651644

update records set content='ns1.example.com hostmaster.example.com 1688651644 10800 10800 108000 1800' where type='SOA' and domain_id=1;

pdnsutil increase-serial example.com

When the domain type is set to NATIVE or MASTER (not SLAVE) a notify can be sent manually.

pdns_control notify-host example.com X.X.X.X

NB If the domain type is MASTER a notify will be sent automatically by Power DNS but it may be delayed.

PowerDNS configuration

PowerDNS command line utility