Load PowerDNS data in Python using dltHub

Build a PowerDNS-to-database or-dataframe pipeline in Python using dlt with automatic Cursor support.

In this guide, we'll set up a complete PowerDNS data pipeline from API credentials to your first data load in just 10 minutes. You'll end up with a fully declarative Python pipeline based on dlt's REST API connector, like in the partial example code below:

Example code
@dlt.source
def powerdns_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value):
    config: RESTAPIConfig = {
        "client": {
            "base_url": "https://api.powerdns.com/api/v1/",
            "auth": {
                "type": "apikey",
                "token": X-API-Key,
            },
        },
        "resources": [
            A,,DS,,MX
            ],
    }
    [...]
    yield from rest_api_resources(config)


def get_data() -> None:
    # Connect to destination
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name='powerdns_pipeline',
        destination='duckdb',
        dataset_name='powerdns_data', 
    )
    # Load the data
    load_info = pipeline.run(powerdns_source())
    print(load_info)

Why use dltHub Workspace with LLM Context to generate Python pipelines?

Accelerate pipeline development with AI-native context
Debug pipelines, validate schemas and data with the integrated Pipeline Dashboard
Build Python notebooks for end users of your data
Low maintenance thanks to Schema evolution with type inference, resilience and self documenting REST API connectors. A shallow learning curve makes the pipeline easy to extend by any team member
dlt is the tool of choice for Pythonic Iceberg Lakehouses, bringing mature data loading to pythonic Iceberg with or without catalogs

What you’ll do

We’ll show you how to generate a readable and easily maintainable Python script that fetches data from powerdns’s API and loads it into Iceberg, DataFrames, files, or a database of your choice. Here are some of the endpoints you can load:

A: Represents a specific operation related to DNS management.
DS: Used for delegating DNS zones.
RP: Related to DNS record processing.
MX: Manages mail exchange records.
NS: Handles name server records.
CDS: Concerns DNSSEC signing.
TXT: For managing text records.
CAA: Manages certification authority authorization records.

You will then debug the PowerDNS pipeline using our Pipeline Dashboard tool to ensure it is copying the data correctly, before building a Notebook to explore your data and build reports.

Setup & steps to follow

💡
Before getting started, let's make sure Cursor is set up correctly:

We suggest using a model like Claude 3.7 Sonnet or better
Index the REST API Source tutorial: https://dlthub.com/docs/dlt-ecosystem/verified-sources/rest_api/ and add it to context as @dlt rest api
Read our full steps on setting up Cursor

Now you're ready to get started!

⚙️ Set up dlt Workspace

Install dlt with duckdb support:
```
pip install dlt[workspace]
```
Initialize a dlt pipeline with PowerDNS support.
```
dlt init dlthub:powerdns duckdb
```
The init command will setup the necessary files and folders for the next step.

🤠 Start LLM-assisted coding

Here’s a prompt to get you started:

Prompt
Please generate a REST API Source for PowerDNS API, as specified in @powerdns-docs.yaml 
Start with endpoints A and  and skip incremental loading for now. 
Place the code in powerdns_pipeline.py and name the pipeline powerdns_pipeline. 
If the file exists, use it as a starting point. 
Do not add or modify any other files. 
Use @dlt rest api as a tutorial. 
After adding the endpoints, allow the user to run the pipeline with python powerdns_pipeline.py and await further instructions.

🔒 Set up credentials

Authentication is performed using an API key which must be sent in the header as specified by the 'X-API-Key' header name.

To get the appropriate API keys, please visit the original source at https://www.powerdns.com/. If you want to protect your environment secrets in a production environment, look into setting up credentials with dlt.

🏃‍♀️ Run the pipeline in the Python terminal in Cursor


python powerdns_pipeline.py

If your pipeline runs correctly, you’ll see something like the following:


Pipeline powerdns load step completed in 0.26 seconds
1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset powerdns_data
The duckdb destination used duckdb:/powerdns.duckdb location to store data
Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs

📈 Debug your pipeline and data with the Pipeline Dashboard

Now that you have a running pipeline, you need to make sure it’s correct, so you do not introduce silent failures like misconfigured pagination or incremental loading errors. By launching the dlt Workspace Pipeline Dashboard, you can see various information about the pipeline to enable you to test it. Here you can see:
- Pipeline overview: State, load metrics
- Data’s schema: tables, columns, types, hints
- You can query the data itself
```
dlt pipeline powerdns_pipeline show --dashboard
```
🐍 Build a Notebook with data explorations and reports

With the pipeline and data partially validated, you can continue with custom data explorations and reports. To get started, paste the snippet below into a new marimo Notebook and ask your LLM to go from there. Jupyter Notebooks and regular Python scripts are supported as well.
```
import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("powerdns_pipeline").dataset()
# get  table as Pandas frame
data..df().head()
```

Running into errors?

It is important to note that the API is read-only for zones hosted by the BIND backend. Additionally, users should be cautious of the limitations on API calls, particularly concerning input validation errors and unauthorized access if the API key is incorrect or lacks the appropriate permissions.

Extra resources:

Learn more with our 1h LLM-assisted coding course!