Can I use zones across projects?
As a general rule, each project is separate from the others. This means that DNS zones, managed certificates and Load Balancers can usually only be used together within the same project.
However, if you enable the option Share zone with other projects, you can use the zone with managed certificates and Load Balancers across all projects.
In the example below, this option is enabled for example.com, and disabled for example.org.
-
For example.com, you can create a managed Let's Encrypt certificate in any project, and add this certificate to a Load Balancer within that project.
-
For example.org, you can only create a managed Let's Encrypt certificate within the project of the zone itself. Accordingly, only Load Balancers within the same project as the zone can use a managed Let's Encrypt certificate for example.org.
Which software can I use to operate my own DNS server?
The most well-known software for UNIX-based systems is probably BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain). Two lesser-known ones are NSD (Name Server Daemon) and djbdns (D. J. Bernstein DNS), for example.
Windows offers integrated Microsoft DNS servers in their server variants for Windows systems, or, at an additional cost, Simple DNS.
There is another alternative which is free-of-charge and and which you can run on current UNIX systems and OS X: PowerDNS. Unlike most other DNS daemons, PowerDNS uses a database system, in order to access the zone. (MySQL, PostgreSQL and Oracle are supported.) Zones are instantly updated without restarting PowerDNS. Supermaster/Slave support makes it easier to administer a large number of zones from another server.