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Hetzner DNS Guide

The community.dns collection offers several modules for working with the Hetzner DNS service. The modules use the JSON REST based API.

The collection provides six modules for working with Hetzner DNS:

community.dns.hetzner_dns_record: create/update/delete single DNS records
community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_info: retrieve information on DNS records
community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set: create/update/delete DNS record sets
community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set_info: retrieve information on DNS record sets
community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_sets: bulk synchronize DNS record sets
community.dns.hetzner_dns_zone_info: retrieve zone information

If you are interested in migrating from the markuman.hetzner_dns collection, please see Migrating from markuman.hetzner_dns.

It also provides an inventory plugin:

community.dns.hetzner_dns_records: create inventory from DNS records

Authentication 

To use Hetzner’s API, you need to create an API token. You can manage API tokens in the “API tokens” menu entry in your user menu in the DNS Console. You must provide the token to the hetzner_token option of the modules, its alias api_token, or pass it on in the HETZNER_DNS_TOKEN environment variable:

- community.dns.hetzner_dns_record:
    hetzner_token: '{{ token }}'
    ...

In the examples in this guide, we will leave the authentication options away. Please note that you can set them globally with module_defaults (see Module defaults) or with an environment variable for the user and machine where the modules are run on.

Using the `community.dns.hetzner` module defaults group 

To avoid having to specify common parameters for all Hetzner DNS modules in every task, you can use the community.dns.hetzner module defaults group:

---
- name: Hetzner DNS
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  module_defaults:
    group/community.dns.hetzner
      hetzner_token: '{{ token }}'
  tasks:
    - name: Query zone information
      community.dns.hetzner_dns_zone_info:
        zone_name: example.com
      register: result

    - name: Set A records for www.example.com
      community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set:
        state: present
        zone_name: example.com
        type: A
        prefix: www
        value:
          - 192.168.0.1

Here all two tasks will use the options set for the module defaults group.

Working with DNS zones 

The community.dns.hetzner_dns_zone_info module allows to query information on a zone. The zone can be identified both by its name and by its ID (which is an integer):

- name: Query zone information by name
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_zone_info:
    zone_name: example.com
  register: result

- name: Query zone information by ID
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_zone_info:
    zone_id: aBcDeFgHiJlMnOpQrStUvW
  register: result

The module returns both the zone name and zone ID, so this module can be used to convert from zone ID to zone name and vice versa:

- ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: |
        The zone ID: {{ result.zone_id }}
        The zone name: {{ result.zone_name }}

Working with DNS records 

Note

By default, TXT record values returned and accepted by the modules and plugins in this collection are unquoted. This means that you do not have to add double quotes ("), and escape double quotes (as \") and backslashes (as \\). All modules and plugins which work with DNS records support the txt_transformation option which allows to configure this behavior.

Querying DNS records and record sets 

The community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set_info module allows to query DNS record sets from the API. It can be used to query a single record set:

- name: Query single record
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set_info:
    zone_name: example.com
    type: A  # IPv4 addresses
    what: single_record  # default value
    # Either specify a record name:
    record: www.example.com
    # Or a record prefix ('' is the zone itself):
    prefix: www
  register: result

- name: Show IPv4 addresses if record exists
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: >
      IPv4s are {{ result.set.value | join(', ') }},
      TTL is {{ result.set.ttl }}
  when: result.set

- name: Show that record is not set
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: There is no A record for www.example.com
  when: not result.set

In all examples in this section, you can replace zone_name=example.com by zone_id=aBcDeFgHiJlMnOpQrStUvW with the zone’s ID string.

You can also query a list of all record sets for a record name or prefix:

- name: Query all records for www.example.com
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set_info:
    zone_name: example.com
    what: all_types_for_record
    # Either specify a record name:
    record: www.example.com
    # Or a record prefix ('' is the zone itself):
    prefix: www
  register: result

- name: Show all records for www.example.com
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: >
      {{ item.type }} record with TTL {{ item.ttl }} has
      values {{ item.value | join(', ') }}
  loop: result.sets

Finally you can query all record sets for a zone:

- name: Query all records for a zone
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set_info:
    zone_name: example.com
    what: all_records
  register: result

- name: Show all records for the example.com zone
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    msg: >
      {{ item.type }} record for {{ item.record }} with
      TTL {{ item.ttl }} has values {{ item.value | join(', ') }}
  loop: result.sets

If you are interested in individual DNS records, and not record sets, you should use the community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_info module. It supports the same limiting options as the community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set_info module.

