Introduction to DNS

Zone Transfer

When changes are made to the zone on a master server, these changes must be replicated to all the secondary servers for that zone, using a mechanism called zone transfer. In the original DNS specifications, only one form of zone transfer was available, known as full zone transfer. New RFCs discuss an additional type of zone transfer: incremental zone transfer. This section describes both types. It also describes DNS Notify, a mechanism by which the master server for a zone can notify the secondary servers of zone changes.