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DCD How-Tos

With the DCD, you can manage primary and secondary zones and records via the graphical user interface.

Prerequisites:

  • To use the Cloud DNS, you need a domain name. If you do not already have one, register it with a domain registrar. To connect your domain with Cloud DNS, see Connect Domain Name to Cloud DNS.

  • By default, you must be an administrator or an owner to manage the Cloud DNS records and zones using the and the . Other users need to manage the records and zones.

Note: Advanced DNS management features like DNSSEC and Import/Export of zones is currently only supported via the .

Set User Privileges via the DCD

By default, only contract administrators and owners can manage the Cloud DNS records and zones using the Cloud DNS API and the DCD.

Prerequisites:

  • To facilitate additional users with privilege to manage the primary and secondary zones and records, the offers a group privilege called Access and manage DNS in the User Manager, under the Privileges tab. Assigning this privilege to a group grants all users within the group the ability to manage Cloud DNS zones and records via the Cloud DNS API or the DCD.

Cloud DNS API
DCD
appropriate privileges
Cloud DNS API

Set User Privileges for Cloud DNS

Learn how to set required user privileges to create and manage Cloud DNS.

Public Zones

Learn how to create and manage primary and secondary zones using the DCD.

Reverse DNS

Learn how to create and manage records for reverse DNS.

  • Ensure you have one or more Groups in the User Manager. To create one, see Create a group.

  • To set user privileges to manage primary and secondary zones and records, follow these steps:

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Management > Users & Groups. 2. Select the Groups tab in the User Manager window. 3. Select the target group name from the Groups list. 4. Select Access and manage DNS in the Privileges tab.

    Set privilege

    Result: The privilege is granted to all the members in the selected group.

    Revoke user privileges

    You can revoke a user's Access and manage DNS privilege by removing the user from all the groups that have this privilege enabled.

    Warning: You can revoke a user from this privilege by disabling Access and manage DNS for every group the user belongs to. In this case, all the members in the respective groups would also be revoked from this privilege.

    To revoke this privilege from a contract administrator, disable the administrator option on the user account. On performing this action, the contract administrator gets the role of a contract user, and the privileges that were set up for the user before being an administrator will then be in effect.

    DCD

    Delete Primary Zones

    Prerequisite: Only contract administrators, owners, and users with Access and manage DNS privilege can create and manage primary zones and records. You can set user privileges in the DCD or the API.

    To delete a given zone, follow these steps:

    2. Select Primary Zones from the drop-down list.

    3. Delete a zone using the following options:

    • Delete multiple zones either in bulk or individually by selecting respective checkboxes and clicking Delete.

    • Select Delete Primary Zone from the ACTIONS column to delete the respective primary zone.

    • Click on the specific zone and in the Details & Records window, click Edit zone. Click Delete Zone.

    4. Click Delete in the Delete primary zone confirmation dialog box.

    Result: Your zone is deleted.

    View DNS Records

    Prerequisite:

    • A primary zone is mandatory to create a record. For more information, see .

    View DNS Record Details

    You can view or edit the record details or delete them if they are no longer needed.

    To view details of a given record, follow these steps:

    2. Select Primary Zones from the drop-down list.

    3. Select the appropriate zone in the DNS ZONES column to view the records associated with it. Alternatively, click Details & Records in the ACTIONS column.

    4. Select the appropriate record from the FQDN column to view its details. Alternatively, click Details & Edit in the ACTIONS column.

    Primary Zones

    This section provides step-by-step guides to help you effectively create and manage your primary zones within the DCD.

    Quick Links

    Create and manage primary zones

    Delete DNS Records

    To delete a given record, follow these steps:

    2. Select Primary Zones from the drop-down list.

    3. Select the appropriate zone in the DNS ZONES column to view the records associated with it. Alternatively, click Details & Records in the ACTIONS column.

    4. You can choose one of the following options to delete records:

    • From the Details & Records window, delete zone records either in bulk or individually by selecting respective checkboxes and clicking Delete.

    Update DNS Records

    To update the details of a given record, follow these steps:

    2. Select Primary Zones from the drop-down list.

    3. Select the appropriate zone in the DNS ZONES column to view the records associated with it. Alternatively, click Details & Records in the ACTIONS column.