Creating and updating DNS single records 

If you do not want to add/remove values, but replace values, you will be interested in modifying a record set and not a single record. This is in particular important when working with CNAME and SOA records.

The community.dns.hetzner_dns_record module allows to set, update and remove single DNS records. Setting and updating can be done as follows. Records will be matched by record name and type, and the TTL value will be updated if necessary:

- name: Add an A record with value 1.1.1.1 for www.example.com, resp. make sure the TTL is 300
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record:
    state: present
    zone_name: example.com
    type: A  # IPv4 addresses
    # Either specify a record name:
    record: www.example.com
    # Or a record prefix ('' is the zone itself):
    prefix: www
    value: 1.1.1.1
    ttl: 300

To delete records, simply use state=absent. Records will be matched by record name and type, and the TTL will be ignored:

- name: Remove A values for www.example.com
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record:
    state: absent
    zone_name: example.com
    type: A  # IPv4 addresses
    record: www.example.com
    value: 1.1.1.1

Records of the same type for the same record name with other values are ignored.

Creating and updating DNS record sets 

The community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set module allows to set, update and remove DNS record sets. Setting and updating can be done as follows:

- name: Make sure record is set to the given value
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set:
    state: present
    zone_name: example.com
    type: A  # IPv4 addresses
    # Either specify a record name:
    record: www.example.com
    # Or a record prefix ('' is the zone itself):
    prefix: www
    value:
      - 1.1.1.1
      - 8.8.8.8

If you want to assert that a record has a certain value, set on_existing=keep. Using keep_and_warn instead will emit a warning if this happens, and keep_and_fail will make the module fail.

To delete values, you can either overwrite the values with value [], or use state=absent:

- name: Remove A values for www.example.com
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set:
    state: present
    zone_name: example.com
    type: A  # IPv4 addresses
    record: www.example.com
    value: []

- name: Remove TXT values for www.example.com
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set:
    zone_name: example.com
    type: TXT
    prefix: www
    state: absent

- name: Remove specific AAAA values for www.example.com
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set:
    zone_name: example.com
    type: AAAA  # IPv6 addresses
    prefix: www
    state: absent
    on_existing: keep_and_fail
    ttl: 300
    value:
      - '::1'

In the third example, on_existing=keep_and_fail is present and an explicit value and TTL are given. This makes the module remove the current value only if there’s a AAAA record for www.example.com whose current value is ::1 and whose TTL is 300. If another value is set, the module will not make any change, but fail. This can be useful to not accidentally remove values you do not want to change. To issue a warning instead of failing, use on_existing=keep_and_warn, and to simply not do a change without any indication of this situation, use on_existing=keep.

Bulk synchronization of DNS record sets 

If you want to set/update multiple records at once, or even make sure that the precise set of records you are providing are present and nothing else, you can use the community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_sets module.

The following example shows up to set/update multiple records at once:

- name: Make sure that multiple records are present
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_sets:
    zone_name: example.com
    records:
      - prefix: www
        type: A
        value:
          - 1.1.1.1
          - 8.8.8.8
      - prefix: www
        type: AAAA
        value:
          - '::1'

The next example shows how to make sure that only the given records are available and all other records are deleted. Note that for the type=NS record we used ignore=true, which allows us to skip the value. It tells the module that it should not touch the NS record for example.com.

- name: Make sure that multiple records are present
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_sets:
    zone_name: example.com
    prune: true
    records:
      - prefix: www
        type: A
        value:
          - 1.1.1.1
          - 8.8.8.8
      - prefix: www
        type: AAAA
        value:
          - '::1'
      - prefix: ''
        type: NS
        ignore: true

Migrating from `markuman.hetzner_dns`

This section describes how to migrate playbooks and roles from using the markuman.hetzner_dns collection to the Hetzner modules and plugins in the community.dns collection.

There are three steps for migrating. Two of these steps must be done on migration, the third step can also be done later:

Replace the modules and plugins used by the new ones.
Adjust module and plugin options if necessary.
Avoid deprecated aliases which ease the transition.

The markuman.hetzner_dns collection collection provides three modules and one inventory plugin.

Note

When working with TXT records, please look at the txt_transformation option. By default, the modules and plugins in this collection use unquoted values (you do not have to add double quotes and escape double quotes and backslashes), while the modules and plugins in markuman.hetzner_dns use partially quoted values. You can switch behavior of the community.dns modules by passing txt_transformation=api or txt_transformation=quoted.

The markuman.hetzner_dns.record module 

The markuman.hetzner_dns.zone_info module can be replaced by the community.dns.hetzner_dns_record module and the community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set module, depending on what it is used for.

