Procedure: Unsign a Zone

 

Applies To: Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012

Use the following procedures to unsign a zone that has been signed with DNSSEC on Windows Server® 2012 or Windows Server® 2012 R2. Procedures are provided using the DNS Manager console and Windows PowerShell. When you have completed the procedures in this topic, return to the parent checklist.

Choose DNS Manager or Windows PowerShell to perform this procedure:

Unsign a zone in DNS Manager

The Unsign zone wizard is used to unsign a zone in DNS Manager. For examples of the wizard, see Unsign zone wizard.

Membership in the Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete these procedures. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local and Domain Default Groups (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).

To unsign a zone in DNS Manager

  1. Open DNS Manager on a primary, authoritative DNS server, or connect to a primary, authoritative DNS server with DNS Manager.

  2. Right-click a signed zone, point to DNSSEC, and then click Unsign the Zone.

  3. Click Next to immediately unsign the zone.

  4. Verify that The zone has been successfully unsigned is displayed, and then click Finish.

  5. Right-click the zone and click Refresh to refresh the console view. DNSSEC-related resource records will be removed from the zone.

If the zone is Active Directory-integrated, it will not be immediately unsigned on all primary authoritative DNS servers. For performance reasons, zone unsigning is staggered.

Unsign a zone in Windows PowerShell

Membership in the Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete these procedures. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local and Domain Default Groups (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).

To use the Windows PowerShell examples that are provided, replace server and zone names with the names you will use in your environment.

To unsign a zone in Windows PowerShell

  1. Open an elevated Windows PowerShell prompt on a primary, authoritative DNS server.

  2. To unsign a zone, use the Invoke-DnsServerZoneUnsign cmdlet. See the following example.

    PS C:\> Invoke-DnsServerZoneUnsign -ZoneName secure.contoso.com -Force
    

    In this example, the zone secure.contoso.com is unsigned on the local DNS server. The Force parameter is used to skip confirmation.

If the zone is Active Directory-integrated, it will not be immediately unsigned on all primary authoritative DNS servers. For performance reasons, zone unsigning is staggered.

See also

DNSSEC in Windows

DNSSEC Deployment Planning