    4. Select the appropriate record from the FQDN column to view its details. Alternatively, click Details & Edit in the ACTIONS column.

    5. From the Update Record view, you can do the following:

    View Primary Zones

    Prerequisite: Only contract administrators, owners, and users with Access and manage DNS privilege can create and manage primary zones and records. You can set user privileges in the or the .

    After creation, you can view the list of zones and manage them as required.

    To view a list of the zones, follow these steps:

    2. Select Primary Zones from the drop-down list.

    Delete Secondary Zones

    When a secondary zone is deleted, the local DNS server ceases to store or serve authoritative DNS data for that zone. It:

    1. Deletes the zone data: It deletes all records that were previously replicated from the primary zone. These records are no longer stored locally. Example: A, MX, NS, etc.

    2. Stops serving authoritative responses: It does not respond to DNS queries for the respective secondary zone as an authoritative source. For example, if a client queries the DNS server for a deleted secondary zone, example.com, the server will not return an authoritative answer.

    3. Discontinues zone transfers for the secondary zone: It halts all future zone transfer attempts from the primary server and eliminates the zone's records from the secondary server's database. Consequently, the DNS server will no longer respond authoritatively to queries related to the deleted zone, potentially impacting name resolution if no other secondary or caching servers are available.

    To delete a secondary zone, follow these steps:

    2. Select Secondary Zones from the drop-down list to view them.

    Update PTR Record details

    You can update the domain or sub-domain name associated with the PTR record or the description of the PTR record. Follow these steps to update a PTR record:

    2. You can follow either of these options to update a record:

    • Select the corresponding IP address from the IP ADDRESS column.

    • Select Details & edit from the drop-down list in the ACTIONS column.

    3. Modify the Name and Description, if necessary.

    You must be a contract administrator, owner, or a user with Access and manage DNS privilege to create and manage primary zones and records. You can set user privileges in the DCD or via the API.

    After creation, you can view the list of records of a zone and manage them as required.

    To view a list of the records, follow these steps:

    2. Select Primary Zones from the drop-down list.

    3. Select the appropriate zone in the DNS ZONES column to view the records associated with it. Alternatively, click Details & Records in the ACTIONS column.

    Zone selection

    4. Select the appropriate record from the FQDN column to view its details. Alternatively, click Details & Edit in the ACTIONS column.

    List of zone records

    Result: A list of all records in a zone is displayed. You will see the following details:

    • FQDN: Displays the FQDN of the record.

    • TYPE: Displays the type of the record: A, AAAA, CNAME, ALIAS, MX, NS, SOA, SRV, TXT, CAA, SSHFP, TLSA, SMIMEA, DS, HTTPS, SVCB, OPENPGPKEY, CERT, URI, RP, and LOC.

    • CONTENT: Displays the content of the record type.

    • STATE: Displays the state of the respective record.

      • Available: Indicates that the record is available and healthy.

      • Provisioning: Indicates that the record is being created or updated.

      • Destroying: Indicates that the record is being deleted.

    • ENABLED/DISABLED: Indicates if the record is currently enabled or disabled. You can also toggle the button to enable or disable a record.

    • ACTIONS: Select to perform the following operations:

      • Details and Edit: View and update the details of the respective record.

      • Copy Record UUID: Copy the UUID of the record.

      • Copy endpoint HREF: Copy the Cloud DNS API HREF of the record. It is useful when using the Cloud DNS API for advanced DNS management.

    Create Primary Zones

    Result: The details of the selected record is displayed in the Update Record view. You will see the following information:

    • Enabled/Disabled: Indicates if the record is currently enabled or disabled. You can toggle the button to enable or disable the respective record.

    • FQDN: Displays the FQDN of the record.

    • TTL: Displays the Time-To-Live (TTL) of the record.

    • Type: Displays the type of the record: A, AAAA, CNAME, ALIAS, MX, NS, SOA, SRV, TXT, CAA, SSHFP, TLSA

    • Content: Displays the content of the record type.

