DNS zone is a delegated partition of the Domain namespace, container of DNS settings and DNS records inside a DNS zone file. The DNS records point domain names to IP addresses, show information about services, serve for verification and authentication purposes and more. 

The DNS namespace can have single or multiple DNS zones, each managed by a particular DNS host/service. It has a hierarchy structure where the top is the root level, followed by the top-level domain, domain, subdomain, etc. This division helps for administrative purposes. It decentralizes the DNS, making it possible to be managed on different levels, and also reduces the tasks of nameservers by dividing their responsibilities. It is like an enormous pie. Each piece of it allows better separation of the administrative load and helps with redundancy.

There are three types of DNS zones – Primary (Master) DNS zone for control, Secondary (Slave) DNS zone for redundancy and better performance and Reverse DNS zone for network troubleshooting and for email servers IP to validation.
 
The first contains all the original DNS records, and the second gets them from the Primary DNS zone. The process is called DNS zone transfer. The Primary DNS server could push it, or the secondary can get the changes when its cache expires. 

Don’t directly associate a DNS zone with a specific domain. A Domain Name System zone may contain single or multiple host names for the same domain; the important thing is that it is used for controlling a fraction of the namespace. DNS zones can be on the same servers too.

We also recommend that you read “What is Authoritative DNS server?“

Different types of DNS zones

There are different types of DNS zones, but in this article, we will set our eyes on just two:

• Primary (Master) DNS zone – holder of the original zone file (all the DNS records for the zone). You can manage a host through this zone.
• Secondary (Slave) DNS zone – holds a copy of the Domain Name System file. You can use them for better performance, for hiding your Primary, for backup and redundancy.
• Reverse DNS zone (rDNS) – Responsible for mapping IP addresses back to their associated domain names. This is the opposite of what a typical (forward lookup) DNS query does.

Primary DNS zone

Primary (Master) zones contain a read/write copy of the zone data. There could be only one Master zone on one DNS server at a time. All the DNS records added manually or automatically, are written in this Primary zone of the DNS server.
The data is stored in a standard text file – .txt. The advantage is that it is easy to back it up and to recover in case of problems.
Something essential is that to be able to make changes to the Domain Name System zone, the Primary zone must be available. If the server with your Primary DNS is down, you won’t be able to make any changes.
If you want to have redundancy, you must have the zone data accessible on multiple servers.

If you want to learn how to create a Primary zone in ClouDNS, check the following step-by-step tutorial:

• Click on the sign-in button and enter your email address and your password. Once you have logged in, you will see your Dashboard. From the list, you will notice that you do not have any registered DNS zones. 
• Click on the “Add new” button. In the pop-up window, click on “Master zone”. You can create your Domain Name System zone with the NS records you want. However, we recommend you to use the suggested ones.

If you want to check your domain’s NS records, we recommend you take a look at the second command from our article: 10 Most used Dig commands

• In the text field, enter your domain name without HTTP, HTTPS, or WWW. Example: yourdomain.com. Once you do it, click on the “CREATE” button.

You have successfully created your Primary (Master) zone. From the top menu, you will be able to manage your Master DNS zone with all of the available options. Here you will see all the DNS records you can create and use for your needs. From the list, you can see your hostname, the type of the record, where they are pointed to, and what the TTL is.

You can also check our wiki page about Master DNS zone.

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Secondary DNS zone

The Secondary DNS zone is a read-only copy of the zone data. Most of the times Secondary (Slave)  zones are copies of Master zones. They can also be copies of other Slave zones or Active Directory Zones.
If you try to change a DNS record on a Secondary zone, it can redirect you to another zone with read/write access. By itself, it can’t change it.
One of the primary purposes of a Slave zone is to serve as a backup. When the Primary zone is down, it can still answer requests for the zone from its copy.

Check the following step-by-step tutorial to learn how to create a Secondary (Slave) Zone in ClouDNS.

1. Click on the sign-in button and enter your email address and your password.
2. Once you have logged in, you will see your Dashboard. From the list, you will notice that you do not have any registered DNS. 
3. Click on the “Add new” button and then click on “Slave/Backup zone” 
4. In the first field, enter your domain name without HTTP, HTTPS, or WWW. Example: yourdomain.com. In the second field, on the right, add the IP address of your Master Server. Once you do it, click on the “Add Slave” button.

You have successfully created your Secondary (Slave) zone. From the top menu, you will see the available options for your Slave Zone. Here is also the IP address of your Primary Server. 

If you want to use Secondary DNS zones, you can also review our Secondary DNS page, and decide which of our premium plans is right for you.

