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DNSimple Terraform Provider

Table of Contents

Terraform is an Infrastructure as Code (IoC) tool that allows you to build, change, and version
infrastructure safely and efficiently. With DNSimple’s Terraform Provider,
you can easily manage your DNS infrastructure and set up the required DNS records.

Video walk-through

Configuring the DNSimple provider

provider "dnsimple" {
    token    = "${var.dnsimple_token}"
    account  = "${var.dnsimple_account}"
    sandbox  = true
    prefetch = false
}

To start using DNSimple’s Terraform Provider, you’ll have to configure it.

The DNSimple API v2 token must be provided in the token part of the provider’s configuration. You can use either a User or an Account Token. We recommend using the Account token. You can read our API Access Token support article for more information on how to get a token.

The account argument is the account ID associated with the token. For more information on obtaining your account ID, take a look at Account scope in our developer documentation.

The sandbox argument tells the provider to use the sandbox environment. The token and account ID will vary between the sandbox and our production environment. The sandbox environment is a great place to make sure you have your configuration dialed in before using it in the actual production environment. To learn more about our sandbox environment, read Sandbox for Testing Calls to the API.

The prefetch argument tells the provider if it should prefetch ZoneRecords when reading them. This is important when you manage many domains, because you might risk reaching your rate limits for API usage. Only the token and account arguments are required.

Creating a Domain

resource "dnsimple_domain" "dnsimple" {
    name = "dnsimple.com"
}

To create a domain, you’ll have to use the dnsimple_domain resource. After naming the resource and adding the domain name (using the name attribute), you’re ready to go. Running the “terraform apply” command will make sure the domain is created for you.

Email Forwards

resource "dnsimple_email_forward" "hello" {
    domain              = "https://example.com"
    alias_name          = "hello"
    destination_email 	= "changed@example.com"
}

To create an email forward, you’ll need to provide the destination email for the domain for which you want to set up the email forward. Our Email Forwarding support article has more information about email forwards.

Setting up a Let’s Encrypt Certificate

resource "dnsimple_lets_encrypt_certificate" "my-certificate" {
    domain_id = "http://example.com"
    contact_id = "The contact id (found in your dnsimple admin)"
    auto_renew = false
    name = "www"
}

To add a certificate to your domain, decide which domain the certificate is going to be for, and provide a contact for the certificate. We’ll take care of the rest. For more information, take a look at our SSL Certificates Section.

You can also use the dnsimple_certificate data source to download a certificate:

data "dnsimple_certificate" "my-certificate" {
    domain         = "http://exmple.com"
    certificate_id = "The contact id (found in your dnsimple admin)"
}

Setting up a zone record

resource "dnsimple_zone_record" "mailserver" {
    zone_name = "https://example.com"
    name = "mailserver"
    value = "https://mx2.example.com"
    type = "MX"
    ttl = 3600
    priority = 10
}

When setting up a record (an MX (mail exchange) record in this example), provide the following information:

  • The zone name this record is for
  • A name (for your own records)
  • The value of the record (for the MX record in the example, this is the address to the mail server.)
  • The type of record (MX in the example) – see Supported Record Types for a comprehensive list of the records we support.
  • The time to live (TTL) of the record
  • The priority

Ready to go

You’re now ready to get started with DNSimple’s Terraform Provider. As always, if you have more questions, get in touch - we’re always happy to help.