DNS zone definition
A DNS zone is a specific part of the domain namespace that belongs to, is assigned to, and is managed by a certain administrator or organization. It’s the space on the nameserver that is assigned to a certain legal entity. For instance, organizations have their own DNS zones on a namespace that only belongs to them, allowing them to have more granular control of DNS components. A single DNS namespace can have one or more DNS zones, and a different DNS service or host manages each individual DNS zone.
Within one DNS zone, a domain and multiple subdomains can be managed by one entity So, a DNS zone is not one domain name or one DNS server because a DNS zone can contain multiple subdomains, and one server can host multiple DNS zones. A DNS zone is useful for administrative purposes, such as delegating tasks.
See also: DNS record, DNS server
DNS zone types
- Primary DNS zone. The primary DNS zone is also called the master DNS zone. The primary DNS zone contains the original zone file – all the zone’s DNS records.
- Secondary DNS zone. The secondary DNS zone is also called the slave DNS zone. It contains a copy of the zone file, and you can use it to boost performance, create backups of your DNS records, redundancy, and hide your primary DNS zone.