    • State: Displays the state of the respective record.

      • Available: Indicates that the record is available and healthy.

      • Provisioning: Indicates that the record is being created or updated.

      • Destroying: Indicates that the record is being deleted.

    • Record UUID: Displays the UUID of the record.

    • Last Modified Date: Displays the last modified date of the record.

    • Created Date: Displays the creation date of the record.

    • Preview: Displays the preview of the record.

    Zone selection
    Record selection

    Create and manage DNS records

  • Click on the specific record and in the Update Record window, click Delete record.

  • Delete a specific record
    • Select Delete Record to delete the respective record.

    Delete a record via the Zone details & Records view

    5. Click Delete in the Delete record(s) confirmation dialog box.

    Result: Your record is deleted.

    Zone selection
    Select appropriate checkbox(es) to delete record(s)

    enable or disable the record.

  • update the TTL, Type or Content of the record as required.

  • Record update

    6. Click Save.

    Info: You can click Delete record to delete the respective record.

    Result: The details of your record are updated.

    Zone selection
    Record selection

    Result: You will see the list of primary zones:

    • DNS ZONE: Displays the name of the zone.

    • STATE: Displays the state of the respective zone.

      • Available: Indicates that the zone is available and healthy.

      • Provisioning: Indicates that the zone is being created or updated.

      • Destroying: Indicates that the zone is being deleted.

      • Failed: Indicates that an error occurred during creation, update or deletion.

    • ENABLED/DISABLED: Indicates if the zone is currently enabled or disabled.

    • ACTIONS: Select to perform the following operations:

      • Details & Records: Select to view the details of the respective zone and manage its records.

      • Copy zone UUID: Copy the UUID of the zone.

      • Copy endpoint HREF: Copy the Cloud DNS API HREF of the zone. It is especially useful when using the Cloud DNS API for advanced DNS management.

    DCD
    API
    List of Zones

    Info: The Public zones section displays the zones if you have already created them. Select Show secondary zones to view secondary zones. This option only appears if you have created secondary zones but have not configured primary zones.

    Show secondary zones

    3. Delete a secondary zone using the following options:

    • Delete secondary zones either in bulk or individually by selecting respective checkboxes and clicking Delete.

    • Select Delete Secondary Zone from the ACTIONS column to delete the respective secondary zone.

    Delete secondary zones
    • Click on the specific secondary zone and in the Details & Records window, click Edit zone. Click Delete Zone in the Edit Secondary Zone window. For more information, see Update Secondary Zones.

    4. Select Delete to confirm.

    Confirm deletion

    Result: The selected secondary zone is deleted.

    Select secondary zones
    4. Select Update PTR record to save the changes.

    Info: You can click Delete to delete the respective PTR record. For more information, see Delete a PTR record.

    Update a PTR record
    Select relevant checkboxes to delete specific zones
    Delete using the option in ACTIONS column
    Delete using the option in the Edit zone window
    Confirm deletion

    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. 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:

    • (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 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

    View Primary Zone Details

    Prerequisite: Only contract administrators, owners, and users with Access and manage DNS privilege can create and manage primary zones and records. You can set user privileges in the DCD or the API.

    To view details of a given zone, follow these steps:

    2. Select Primary Zones from the drop-down list.

    3. Select the zone to view its details. Alternatively, you can also select Details & Records in the ACTION column to view the details.

    Zone selection

    4. In the Details & Records window, select Zone details. To update the zone details, click .

    Result: The following information is displayed in Zone details:

    • Zone Name: Displays the name of the zone.

    • State: Indicates if the zone is Available.

    View PTR Records

    To view a list of PTR records, do the following:

    List of PTR records

    Result: A list of all PTR records with the following details are displayed:

    • IP ADDRESS: Displays the IP address of the respective PTR record.

    • NAME: Displays the name of the mapped domain or subdomain.

    • CREATED DATE: Indicates the date of PTR record creation.

    • ACTIONS: Select to perform the following operations:

      • Details & edit: Select to view the details of the respective PTR record or it, if necessary.

      • Copy UUID: Copy the UUID of the PTR record.

      • Copy HREF: Copy the Cloud DNS API HREF of the PTR record.