Now you know what a DNS zone is and the difference between these two types – Primary DNS zone and Secondary DNS zone. For any additional questions about your DNS infrastructure, you can contact our customer support.

Reverse DNS zone

A reverse DNS (rDNS) zone is a DNS zone established for the purpose of resolving IP addresses into domain names. While a standard (forward) DNS query resolves a domain name into an IP address, an rDNS or reverse DNS query does the opposite, mapping an IP address back to its associated domain name.

The Reverse DNS zone encompasses two types: Master and Slave. The Slave Reverse DNS zone acts as a safeguard, maintaining a read-only copy of the reverse DNS records while remaining in sync with the Master zone to distribute load efficiently. In contrast, the Master Reverse DNS zone is the authoritative source that houses the original mappings of IP addresses to domain names. All modifications and updates to these records are made in the Master zone. For guidance on setting up Master Reverse DNS zones, refer to the following instructions.

The utility of rDNS zones can be seen in several areas:

• Network troubleshooting: rDNS is useful for diagnosing network routing problems and pinning down the source of network attacks. By using reverse DNS lookup, network administrators can identify the hostnames associated with IP addresses appearing in log files.
• Email Verification: The SMTP protocol used for email has a step where the recipient’s mail server checks the sender’s IP address in a reverse DNS lookup. This can be used as a simple way to verify the legitimacy of the email sender and helps in spam prevention.
• For Certain Internet Services: Some Internet services, such as FTP servers, often use reverse DNS lookups as part of their control strategies.

Suggested article: FTP vs HTTP: Understanding the Key Differences

In DNS, each octet (unit) of the IP address is reversed and placed in the in-addr.arpa (for IPv4) or ip6.arpa (for IPv6) domain. For example, the IP address 192.0.2.0 is represented in a reverse DNS zone as 0.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa. The PTR (pointer) record is then used to map this to a domain.

DNS Zone VS. Domain

In the domain namespace, the biggest difference between the domains and zones is that domains provide logical structure, and the zones provide an administrative structure. 

A domain is a subtree of the domain namespace. It shares its name with that of the top-most node, like yoursite.eu (eu domain). It could be divided into various zones that can be controlled separately.

A zone is a partition of the domain namespace that requires a Primary nameserver and can be managed separately. A zone can coincide with the domain and covers all of its subdomains, or it could be just a partition of the domain. You could have separate zones for mail.yoursite.com and ftp.yoursite.com for your domain yoursite.com.

DNS Zone Delegation

DNS zone delegation is the process of assigning authority over a specific portion of a domain’s namespace to a different DNS server. This is typically done by the owner of the primary domain when they want to delegate control over a subdomain to another party or server. The delegation is accomplished by adding NS (Name Server) records to the parent zone, pointing to the DNS servers that will manage the delegated subzone. This allows the parent zone to direct queries for the subdomain to the appropriate authoritative DNS servers, ensuring efficient and accurate resolution of DNS queries within the delegated zone.

For example, a large organization might manage a primary domain like example.com and have various subdomains such as hr.example.com, blog.example.com, and dev.example.com. By delegating these subdomains to different DNS servers, the organization can optimize its DNS management, ensuring faster query resolution and greater overall stability. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, DNS zones are the building blocks of the Domain Name System, enabling efficient management of DNS records and administrative responsibilities. They play a vital role in ensuring the reliability and accessibility of online services by facilitating proper domain-to-IP address mappings.

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The post What is a DNS zone? Primary and Secondary DNS zone and how to create it appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.

The Domain Name System (DNS) is often compared to a phonebook, and there are a lot of similarities. It is another type of database. DNS is a global system that we all use on a daily basis when we want to access any website. It contains and distributes information about domain names and their corresponding IP addresses. This way, when we type a simple domain name, our browsers or application will use the DNS to search for its IP address and connect us. The DNS is divided into domains from different levels, and it is managed through DNS zones that are decentralized. An administrator of a higher level can delegate a zone to another under it. For example, when you get a domain name (secondary-level domain like yoursite.com), the higher level .com (TLD) can delegate you the right to manage the zone yoursite.com. You can further delegate responsibility for all subdomains like mail.yoursite.com, ftp.yoursite.com, etc. To manage domain names, you add DNS records, which are a set of instructions related to your domains, hosts, services, and more.

Domain Name System explained

List of DNS terms

Here you have the most important DNS terms that you will need to manage your domain name. First, you can learn the basics of DNS, and later you can expand your knowledge with larger articles that go into greater details on topics like DNS records, DNS features, and processes. 

