Add a Secondary Server for an Existing Zone
Applies To: Windows Server 2008
Secondary Domain Name System (DNS) servers maintain a copy of zone data that is transferred periodically from the primary DNS server for the zone. Secondary DNS servers help provide load balancing and fault tolerance for zones.
You can use this procedure to add a secondary DNS server to an existing zone. In addition, to allow the zone to be transferred to the secondary server, you must ensure that the primary DNS server of the zone is configured to allow zone transfer to the secondary name server. For more information, see Specify Other DNS Servers as Authoritative for a Zone and Modify Zone Transfer Settings.
You can complete this procedure by using either the DNS Manager snap-in or the dnscmd command-line tool.
Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local and Domain Default Groups (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).
Adding a secondary server for an existing zone
Using the Windows interface
Using a command line
To add a secondary server for an existing zone using the Windows interface
Open DNS Manager. To open DNS Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click DNS.
In the console tree, click the applicable DNS server.
On the Action menu, click New Zone.
Follow the instructions in the New Zone Wizard.
When you add the zone, select Secondary zone as the zone type.
Additional considerations
- So that you can add a secondary server for an existing zone, the secondary server must have network access to the server that is acting as the master server for this server and its use of the zone. The master server acts as the source for zone data. It is contacted by secondary servers periodically to assist in renewing the zone and to transfer zone updates whenever they are needed. For this reason, it is very important for the secondary service to have network access to the master server at all times, if possible.
To add a secondary server for an existing zone using a command line
Open a command prompt. To open an elevated Command Prompt window, click Start, point to All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
dnscmd <ServerName> /ZoneAdd <ZoneName> /Secondary <MasterIPaddress>... [/file <FileName>]
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
dnscmd |
The command-line tool for managing DNS servers. |
<ServerName> |
Required. Specifies the DNS host name of the DNS server. You can also type the IP address of the DNS server. To specify the DNS server on the local computer, you can also type a period (.). |
/ZoneAdd |
Required. Adds a zone. |
<ZoneName> |
Required. Specifies the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the secondary zone that you are adding. The zone name must be the same as the primary zone from which the secondary zone is created. |
/Secondary |
Required. Adds a secondary zone type. |
<MasterIPaddress>... |
Required. Specifies one or more IP addresses for the master servers of the secondary zone, from which it copies zone data. |
/file |
Specifies that a file is used. |
<FileName> |
Specifies the name of the file to use for creating the secondary zone. |
To view the complete syntax for this command, at a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
dnscmd /ZoneAdd /help
Additional considerations
- So that you can add a secondary server for an existing zone, the secondary server must have network access to the server that is acting as the master server for this server and its use of the zone. The master server acts as the source for zone data. It is contacted periodically by secondary servers to assist in renewing the zone and to transfer zone updates whenever they are needed. For this reason, it is very important for the secondary service to have network access to the master server at all times, if possible.