    Create Primary Zones

    Prerequisite: Only contract administrators, owners, and users with Access and manage DNS privilege can create and manage primary zones and records. You can set user privileges in the or the .

    To create a primary zone, follow these steps:

    2. Select Create primary DNS zone.

    Create Secondary Zones

    Prerequisite: Only contract administrators, owners, and users with Access and manage DNS privilege can create and manage secondary zones. You can set user privileges in the or via the .

    To create a secondary zone, follow these steps:

    2. Click Create secondary DNS zone.

    The Public zones section displays the zones if you have already created them. Select Show secondary zones to view secondary zones. This option only appears if you have created secondary zones but have not configured primary zones.

    Delete PTR record

    To delete a PTR record, follow these steps:

    2. Click Delete from the ACTIONS column to delete the corresponding PTR record.

    Alternatively, to delete a specific PTR record, you can also do the following: 1. Select the corresponding IP address from the IP ADDRESS column or select Details & edit from the drop-down list in the ACTIONS column. 2. Click Delete in the Update PTR record window.

    3. Select Delete in the Delete PTR record? dialog box to confirm deletion.

    Create PTR Record for Reverse DNS

    To create a PTR record for a reverse DNS, follow these steps:

    2. Select Create PTR Record to create records.

    3. Enter the following details in the Create PTR record window:

    • IP Version: Choose either IPv4 or IPv6 address based on the need.

    • IP Address:

    Update Primary Zones

    Prerequisite: Only contract administrators, owners, and users with Access and manage DNS privilege can create and manage primary zones and records. You can set user privileges in the or the .

    To update details of a given zone, follow these steps:

    2. Select Primary Zones from the drop-down list.

    3. Select the zone to view its details. Alternatively, you can also select Details & Records in the ACTION column to view the details.

    4. In the

    Create DNS Records

    Prerequisites:

    • A primary zone is mandatory to create a record. For more information, see .

    • Only contract administrators, owners, and users with Access and manage DNS privilege can create and manage primary and secondary zones and records. You can set user privileges in the

    Create Primary Zones

    Learn how to create primary zones in the DCD.

    Update Primary Zones

    Learn how to update primary zones in the DCD.

    View Primary Zone Details

    Learn how to view details of a primary zone.

    View Primary Zones

    Learn how to view the list of primary zones.

    Delete Primary Zones

    Learn how to delete primary zones.

    Create DNS Records

    Learn how to create DNS records for primary zones in the DCD.

    Update DNS Records

    Learn how to update DNS records associated with primary zones.

    View DNS Record Details

    Learn how to view details of a DNS record.

    View DNS Records

    Learn how to view the list of DNS records.

    Delete DNS Records

    Learn how to delete a primary zone.

    DNS record management
    Authoritative Zone Transfer (AXFR)

    Primary Zones

    Manage DNS records directly within Cloud DNS as the authoritative source for your domain.

    Secondary Zones

    Replicate DNS records from an external primary DNS server to provide redundancy and high availability.

    Failed: Indicates that an error occurred during creation, update or deletion.

    ,
    SMIMEA
    ,
    DS
    ,
    HTTPS
    ,
    SVCB
    ,
    OPENPGPKEY
    ,
    CERT
    ,
    URI
    ,
    RP
    , and
    LOC
    . To edit the record type, click
    .

    Failed: Indicates that an error occurred during creation, update or deletion.

  • Delete Primary Zone: Delete the respective primary zone.

  • Available: Indicates that the zone is available and healthy.

  • Provisioning: Indicates that the zone is being created or updated.

  • Destroying: Indicates that the zone is being deleted.

  • Failed: Indicates that an error occurred during creation, update or deletion.

  • Enabled: Displays Yes if the zone is Enabled or No when it is Disabled.

  • UUID: Displays the UUID of the zone. Click Copy if you want to copy it to the clipboard.

  • Creation date: Displays the creation date and time of the zone.

  • Last modified: Displays the last modified date and time of the zone.

  • Nameservers: Displays the nameservers of the zone. Click Copy if you want to copy it to the clipboard.