Domain Name

It’s an identifier of a host, a text line, that servers for mapping to an IP address (a line of numbers like: 46.166.142.62) for easy access to a website. By now, you have typed a lot of different domain names in the URL bar of your browser to reach different websites. Example: cloudns.net

Machines have always searched websites through their IP address. Numbers are the best way for machines to understand each other. But numbers are hard to be remembered by humans. That’s why domain names were created. To have a friendly choice for humans to reach the websites they look for.

IP Address

An Internet Protocol address is another host identifier that is created of a line of numbers divided into groups by periods. Example: 46.166.142.62. IP addresses are needed so devices can connect to networks and communicate using the Internet Protocol (IP).

The set of numbers on every public IP address is mathematically generated and allocated by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). An entity of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Basically, IP addresses allow the identification, location, and communication of hosts on a network. Every device uses a unique IP address. This way, the Internet and networks, in general, can distinguish all the websites, routers, connected computers.

Many IPv4 addresses are still in use, but the latest standard IPv6 is growing in popularity.

TLD (Top-level Domain)

Domain names have a hierarchy structure. The top-level domain is one of its parts, and it’s located, reading from right to left, just after the final dot for the root and before the secondary-level domain name. Examples: .com, .gov, .uk, .ru, etc.

Initially, TLDs were created to organize domain names by their purpose, geographical location, field, operation radius. By only reading this part of a domain name, users could also know if a website they visited belonged to a commercial, government, non-profit organization, operating regionally, locally, internationally, and so on.

In the beginning, this use was more strict. In 2010, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) accepted the creation of new, generic, trademark TLDs. Now, TLDs are chosen to obey Marketing objectives too.

FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name)

It’s the most complete domain name that hosts can have. It points to the exact location of a domain name in the domain name system (DNS) tree hierarchy. This is expressed through the three parts that shape every domain name: hostname, second-level domain name, and top-level domain name (TLD). Following this structure, here you have an example: www.cloudns.net.

Anycast DNS

Anycast DNS is a traffic routing method where the same IP address is used for multiple nameservers located in different locations. Usually, there are many locations (points of presence) – at least 20 for a well-sized DNS provider. Having a large number of servers makes Anycast DNS resistant to DNS attacks and provides redundancy in general. 

When a client request a domain, the router will direct its request to the nearest nameserver. This will reduce the latency and offer a better experience for the clients.

Dynamic DNS

Dynamic DNS, also known as DDNS, is an automatic method of updating nameservers. The most common use case is to update IP addresses that are contained in A records (IPv4) or AAAA records (IPv6) when a change has occurred. It is particularly useful for CCTV cameras or remote services because with Dynamic DNS, you don’t need to pay for static IP addresses. The IP addresses will change over time, but they will be updated, and you won’t experience problems. After the initial setup process, you don’t need to interact with the settings, and it will continue to function.

DNSSEC

DNSSEC is a security extension that has the goal to protect DNS communication and stop DNS spoofing. It encrypts the DNS communication with a combination of private and public keys. One that the zone administrator uses to sign it and the other for authentication of the origin of the data. What makes it a good protective mechanism is that it is a complete chain of trust. Starting from the root zone down to the TLD zone, the domain zone, and subdomains, each zone above will have the key for the next one. It adds security to the fast DNS process without a significant slowdown.

DNS Server (types)

There are different DNS servers, and each has specific functionality.

Root server. It belongs to the highest level of DNS servers. It’s the authoritative name server for a specific DNS root zone. It points to the TLD of the requested domain name.

TLD server. It’s responsible of specific TLDs (.com, .gov, .uk, .net, etc.). It will point to the exact, authoritative name server that can provide the IP address for the requested domain name.

Recursive DNS server. The server takes the user’s DNS request and looks for the IP address or other information needed for the requested domain name. It will communicate with all the other DNS servers in the hierarchy for getting this information.

Authoritative DNS server. It contains all the DNS records for the zone it’s in charge of. It answers the requests that recursive DNS servers have by providing the corresponding A or AAAA record and the IP address of the requested domain or another DNS record.

Primary authoritative DNS servers. They answer DNS requests, and they store the original zone file. Therefore, DNS records’ modifications can only be made on these servers. 

Secondary authoritative DNS servers. They also respond to DNS requests, but what they store is a copy of the zone file. This copy is not editable at all, only readable. 

DNS Zone

The DNS system has a structure that looks like an inverted tree. It is divided into domain names on different levels. The highest level is the root, after many TLDs, secondary-level domains, and later multiple levels of subdomains. To administrate those domain names, there are DNS zones on each level. The DNS zones are partitions of the Domain Name Space that contain DNS zone files with DNS records for managing. A DNS zone administrator can add or remove DNS records inside the Primary DNS zone.

