DNS Zones: Organization and Empowerment
In our last blog, we went over what a domain is and how it relates to DNS.
Today, we’ll go over the building blocks of the DNS landscape: What is a DNS zone?
Basics
First, let’s talk about what is NOT a DNS zone:
- A domain name or a single DNS server.
- Similar to a time zone.
- An implied physical separation.
Zones are used for control over different parts of the domain namespace. They are the separate spaces to individually manage your domain names. A zone allows you to personally manage your DNS records for the assigned domain and contains all of your domain’s DNS Records.
Zones delegate authority over the DNS for a domain. A DNS zone can contain multiple subdomains, and multiple zones can exist on the same server. Then, records can be created and managed within that zone.
For example: If you have a zone for domain.com the zone will allow you to add records for that domain that the rest of the internet can see like sub.domain.com. Sub.example.com can also be in it’s own zone if desired. DNS zones are not necessarily physically separated from one another, zones are strictly used for delegating control.
How Does it Work?
In our previous blog, we mention that DNS is like a phonebook for the internet. In that case, The content or zone file in the DNS zone are entries in that phonebook and when people try to connect to a site it check the phone book to see where that website is.
Not only that, but it helps make management more efficient and helps alleviate the workloads of multiple name servers. This allows for failover and load balancing. Domains are delegated to nameservers in which the zone, or zone file, is actually held.
No-IP Solutions
Need a custom DNS zone in your No-IP account? You’ll need to create a zone for your custom domain name before you can create records or use DDNS on a custom domain.
Pro Dynamic DNS
Pro Dynamic DNS starts at 3 zones to use with 3 domain names. If you need more zones, you can upgrade your Pro Dynamic DNS account at any time. You can see the different levels of Pro from our product page.
If you already have Pro and need to upgrade your Pro service to allow more hostnames or zones you can do so from the subscription management page. Click on the small arrow for Pro Dynamic DNS to show additional options, then click on “Change Plan”
You can find out more from our Knowledge Base article.
Managed Dynamic DNS
The base level Plus Managed DNS service allows you 1 zone to use with 1 domain name. If you have 2 domain names, such as example.com and test.com, you would only be able to use DDNS, create sub-domains, and add advanced records on one of those domains with the base level Plus Managed DNS service. To use No-IP’s Plus Managed DNS service on the second domain, you can upgrade the amount of zones which will allow you to use Plus Managed DNS on additional domains.
You can find out more from our Knowledge Base article.
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Questions? Feel free to reach out to our awesome Customer Support team here.