  • Description: Displays the description of the zone.

  • Edit zone
    Zone details
  • Delete: Select the option to delete the respective PTR record, and in the Delete PTR record? confirmation dialog box, click Delete to confirm deletion. For more information, see Delete a PTR record.

  • update
    Info:
    • The Public zones section displays the primary zones if you have already created them:

      • Select Primary Zones from the drop-down list to view them.

      • To create additional primary zones, select Create > Primary zone and enter the details.

    Create additional primary zones

    3. Enter the following details in the Create Primary Zone window:

    • Enabled/Disabled: Set the status to either Enabled (Default) or Disabled.

    Note: When a zone is disabled, its corresponding SOA record is removed, and the zone is no longer associated with IONOS nameservers.

    • Name: Enter the domain or subdomain for which you want to create the primary zone.

    • Description (Optional): Enter an appropriate description for your primary zone.

    Define zone properties

    4. Click Create zone to create the primary zone.

    The zone creation acknowledgement message allows you to copy the IONOS nameservers to configure the domain at your registrar. Alternatively, you can also proceed to create records within the created zone.

    Zone creation is successful

    Result: Your primary zone is now created.

    DCD
    API
    Create your first primary zone
    Show secondary zones
    • Select Secondary Zones from the drop-down list to view them.

    • To create additional secondary zones, select Create > Secondary zone and enter the details.

    Create additional secondary zones

    3. Enter the following details in the Create Secondary Zone window:

    • Name: Enter the domain or subdomain for which you want to create the secondary zone.

    • Primary nameserver IPs: Enter the IP address of the primary nameserver, which contains the original zone data. The secondary zone receives the zone data from the specified primary zone to replicate the records. Select:

      • Add to associate additional IP primary zones with the secondary zones.

      • Delete to remove the primary zone that is associated with the secondary zone.

    • Description (Optional): Enter an appropriate description for your secondary zone.

    Create secondary zone

    4. Click Create secondary zone to create the secondary zone.

    Result: Your secondary zone is now created.

    DCD
    API
    Create secondary zone

    Result: The selected PTR record is successfully deleted.

    Delete a PTR record
    Alternative delete option
    Confirm deletion
  • If you have chosen an IPv4 version, your reserved IPv4 addresses will appear in the drop-down list. Select an IPv4 address from the reserved list of addresses.

  • Create a PTR record with an IPv4 address
    • For an IPv6 version, specify an IPv6 address and ensure that it belongs to any of the /56 IPv6 blocks assigned to the VDC and has a prefix length of /128.

    Create a PTR record with an IPv6 address
  • Name: Enter a name or a sub-domain that must be mapped to the IP address.

  • Description (Optional): Enter an appropriate description for your reverse primary zone.

  • 4. Click Create PTR Record to create the PTR record.

    Define PTR record properties

    Result: Your PTR record creation is successful.

    Create a PTR record
    Details & Records
    window, select
    Edit zone
    .
    Edit zone option

    5. In the Edit zone window:

    • Toggle Enabled/Disabled to enable or disable the zone. Remember that when you set the zone to disabled, its corresponding SOA record is deleted and the zone is no longer associated with IONOS nameservers.

    • Update the Description, if needed.

    • Select Copy to copy the Zone UUID and the Nameservers to the clipboard.

    6. Click Update Zone.

    Zone update

    Result: The zone details are updated.

    DCD
    API
    Zone selection
    or via the
    .

    To create a record, follow these steps:

    2. Select Primary Zones from the drop-down list.

    3. Select the appropriate primary zone in the DNS ZONES column to create records. Alternatively, click Details & Records in the ACTIONS column.

    Zone selection

    4. Click Create record in the Details & Records window.

    5. Enter the following details in the Create Record window:

    • Enabled/Disabled: Set it to either Enabled (by default) or Disabled.

    • Name: Enter an appropriate name for your DNS record. Leaving the name field empty will result in the creation of an Apex record. You can also provide * to create a wildcard DNS record.

    • TTL: Enter an appropriate Time-To-Live (TTL) setting in seconds for your DNS record. The default value is 3600 seconds.

