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Overview

    DNS Zones

    Note

    This information applies to the web interface. For information about DNS zone management in the M&M Management Console, see DNS Zones - (Management Console).

    Overview

    By default, the DNS page displays all primary zones in the system regardless of authority.

    ../../../_images/DNS-Micetro.png

    The left sidebar offers several options for filtering and organizing the zones. The sidebar has three tabs: Menu, Folders, and DNS services.

    ../../../_images/sidebar-tabs.png

    • The Menu tab offers the most commonly used filtering options for zones, such as zone types, favorites, and reverse zones.

    • The Folders tab allows you to organize zones and filter queries into folders. For more information about folder management, see Folder management.

    • On the DNS services tab you can view zones by server/service. This can be useful if you have multiple DNS services and want to view the zones associated with each one separately.

    Micetro will remember your current tab selection when you navigate away from the DNS page and return to it later.

    Zone Types

    Below are the zone types supported by Micetro.

    Type

    Description

    Primary (blue)

    A primary zone, which is always the original copy of the zone, and always present on that zone’s primary server.

    Primary (yellow)

    A dynamic master zone, which is always the original copy of the zone, and always present on that zone’s master server.

    Primary (purple)

    An Active Directory Integrated primary zone.

    Secondary

    A read-only copy of a primary zone or another secondary zone.

    Hint

    Root zone used for bootstrapping of recursive DNS servers.

    Options template

    This configuration template is specific to the AuthServe DNS server and can be used to add templated options configuration to multiple zones. Editing the options template will affect all zones using the template.

    Configuration types

    The below zone types are essentially a configuration that tells the (recursive) DNS server how to resolve zones it cannot resolve the normal way.

    Stub

    A stub zone is a copy of a DNS zone that contains only resource records that identify the authoritative DNS servers for that zone. Stub zone is dynamically updated from the list of primary DNS servers.

    Static-stub

    A BIND specific zone type to configure conditional forwarding, similar to Stub but is static, that is, it has a set of preconfigured NS entries.

    Forward

    A forward zone contains a list of name server addresses, called forwarders, that can resolve queries for the zone. With forward zones queries are forced to go to the specified addresses.

    Zone Contents

    The Inspector pane on the right provides a look at the SOA record and properties of the selected zone.

    ../../../_images/DNS-zone-contents-Micetro-10.5.png

    You can hide information in the Inspector pane. Simply click a the header of the desired section (or > and v) to collapse or expand the section.

    SOA

    The Start of Authority, or SOA record, is displayed as a collection of fields in the Inspector pane.

    SOA Information

    Field

    Description

    Primary

    The name of the server that acts as primary server for the zone.

    Hostmaster

    This field is properly formatted by giving the email address of the person responsible for zone with the @ symbol replaced with a period (.). For example, instead of hostmaster@example.com enter hostmaster.example.com. The username part of the email address cannot contain a (verbatim) dot (.). See RFC 1912 ‘Common DNS Operational and Configuration Errors’, Section 2.2 for additional information.

    Serial

    The serial number is a ten-digit number consisting of the year, the month, the day, and a two-digit daily revision number. (Actually, it is any integer between 0 and ~ 4 billion, but the preceding is the standard convention.)

    Refresh

    This is the period (in seconds) that determines how often secondary servers will check with the primary server to determine if their zone files are up to date. This is done by checking the serial number. The default value for this field is 28800, which equates to once every 8 hours.

    Retry

    This determines the period that a secondary server will wait before trying to re-contact the primary zone (in the event that an earlier contact attempt is unsuccessful). The default value is 7200 seconds, or once every 2 hours.

    Expire

    This value determines how long a secondary server will keep serving a zone after its last successful contact to the primary name server. Once the zone has expired, the secondary server stops giving information about the zone because it is deemed unreliable. The default expiration period is 604800 seconds, or 1 week.

    Neg. caching

    This field is only available when connected to a BIND server. This value specifies how long a server will retain (cache) the knowledge that something does not exist. The default value is 86400 seconds, 24 hours.

    Managing Zones

    Opening DNS Zones

    To view the DNS resource records for a particular zone, you can double-click the zone, or select the zone and then click Open on the toolbar at the top or on the row menu (…). A list of the zone’s resource records is displayed. For more information about DNS Resource Records, see DNS Resource Records.

    Creating Zones

    To create a new DNS zone:

    1. Click Create on the DNS page toolbar.

    2. Select the zone type. For more information about zone types, see Zone Types.

      ../../../_images/dns-zone-create.png

    3. Follow the steps of the wizard. The number of steps varies depending on the zone type and how Micetro is configured.

    Primary Zone

    1. Use the server filter to select the DNS server where the zone should be created. If xDNS profiles have been created on the instance, the zone can be added directly to an xDNS profile in the first step of the wizard.

