Poweradmin

Poweradmin is a DNS administration tool for PowerDNS that can be driven through a friendly web UI, a REST API, or both at the same time. Use the UI for day-to-day operations, the API for scripts and infrastructure-as-code, or run completely headless after the initial setup - the same validation runs on every path. It can work directly against the PowerDNS database (with API-assisted DNSSEC) or run entirely through the PowerDNS API in API backend mode.

DNSSEC-safe via the PowerDNS API. In API backend mode (4.3.0+) every change goes through the PowerDNS REST API, so PowerDNS itself keeps NSEC/NSEC3 chains correct and Poweradmin needs no access to its database. With the default SQL backend, set the PowerDNS API URL and key, and Poweradmin will rectify signed zones through the API after each change it makes. See PowerDNS API and DNSSEC.

Known issue: PowerDNS Auth 5.1.x drops one level of backslash escaping from records written through its API (PowerDNS issue 18159). In API backend mode, records holding \\ or \" can be changed or refused when any record with the same name and type is saved. Poweradmin warns before such saves; see PowerDNS API.

docker run -d --name poweradmin -p 8080:80 -e DB_TYPE=sqlite -e PA_CREATE_ADMIN=1 poweradmin/poweradmin:latest

Features

• All zone types (master, native, and slave), catalog zones with producer, consumer, and member management on PowerDNS 4.7+, supermasters, and zone templates
• DNSSEC-safe via the PowerDNS API - API backend mode needs no direct access to the PowerDNS database, and the SQL backend rectifies signed zones through the API
• Version-aware interface that adapts record types, metadata kinds, and terminology to the connected PowerDNS version
• DNSSEC operations, plus a zone metadata editor for PowerDNS domainmetadata
• REST API with OpenAPI documentation, and API keys that can be made read-only, restricted to specific operations, or scoped to specific zones
• Bulk operations for records and reverse DNS, and secondary zone import over AXFR
• Record change log with before/after snapshots of every record and zone change
• Users, groups, and role-based permissions, with LDAP, SAML, OIDC, and TOTP two-factor authentication
• 43 languages including right-to-left, light and dark themes, and full IPv6 support
• Docker deployment with FrankenPHP

Full feature list

Automation

Poweradmin's REST API is wrapped by ready-made integrations, so zones can be managed from infrastructure tooling rather than a browser:

• terraform-provider-poweradmin - Terraform/OpenTofu provider for zones and records
• external-dns-poweradmin-webhook - ExternalDNS webhook provider for Kubernetes
• cert-manager-webhook-poweradmin - cert-manager solver for DNS-01 challenges
• certbot-dns-poweradmin - Certbot plugin for Let's Encrypt DNS-01 challenges

Screenshots

Login Screen

Dashboard

Zone Management

Zone Metadata Editor

Poweradmin includes a zone metadata editor for PowerDNS domainmetadata. The editor supports:

• selecting known metadata kinds with inline guidance
• entering custom metadata kinds when needed
• multi-value metadata such as ALLOW-AXFR-FROM using one row per value

Installation

For detailed installation instructions, please visit the official documentation.

Traditional Installation

• Recommended method - via releases:
  • Get the latest stable release from releases
• For specific needs - via Git:
  • Warning: The master branch carries the next release and may be unstable. For production use, stick with the release/4.4.x LTS branch or a specific version tag (e.g. v4.5.0), or pin the matching Docker tag (e.g. 4.5.0).

Docker Deployment

Quick Start with Docker:

docker run -d \
  --name poweradmin \
  -p 8080:80 \
  -e DB_TYPE=sqlite \
  -e PA_CREATE_ADMIN=1 \
  poweradmin/poweradmin:latest

Important:

• DB_TYPE environment variable is required (sqlite, mysql, pgsql)
• No admin user is created by default for security reasons. Use -e PA_CREATE_ADMIN=1 to create an admin user (a secure password will be auto-generated and shown in logs)

Want to drive PowerDNS from scripts instead of a browser? Add -e PA_API_ENABLED=true -e PA_API_DOCS_ENABLED=true and follow the Headless / API-First Quickstart - zero to scripted record updates in about five minutes.