    • Type: Select one of the following record types: A, AAAA, MX, CNAME, TXT, NS, SRV, ALIAS, CAA, CERT, DS, SOA, HTTPS, LOC

    • Content: Enter the content appropriate to the selected record type.

    • Preview: Ensure that the details of the record to be created are accurate.

    Define record properties

    6. Click Save to create the DNS record.

    Result: Your DNS record is now created.

    Create Primary Zones
    DCD
    API

    Secondary Zones

    A secondary zone is a type of Domain Name System (DNS) zone that obtains its data through a zone transfer from the primary DNS server. Unlike a primary zone, which is authoritative and can be directly edited, a secondary zone is a read-only replica. It contains the same DNS records as the primary zone but cannot be modified directly and the changes must be made on the primary zone. It serves to provide redundancy, improve DNS resolution performance, and reduce the load on the primary DNS server.

    Zone data in a secondary zone is synchronized with the primary zone through the standard AXFR zone transfer protocol. The secondary zone periodically checks the serial number in the zone’s Start of Authority (SOA) record to determine whether updates are available from the primary.

    Secondary zones play a critical role in maintaining consistent and reliable DNS infrastructure without exposing the core data source to direct edits or unnecessary operational risk.

    Use cases

    Scenario 1: High Availability (HA) DNS resolution

    Precondition

    A web application hosted by an enterprise requires uninterrupted domain name resolution to maintain uptime and service availability for global users.

    Solution

    When the primary DNS zone is hosted externally, you can configure IONOS Cloud DNS to function as a secondary zone. Next, update your domain registrar’s records to point to the IONOS secondary name servers. With this configuration, DNS resolution remains fully operational through the IONOS secondary servers, even if the primary zone becomes unresponsive. It ensures high availability by using a redundant and fault-tolerant name server infrastructure.

    The geographic distribution of IONOS's DNS servers optimizes query performance by directing requests to the nearest location, which reduces latency and enhances the end-user experience. In a disaster recovery scenario, if the primary DNS infrastructure becomes unavailable, the secondary zone hosted on IONOS Cloud DNS continues to provide authoritative responses, ensuring uninterrupted access to DNS records and maintaining service continuity.

    Scenario 2: Enhanced security through DNS exposure mitigation

    Precondition

    An organization with security-sensitive infrastructure wants to minimize the attack surface of its DNS architecture while maintaining public DNS resolution.

    Solution

    Replacing the primary name server with IONOS secondary zone name servers shields the authoritative primary servers from direct internet exposure. The configuration significantly reduces the likelihood of targeted attacks on the primary infrastructure.

    Beyond enhanced security, using geographically distributed secondary servers improves DNS resolution performance globally. For disaster recovery, this setup ensures that DNS data remains accessible even if the primary zone server is compromised or goes offline, supporting operational resilience.

    Workflow: Set Up a Secondary Zone in IONOS Cloud DNS

    1. Create a Secondary Zone

    • Create a secondary zone via the or via the .

    • Specify the IP address of the external primary DNS server to enable zone transfers.

    2. Copy IONOS name servers

    • IONOS provides dedicated name servers for the secondary zone during its creation.

    • The name servers are different from those used for primary zones.

    3. Add your domain name at the registrar

    • Go to your domain registrar’s control panel.

    • Next, do the following based on your use case:

      • Add the IONOS secondary zone name servers to your domain registrar's DNS records. Both primary and secondary name servers are publicly accessible for DNS resolution and can serve as HA endpoints in the event of a primary server failure.

      • Replace the existing primary name server with the IONOS secondary zone name servers. This approach mitigates exposure of your primary name server to potential attacks by ensuring only the secondary name servers are externally resolvable.

    Note: Changes to nameservers can take up to 48 hours, but they usually happen much faster.

    4. Initiate and verify zone transfer

    • Ensure the external primary server allows zone transfer protocol to IONOS via the Access Control List (ACL) or Transaction Signature (TSIG).

    • Trigger or wait for the zone transfer to complete.

    • Confirm that the zone data is correctly replicated in IONOS.

    This order ensures the domain points to the correct IONOS DNS infrastructure before the actual data transfer, making the transition seamless.

