A Primary Zone is a type of DNS (Domain Name System) zone that contains the authoritative DNS records for a specific domain. It is the main source of information about the domain’s DNS records and is responsible for providing responses to DNS queries for that domain. Primary Zones are used to store and manage the actual DNS records for a domain, including A, AAAA, MX, TXT, PTR, and other types of records.
In a Primary Zone, the DNS server hosting the zone is considered the primary authoritative source for the domain’s DNS records. Any changes or updates to the DNS records for the domain are made directly in the Primary Zone on the primary DNS server. When a DNS query is received for a domain’s records, the primary DNS server checks its Primary Zone to provide the accurate and up-to-date information.
Primary Zones are commonly used for domains that the DNS server administrator controls. For example, an organization’s internal DNS server might have a Primary Zone for its internal domain (e.g., company.local), and an external DNS server might have a Primary Zone for its public domain (e.g., company.com).
It’s important to note that Primary Zones can be configured with one or more authoritative name servers responsible for serving the DNS records. This ensures redundancy and fault tolerance in case one of the name servers becomes unavailable.
Secondary Zones, on the other hand, are copies of Primary Zones that are hosted on secondary DNS servers. They provide redundancy and improve fault tolerance by ensuring that multiple servers can respond to DNS queries for the domain’s records. Secondary Zones are periodically synchronized with the Primary Zone to keep the information up to date.
In summary, a Primary Zone is the main repository for authoritative DNS records for a specific domain and is managed on the primary DNS server.