# Public Zones

In Cloud DNS, a public zone refers to a DNS zone publicly accessible over the internet. These zones are authoritative and manage DNS records for publicly resolvable domain names, such as example.com, [www.example.com](http://www.example.com). Public zones ensure you can reach your websites, services, and APIs globally via registered domain names. Public zones are further categorized into two types: **Primary Zones** and **Secondary Zones**.

## Primary Zone

A primary zone is a public zone where Cloud DNS is the DNS data's primary (authoritative) source. In this configuration:

* [<mark style="color:blue;">DNS record management</mark>](https://docs.ionos.com/cloud/network-services/cloud-dns/dcd-how-tos/public-zone/primary-zone/create-dns-records) (such as A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, etc.) is performed directly within the corresponding primary zone.
* Changes to the zone data are propagated to other DNS servers, if applicable.
* It is the read-write copy of the zone.

Primary zones are ideal for complete control over DNS records, making Cloud DNS the original source of information for the domain.

## Secondary Zone

A secondary zone is a public zone configured to replicate DNS records from a designated primary DNS server using the [<mark style="color:blue;">Authoritative Zone Transfer (AXFR)</mark>](https://docs.ionos.com/cloud/support/general-information/glossary-of-terms#authoritative-zone-transfer-axfr) protocol.

In this configuration:

* The zone is read-only in Cloud DNS.
* It synchronizes with a primary DNS server, typically hosted elsewhere.
* It provides redundancy and high availability as a backup DNS responder.

Secondary zones are functional when DNS records are managed on an external primary server containing the domain's original information, and you want to use Cloud DNS to distribute DNS responses globally.

## Quick Links

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><mark style="color:blue;"><strong>Primary Zones</strong></mark></td><td>Manage DNS records directly within Cloud DNS as the authoritative source for your domain.</td><td><a href="public-zone/primary-zone">primary-zone</a></td></tr><tr><td><mark style="color:blue;"><strong>Secondary Zones</strong></mark></td><td>Replicate DNS records from an external primary DNS server to provide redundancy and high availability.</td><td><a href="public-zone/secondary-zone">secondary-zone</a></td></tr></tbody></table>


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.ionos.com/cloud/network-services/cloud-dns/dcd-how-tos/public-zone.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.