Yandex DNS Hosting (pdd.yandex.ru): Migrating a Domain from nic.ua and Managing Records
More than a month ago, I moved my domain DNS records from the registrar nic.ua over to Yandex’s free DNS hosting (part of the Mail for Domain service at pdd.yandex.ru).
DNS zone management panel in Yandex (pdd.yandex.ru)
The reasoning was simple: a major provider has faster servers and wider network pipes, geographic distribution, scalability, and high availability. In theory, domain name resolution should be faster and more consistent. Besides, nic.ua had a couple of brief DNS hiccups a long time ago – they were fixed quickly, yet the memory stuck, and trying out a new DNS host seemed worthwhile.
Migrating the Zone and Delegating NS
The migration went smoothly without any downtime. Before changing nameservers at the registrar, you add the domain in pdd.yandex.ru, verify ownership, and replicate all existing zone records there so traffic keeps flowing seamlessly during the switch.
Once the records are in place, update the nameservers at your domain registrar (nic.ua in my case) to Yandex’s pair:
dns1.yandex.net dns2.yandex.net
While ISP DNS caches update around the world, both old and new nameservers serve identical records, keeping the website and email online without interruption.
Managing A, CNAME, MX, and TXT Records
DNS records editor: managing A, CNAME, MX, NS, and SRV entries
The dashboard is clean and straightforward. In the web editor, you can create and modify all standard record types without editing raw zone files:
- A / AAAA – maps the root domain (
@) and subdomains (such aswww) to IPv4 or IPv6 server addresses. - CNAME – creates a subdomain alias pointing to another hostname.
- MX – defines mail servers and delivery priorities for incoming email.
- TXT – stores verification tokens as well as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC policies.
- SRV and SOA – configures service records (for XMPP, etc.) and zone authority timers.
You can verify that the delegated nameservers are returning the right records directly with dig:
dig @dns1.yandex.net nemcd.com A +short dig @dns1.yandex.net nemcd.com MX +short
Using Yandex DNS Without Yandex Mail
Yandex Mail hosting is optional – just open the DNS Editor (“Редактор DNS”)
One useful detail: to use Yandex’s DNS hosting, you do not have to host your domain’s email on Yandex. The dashboard displays an “Awaiting MX record setup” notice (“Ожидаем установки MX-записей”) and prompts you to enable Mail for Domain, but you can safely ignore it or click disable.
For instance, I use Google Apps for my domain email and have no plans to switch (at least for now). In the DNS Editor, you simply add your external MX and TXT records and let Yandex serve solely as your authoritative DNS host.
I ran several online DNS tests and everything checked out fine in terms of latency and reliability, though I plan to keep experimenting with other DNS hosting providers in the future.
P.S. Google’s free DNS hosting is currently only available if you registered your domain through Google Domains; perhaps they will launch a standalone open DNS zone editor later on.
As of November 2026: What Changed in Yandex 360
Over the years, Mail for Domain (pdd.yandex.ru) was rebranded first into Yandex Connect and later merged into Yandex 360 for Business (admin.yandex.ru). On April 17, 2023, Yandex discontinued the free tier for custom domains: unpaid legacy accounts were restricted, and connecting new domains now requires a paid subscription.
Google Domains from the postscript also shut down in 2023–2024 with its registrar accounts transferred to Squarespace, and Google never launched a standalone free DNS zone editor (only paid Google Cloud DNS remains).
If you are looking for fast, free, geographically distributed anycast DNS hosting today without bundled email requirements, the most common choices are Cloudflare‘s free plan (which this site now uses), Hurricane Electric (dns.he.net), or your registrar’s built-in DNS.