• Docker Hub: poweradmin/poweradmin
• GitHub Container Registry: ghcr.io/poweradmin/poweradmin
• Full documentation: DOCKER.md
• Security with Docker Secrets: Docker Secrets

Features: Multi-database support (SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL), Docker secrets integration, FrankenPHP for enhanced performance.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2 or higher (including 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, etc.)
• PHP extensions: intl, gettext, openssl, filter, tokenizer, pdo, xml, pdo-mysql/pdo-pgsql/pdo-sqlite, ldap (optional)
• MariaDB 10.6+, MySQL 8.x, PostgreSQL or SQLite database
• PowerDNS Authoritative Server 4.x or 5.x, tested from 4.5 (see Platform Lifecycle for support dates)

Tested on

Officially tested versions:

• master (4.6.0): PHP 8.2-8.5, PowerDNS 5.1.5, MariaDB 10.11, PostgreSQL 16.11
• release/4.5.x: PHP 8.2, PowerDNS 5.1.5, MariaDB 10.11, PostgreSQL 16.11
• release/4.4.x (LTS): PHP 8.2, PowerDNS 4.9.18, MariaDB 10.11, PostgreSQL 16.11
• release/4.3.x (maintenance): PHP 8.2, PowerDNS 4.9.18, MariaDB 10.11, PostgreSQL 16.11
• release/4.2.x (maintenance): PHP 8.2, PowerDNS 4.9.18, MariaDB 10.11, PostgreSQL 16.11
• release/3.x (LTS): PHP 8.1, PowerDNS 4.7.4, MariaDB 10.11, MySQL 9.1, PostgreSQL 16.3, SQLite 3.45

Other PowerDNS versions: the development environment can also run PowerDNS 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9 and 5.0 (PDNS_VERSION in .devcontainer/.env). Versions older than 4.5 are not tested. Many stable distributions still ship PowerDNS 4.x, so 4.x support stays.

Compatibility note: In the default SQL backend, Poweradmin operates primarily at the database level with PowerDNS, using the PowerDNS API for DNSSEC operations - the database schema stays relatively stable between PowerDNS releases, so compatibility is broad. In API backend mode, all operations go through the PowerDNS HTTP API instead. Since 4.4.0, the interface also detects the connected PowerDNS version and adjusts the available features accordingly.

Version Support

Version	Status
4.5.x	Current release
4.4.x	LTS until December 2027, recommended for production. Last line with API v1
4.3.x, 4.2.x	Last fixes only, end of life on 2027-01-31
3.9.x	LTS until December 2027
4.1.x, 4.0.x, 3.8.x and older	End of life, please upgrade

master holds 4.6.0 development and release/4.5.x takes 4.5.x fixes. The support rules, a timeline, and the PHP, PowerDNS and distribution support dates are on Version Support.

Contributing

We welcome contributions to Poweradmin! As the sole maintainer of this non-profit project, I work alongside our amazing contributors. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Support the Project

Poweradmin is independently developed and maintained. Your support helps keep the project alive and growing.

JetBrains provides IDE licenses used for development of this project.

Organizations Supporting Development

HLkomm Telekommunikations GmbH

IRAM

stepping stone AG

VISTEC Internet Service GmbH

Individual Donors

• Stefano Rizzetto
• Asher Manangan
• Michiel Visser
• Gino Cremer
• Arthur Mayer
• Dylan Blanqué
• Tony Johnson
• Deeefje
• yBaca s.r.o.
• Stephan Gogler
• mcmufffin

Commercial support, upgrades, security reviews and sponsored feature development are available, see Support & Sponsorship or contact support@poweradmin.org. Donations are accepted through GitHub Sponsors, Open Collective and PayPal. Companies can receive an invoice directly or through Open Collective.

Community Projects

• poweradmin-cli - Command-line interface for managing zones, records, users and groups through the Poweradmin REST API
• poweradmin-go - Go SDK for the Poweradmin REST API
• poweradmin-operator - Kubernetes operator for managing DNS zones and records via the Poweradmin API

Note

Poweradmin is an independent community project, not affiliated with PowerDNS.com or Open-Xchange.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the LICENSE file for more details.