DNS records

DNS records are simple files that contain text with instructions related to the domain name they belong to. They can link domain names to IP addresses, add instructions for email servers, point to specific services, and much more. The DNS records are hosted inside a host file in a DNS zone. The zone is located inside an authoritative nameserver.

There are many types of DNS records, but the most popular ones are:

A record – Links a domain name to an IP address. 

CNAME record – Forwards subdomains to the domain name.

MX record – Indicates the email servers that should receive emails for the domain name.

TXT record – Multiple verifications and authentication purposes.

NS record – Shows the nameservers for the domain name.

SOA record – Start of authority.

SRV record – Links services to port numbers.

PTR record – The Pointer record links an IP address to a domain name.

The Importance of DNS Terminology

Understanding DNS terminology is crucial for various reasons, including the following:

• Efficient Troubleshooting: Solid knowledge of DNS terms allows IT professionals to diagnose and resolve technical issues more efficiently. Identifying the root cause of problems, such as domain resolution failures or misconfigured DNS records, becomes significantly easier and faster.
• Enhanced Security: Cybersecurity is a top priority nowadays. Therefore, it is best for professionals to understand DNS terminology in order to detect and respond to potential threats. Understanding terms like DNSSEC, DNS spoofing, cache poisoning, and DDoS attacks helps strengthen the security of networks and web services.
• Performance Optimization: Website owners and developers can benefit from understanding DNS terminology to optimize the performance of their online presence. Fine-tuning DNS settings, minimizing TTL values, and ensuring proper DNS record configurations contribute to faster and more reliable website performance.
• Effective Communication: Clear communication within IT teams, especially between developers, network administrators, and support teams, is crucial, especially when they need to communicate complex technical issues. A common understanding of DNS terms allows effective communication and collaboration within teams.
• Domain Management: Individuals and organizations involved in registering and managing domains must be familiar with DNS terminology to make informed decisions. Knowledge of terms like TLDs, registrars, and DNS hosting providers empowers domain owners to navigate the complexities of the domain ecosystem.

Conclusion

This list of basic DNS terms you should know is a good start for exploring the DNS. If you want to learn even more, follow our blog, in which we regularly post new extended articles. Also, don’t miss our Wiki page and YouTube channel.

The post Basic DNS terms you should know (List + Infographic) appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.

In this example, we assume you bought a domain from Cloudns.net, and you are having one of our DNS plans. If that is not the case, the steps will be similar, but not the same. 

Set up a DNS zone for sites hosted on WordPress.com

1. Go to https://wordpress.com/ and follow the process to create a web site. Register and log in. 

2. Then choose the type of website, from the options, you would like to have.

3. Depending on the purpose of it, type a corresponding keyword, or a name you like.

4. Go for the free domain. You will be using the other domain name that you have already bought from us. In this example, the domain we will use is ricki.sx 

5. Go to Cloudns.net and log in to your profile. Create a Master DNS Zone file. The Master Zone will let you write and read onto the DNS database. 

To create it you must click on DNS zones and then select Master Zone option. Put just the domain name that you bought (without www. Or http://). 

Now you have created the DNS zone for WordPress, and it is time to put DNS records.

6. We will add a CNAME record that will redirect to where your site is hosted. The CNAME is a canonical record. It serves to show that one domain is an alias for another one. 

We will point the blog (blog.ricki.sx) to the domain (myburst.photo.blog) that was given from WordPress.com. 

7. Then we will create a permanent redirect (301 redirect) that will map the ricki.sx to http://blog.ricki.sx and another for the www subdomain (www.ricki.sx) to the same. 

8. The final action, we want to do, is to edit the redirects and add “Redirect with frame.” This will make your visitors see just the redirected domain and not the original. 

Ready.

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Set up a DNS zone for WordPress site on hosting with cPanel.

1. Go to your hosting account and log in. Write down the IP address. You will need it in step 6.  

2. Enter the cPanel and click on the Addon Domains. Addon Domains let you control more than 1 domain for your hosting.

3. Now create an Addon Domain with the new domain name rick.sx and subdomain www. 

4. Go to your Cloudns.net and log in. 

5. Create a Master Zone, so later you can add DNS records. 

6. Create two A records. The first to direct from ricki.sx to the IP of the hosting (that one you wrote down back in step 1), and the second to direct from the www.ricki.sx to the same IP.  

Ready!

You can find more interesting articles on our blog.

DNS Troubleshooting – tools and commands

The post How to set up a new DNS zone for your WordPress site appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.