Chapter 10

Capstone: Plan DNS for Workshop Co.

Full zone design for a Canadian business.

Capstone objectives

Design a complete DNS zone for a Canadian small business
Combine website, staging, email, and SaaS subdomains
Document TTL and cutover strategy

The brief

Workshop Co. — go-live checklist

Domain: workshopco.ca (registered, NS pointed to your DNS host)
Website: Swift Host VPS at 203.0.113.10 — canonical host www
Staging: staging.workshopco.ca → 203.0.113.99
Email: Google Workspace (use Google’s standard MX set)
Booking: book.workshopco.ca CNAME → calendly.com
Marketing: Mailchimp sending — include in SPF
Security: SPF, DKIM (Google selector), DMARC p=none with reports to dmarc@workshopco.ca

Your task — write the full zone

On paper or in a text file, list every record Workshop Co. needs. Include type, name, value, and suggested TTL.

Minimum record types: NS, A, CNAME, MX, TXT (SPF + DMARC). DKIM: note placeholder for Google’s selector.

Model solution

; NS (at registrar + in zone)
@           86400  NS   ns1.swifthost.ca.
@           86400  NS   ns2.swifthost.ca.

; Website
@           3600   A    203.0.113.10
www         3600   CNAME  workshopco.ca.

; Staging
staging     300    A    203.0.113.99

; Booking SaaS
book        3600   CNAME  calendly.com.

; Mail — Google Workspace MX
@           3600   MX   1  aspmx.l.google.com.
@           3600   MX   5  alt1.aspmx.l.google.com.
@           3600   MX   5  alt2.aspmx.l.google.com.
@           3600   MX   10 alt3.aspmx.l.google.com.
@           3600   MX   10 alt4.aspmx.l.google.com.

; SPF — Google + Mailchimp
@           3600   TXT  "v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:servers.mcsv.net ~all"

; DMARC
_dmarc      3600   TXT  "v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@workshopco.ca"

; DKIM — from Google Admin (example name only)
google._domainkey  3600  TXT  "(paste key from Google Workspace admin)"

Part 2 — cutover plan

Workshop Co. moves from an old host (IP 198.51.100.5) to 203.0.113.10. Write a 5-step plan including TTL changes and verification commands.

Sample plan

Export old zone; confirm MX/TXT copied
Lower A/CNAME TTL to 300; wait 3600+ minutes
Deploy site on new IP; test via hosts file
Update A to 203.0.113.10; verify dig @ns1.swifthost.ca www.workshopco.ca
Monitor mail + web 24h; raise TTL to 3600

Part 3 — peer review

Swap your zone with a colleague (or re-read tomorrow). Check:

Only one SPF TXT at apex?
MX hostnames not raw IPs?
Staging TTL lower than production?
CNAME targets end with trailing dot in zone file?
Both www and apex reachable?

What’s next?

You finished Book 1. Tell us which chapters to refine as you read — and what Book 2 should cover (SSL/TLS, web servers, and Linux basics are natural follow-ons).

Send feedback

Book 1 complete

You can explain domains, trace DNS, configure records for web and mail, and plan a real cutover. That puts you ahead of most “I just point the domain at the host” setups.