But I liked the lightness of NSD and wanted to know if it would be OK to use it for a long run. The list is very sparse I think. Nobody seems to be responding.
A few years ago I was at the same point like you. It was only NSD which was lightweight, robust and clear enough to make it possible to setup a DNS server without many problems. Once I had questions, people in this mailing list answered in a timeley manner and they knew what they were speaking about.
1. PowerDNS - Has got a very good reputation and a very good manual.
I have to strongly advise against PowerDNS. In my opinion it is not robust and serious enough for long-term use. I had many problems with it.
2. Knot - Very good security features and manual.
I cannot say anything about Knot, but another alternative is YADIFA (developed by EURid). I tried it out a few years ago, but then I have chosen NSD. YADIFA's mailing list was quite unresponsive at that time. But maybe the situation is better today. It doesn't look bad at all.
1. PowerDNS - Has got a very good reputation and a very good manual.
I have to strongly advise against PowerDNS. In my opinion it is not
robust and serious enough for long-term use. I had many problems with it.
I have to disagree with you. PowerDNS is used by many large hosting
providers, and it serves thousands, if not millions, of domains. And not
only that, but it provides DNSSEC signing for them. The PowerDNS
developers are very smart, helpful, and responsive to bugs and feature
requests. They regularly contribute to the design and improvement of the
DNS protocol in the IETF. Your statement that it is not "robust and
serious enough" is certainly not true.
I cannot say anything about Knot, but another alternative is YADIFA
(developed by EURid). I tried it out a few years ago, but then I have
chosen NSD. YADIFA's mailing list was quite unresponsive at that time.
But maybe the situation is better today. It doesn't look bad at all.
Yes, YADIFA is also one of the choices. However, as far as I am aware,
it is not in use for any critical DNS infrastructure. I personally don't
know anyone who uses it. Its user community is quite small, and there
isn't much collective knowledge about it. I would certainly NOT
recommend it to someone who doesn't work with DNS servers all day.