      ../../../_images/zone-flow-filter-all.png

    2. Optional. You can select server(s) to host an identical copy of the zone. The zone files from the primary DNS are synced to the secondary DNS through a zone transfer.

      ../../../_images/zone-flow-redundancy.png

    3. If custom properties have been defined for zones, they can be edited in a separate step. Custom properties provide additional attributes that enhance the ability to understand, search, and sort zone data in Micetro.

      ../../../_images/zone-flow-custom-properties.png

      Custom properties are displayed as columns in the DNS grid for each zone.

    4. On the Options page you can specify which DNS servers should receive notifications when changes are made to the zone and to which servers it is allowed to perform zone transfers.

      ../../../_images/zone-flow-options.png

    5. If DNS folders have been configured in Micetro, the new zone can be added directly to a folder. DNS folders are a neat way to organise zones in Micetro to have better overview and manageability. For more information about folders, see Folder management.

      ../../../_images/zone-flow-folder.png

    6. The summary step summarises the configuration for the new zone before its created. To edit the configuration, go to the respective page of the wizard and make the desired changes.

    Secondary Zone

    When creating a secondary zone, you need to specify the zone name and either the IP address or hostname of the primary servers that hold the zone you are creating a secondary copy for.

    Stub Zone

    When creating a stub zone, you must provide the zone name and one or more primary servers for the zone being copied. You can use the toggle control above the text box to turn the address resolution on and off.

    Static-stub Zone

    When creating a static-stub zone, you must provide the the zone name and a target DNS server. To configure how the resolve the zone, specify either hostnames or IP addresses on the zone options page.

    Forward zone

    Forward zones are similar to stub zones. You must provide zone name and a list of Forward servers as well as at least one target server for where to create the zone.

    Options Template Zone

    The template zone option is available only if an AuthServe DNS server is connected to Micetro.

    Deleting Zones

    To delete a zone from one or more servers:

    1. Select the zone(s) you want to delete.

    2. On the Action menu, select Delete zone. You can also select this option on the Row menu (…).

    3. The Delete Zone dialog box opens, showing each zone you selected and a list of servers that currently serve that zone. The zone(s) you selected will be deleted from every server that is selected on this list. To keep the zone on a particular server, clear the checkbox for that server.

    4. Click Delete. The zone is removed from the servers.

    Migrating Zones

    You can migrate one or more zones from one server to another, including all data in the zone.

    To migrate a zone:

    1. Select the zone you want to migrate.

    2. On the Action menu, select Migrate zone. You can also select this option on the Row menu (…).

    3. The Migrate Zone(s) dialog box opens.

    4. Select the DNS service you want to migrate the zone to.

    5. If you want remove the zone from the current service, select the Remove original zone checkbox. If the checkbox is left unselected, a copy of the zone is left on the current service.

    Editing Preferred Servers

    Note

    This option is only available when working with Active Directory (AD) integrated zones. For more information about AD, see AD Sites and Subnets.

    DNS administrators can specify the server to use when opening an AD integrated zone, as well as the order of servers to use if the first preferred server becomes unavailable.

    1. In the filtering sidebar, select the AD Integrated.

    2. Select the zone(s) you’d like to set preferred servers for.

    3. On the Action menu, select Edit preferred servers. You can also select this option on the Row menu (…). :

    4. Arrange the order of your servers into the preferred order. The server on the top of the list is tried first, then, if that server is unavailable, the second, and so on.

    5. Click Save.

    Warning

    If you selected multiple zones, they might have different settings for preferred servers. Saving the configuration will overwrite the previous settings on all selected zones.

    Editing Zone Properties

    You can click Edit Properties on the toolbar to edit custom properties that have been configured for the selected zones.

    Promoting Secondary Zones

    The Promote Zone feature makes it possible to change a secondary zone to a primary zone. This might be necessary in emergency situations, for example, if the primary zone becomes unavailable for an extended period of time. This feature is only available for DNS Administrators.

    When a secondary zone is promoted, the following actions are performed:

    • Micetro checks whether the most recent copy of the zone is found in its internal database or on the server hosting the secondary zone, and uses the copy that is more recent.

    • The server hosting the secondary zone is configured so that the zone is saved as a primary zone on the server.

    • The zone history and access privileges from the old primary zone are applied to the new primary zone.

    • The configurations of other instances of the secondary zone are modified so that they will get the updates from the new primary zone.

    To promote a secondary zone to a primary zone:

    1. Select the secondary zone.

    2. On the Action menu, select Promote to primary. You can also select this option on the Row menu (…).

    3. Click Save to continue, or Cancel to discontinue the process.

    View History

    The View history option on the Action menu opens the History window that shows a log of all changes that have been made to the zone, including the date and time of the change, the name of the user who made it, the actions performed, and any comments entered by the user when saving changes to objects. See Viewing Change History.

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