CoreDNS Plugin Based DNS Server

This is a repackaged open source software product wherein additional charges apply for cloudimg support services.

CoreDNS is a fast, flexible, plugin based DNS server and a CNCF graduated project, best known as the default DNS server for Kubernetes. It is a single self contained Go binary whose entire behaviour is defined by a plain text Corefile, so you compose exactly the DNS pipeline you need from a chain of plugins rather than wiring together several daemons. This image delivers CoreDNS fully installed and configured, running as a hardened systemd service, so a working name server is answering queries within minutes of launch and you skip hours of manual DNS setup and hardening.

CoreDNS is driven entirely by the Corefile at /etc/coredns/Corefile. Each server block picks a set of plugins: file to serve authoritative zones, forward and cache to build a recursive resolver, acl to restrict who may query, prometheus for metrics, health for liveness, and many more. There is no database and no web console to manage, so your DNS configuration lives in version controllable text and reloads with a single command.

Application stack: CoreDNS runs as a dedicated non root service with the Linux CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE capability so it can bind the privileged DNS port. It answers DNS on port 53 over both UDP and TCP across all interfaces, publishes Prometheus metrics on port 9153, and exposes a loopback health endpoint on port 8080. The systemd resolved stub listener is disabled so CoreDNS owns port 53 cleanly, while the operating system continues to resolve names through the upstream resolver list.

Secure by default: this image is not an open resolver, which removes the DNS amplification and abuse risk of a naively deployed public resolver. The Corefile ships two server blocks, an authoritative block that serves a demonstration zone with the authoritative answer flag on all interfaces, and a recursive cache and forward block whose acl plugin allows recursion only from the local host and refuses every other source. On the first boot of your instance a one shot service bakes the instance IP address into the demonstration zone and provisions the server so DNS answers immediately, with no shared or default credentials of any kind since CoreDNS has no login.

Key capabilities: authoritative DNS for your own zones served from simple zone files; a recursive cache and forward resolver you open to trusted client subnets with a single acl edit; a rich plugin chain including caching, load balancing, rewriting, DNS over TLS and DNS over HTTPS upstreams, and hosts style overrides; built in Prometheus metrics for full observability; and a single binary with no runtime dependencies that reloads its Corefile without downtime.

Get started: review the Corefile and the demonstration cloudimg.internal zone, add your own zones as zone files, open recursion to your trusted networks by editing the acl allow line, then point your clients or your registrar at this instance. cloudimg engineers can walk you through zone design, recursive resolver hardening, DNS over TLS upstreams and Prometheus scraping after purchase.

This is a repackaged open source software product with additional charges for cloudimg support services. CoreDNS is a trademark of its respective owner. All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.