# Getting support, free and paid FAQ
PowerDNS is an open source program so you may get help from the PowerDNS users'
community or from its authors. You may also help others (please do).

The PowerDNS company provides free support on the public mailing lists, and can
help or support you in private as well. For first class and rapid support,
please contact <a href="mailto:powerdns.support@powerdns.com">powerdns.support@powerdns.com</a>
, or see [www.powerdns.com](http://www.powerdns.com).

More information about the PowerDNS community, and its mailing lists, can be
found on [its Wiki](http://wiki.powerdns.com). On the wiki, you will also find
information on how to file bugs.

Below, please find a list of common questions asked on our public mailing lists.

## Help!
Please try harder :-) Specifically, before people will be able to help you,
they need to know a lot about your system. If you list more details, chances are
you'll get better answers.

## I have a question, what details should I supply?
Start out with stating what you think should be happening. Quite often, wrong
expectations are the actual problem. Furthermore, which database backend you
use, your operating system, which version of PowerDNS you use and where you got
it from (RPM, .DEB, tar.bz2). If you compiled it yourself, what were the
./configure parameters.

If at **all** possible, supply the actual name of your domain and the IP address
of your server(s).

## Where should I send my question?
To a mailing list. Please email the authors directly only if you previously
entered a support contract with them, or are considering doing so. For mailing
list details, see [the mailing lists page](http://mailman.powerdns.com/mailman/listinfo/).

Questions about using PowerDNS should be sent to the pdns-users list, questions
about compiler errors or feature requests to pdns-dev.

Before posting, read all FAQs.

## My information is confidential, must I send it to the mailing list?
If you desire privacy, please consider entering a support relationship with us,
in which case we invite you to contact <a href="mailto:powerdns.support.sales@netherlabs.eu">powerdns.support.sales@netherlabs.eu</a>.