When creating, updating or removing single records, the community.dns.hetzner_dns_record module should be used. This is the case when purge=false is specified (the default value). Note that replace, overwrite and solo are aliases of purge.

# Creating and updating DNS records

- name: Creating or updating a single DNS record with markuman.hetzner_dns
  markuman.hetzner_dns.record:
    zone_name: example.com
    name: localhost
    type: A
    value: 127.0.0.1
    ttl: 60
    # This means the module operates on single DNS entries. If not specified,
    # this is the default value:
    purge: false

- name: Creating or updating a single DNS record with community.dns
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record:
    zone_name: example.com
    # 'state' must always be specified:
    state: present
    # 'name' is a deprecated alias of 'prefix', so it can be
    # kept during a first migration step:
    name: localhost
    # 'type', 'value' and 'ttl' do not change:
    type: A
    value: 127.0.0.1
    ttl: 60
    # If type is TXT, you either have to adjust the value you pass,
    # or keep the following option:
    txt_transformation: api

When the markuman.hetzner_dns.record module is in replace mode, it should be replaced by the community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set module, since then it operates on the record set and not just on a single record:

# Creating and updating DNS record sets

- name: Creating or updating a record set with markuman.hetzner_dns
  markuman.hetzner_dns.record:
    zone_name: example.com
    name: localhost
    type: A
    value: 127.0.0.1
    ttl: 60
    # This means the module operates on the record set:
    purge: true

- name: Creating or updating a record set with community.dns
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set:
    zone_name: example.com
    # 'state' must always be specified:
    state: present
    # 'name' is a deprecated alias of 'prefix', so it can be
    # kept during a first migration step:
    name: localhost
    # 'type' and 'ttl' do not change:
    type: A
    ttl: 60
    # 'value' is now a list:
    value:
      - 127.0.0.1
    # Ansible allows to specify lists as a comma-separated string.
    # So for records which do not contain a comma, you can also
    # keep the old syntax, in this case:
    #
    #     value: 127.0.0.1
    #
    # If type is TXT, you either have to adjust the value you pass,
    # or keep the following option:
    txt_transformation: api

When deleting a record, it depends on whether value is specified or not. If value is specified, the module is deleting a single DNS record, and the community.dns.hetzner_dns_record module should be used:

# Deleting single DNS records

- name: Deleting a single DNS record with markuman.hetzner_dns
  markuman.hetzner_dns.record:
    zone_name: example.com
    state: absent
    name: localhost
    type: A
    value: 127.0.0.1
    ttl: 60

- name: Deleting a single DNS record with community.dns
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record:
    zone_name: example.com
    state: absent
    # 'name' is a deprecated alias of 'prefix', so it can be
    # kept during a first migration step:
    name: localhost
    # 'type', 'value' and 'ttl' do not change:
    type: A
    value: 127.0.0.1
    ttl: 60
    # If type is TXT, you either have to adjust the value you pass,
    # or keep the following option:
    txt_transformation: api

When value is not specified, the markuman.hetzner_dns.record module will delete all records for this prefix and type. In that case, it operates on a record set and the community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set module should be used:

# Deleting multiple DNS records

- name: Deleting multiple DNS records with markuman.hetzner_dns
  markuman.hetzner_dns.record:
    zone_name: example.com
    state: absent
    name: localhost
    type: A

- name: Deleting a single DNS record with community.dns
  community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_set:
    zone_name: example.com
    state: absent
    # 'name' is a deprecated alias of 'prefix', so it can be
    # kept during a first migration step:
    name: localhost
    # 'type' does not change:
    type: A

A last step is replacing the deprecated alias name of prefix by prefix. This can be done later though, if you do not mind the deprecation warnings.

The markuman.hetzner_dns.record_info module 

The markuman.hetzner_dns.record_info module can be replaced by the community.dns.hetzner_dns_record_info module. The main difference is that instead of by the filters option, the output is controlled by the what option (choices single_record, all_types_for_record, and all_records), the type option (needed when what=single_record), and the record and prefix options (needed when what is not all_records).

The markuman.hetzner_dns.zone_info module 

The markuman.hetzner_dns.zone_info module can be replaced by the community.dns.hetzner_dns_zone_info module. The main differences are:

The parameter name must be changed to zone_name or zone.
The return value zone_info no longer has the name and id entries. Use the return values zone_name and zone_id instead.

The markuman.hetzner_dns.inventory inventory plugin 

The markuman.hetzner_dns.inventory inventory plugin can be replaced by the community.dns.hetzner_dns_records inventory plugin. Besides the plugin name, no change should be necessary.