    Quick Links

    Update Secondary Zones

    Prerequisite: Only contract administrators, owners, and users with Access and manage DNS privilege can create and manage secondary zones. You can set user privileges in the DCD or via the API.

    To update details of a given zone, follow these steps:

    2. Select Secondary Zones from the drop-down list.

    Select secondary zones

    Info: The Public zones section displays the zones if you have already created them. Select Show secondary zones to view secondary zones. This option only appears if you have created secondary zones but have not configured primary zones.

    3. Select a zone to update its details. You can either click on the zone name or select Details & Records from the ACTIONS column.

    4. In the Details & Records window, select Edit zone and make the necessary changes in the Edit Secondary Zone window:

    • Add or Delete primary nameserver IP addresses.

    • Update the Description (Optional).

    • Click Update Zone to save the changes.

    Result: The details of your zone is updated. You can also select Delete Zone to the secondary zone if it is no longer needed.

    View Secondary Zones

    Prerequisite: Only contract administrators, owners, and users with Access and manage DNS privilege can create and manage secondary zones. You can set user privileges in the or via the .

    After creation, you can view the list of secondary zones and manage them as required.

    To view a list of the zones, follow these steps:

    2. Select Secondary Zones from the drop-down list to view the following details:

    Start Zone Transfer

    A zone transfer is a fundamental process for replicating DNS records from a primary DNS server to one or more secondary servers. This process ensures redundancy, enhances fault tolerance, and improves DNS resolution performance across distributed networks.

    Creating a zone transfer from a primary to a secondary zone involves configuring authoritative DNS servers to synchronize zone data securely. The primary server maintains the original zone file; the secondary servers obtain and periodically update their copies through the standard zone transfer protocol.

    Prerequisites:

    DCD
    API
    AXFR

    Create Secondary Zones

    Learn how to create secondary zones.

    Start Zone Transfer

    Learn how to initiate primary zone transfer to secondary.

    Update Secondary Zones

    Learn how to update secondary zones.

    View Secondary Zone Details

    Learn how to view secondary zone details.

    View Secondary Zones

    Learn how to view the list of secondary zones.

    Delete Secondary Zones

    Learn how to delete secondary zones.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    ,
    OPENPGPKEY
    ,
    RP
    ,
    SMIMEA
    ,
    SSHFP
    ,
    SVCB
    ,
    TLSA
    , and
    URI
    .

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    delete
    Show secondary zones
    Corresponding secondary zone selection
    Zone Update

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Reverse DNS tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Reverse DNS tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Reverse DNS tab.

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Reverse DNS tab.

    Info: The Public zones section displays the zones if you have already created them. Select Show secondary zones to view secondary zones. This option only appears if you have created secondary zones but have not configured primary zones.

    Show secondary zones

    Result: The following details are displayed:

    • DNS ZONE: Displays the name of the secondary zone.

    • RECORDS: Displays the number of records linked to its primary zone.

    • Start zone transfer: Select the option to manually transfer DNS records from the primary DNS server to the secondary DNS server. For more information, see .

    • STATE: Displays the state of the respective zone.

      • Available: Indicates that the zone is available and healthy.

      • Provisioning: Indicates that the zone is being created or updated.

      • Destroying: Indicates that the zone is being deleted.

    • ACTIONS: Select to manage individual secondary zone. For more information, see .

      • Details & Records: Select to view the details of the respective secondary zone and manage its records.

      • Start zone transfer: Select the option to manually transfer DNS records.

      • Copy zone UUID:

    List of secondary zones
    DCD
    API
    List of secondary zones

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    Cloud DNS relies on the following Anycast addresses to send DNS notification messages. Ensure you whitelist the following IP addresses:
  • IPv4: 212.227.123.25

  • IPv6: 2001:8d8:fe:53::5cd:25

  • Ensure that port 53 is open for both TCP and UDP connections.

  • To begin zone transfer, follow these steps:

    2. Select Secondary Zones from the drop-down list.

    Select secondary zones

    Info: The Public zones section displays the zones if you have already created them. Select Show secondary zones to view secondary zones. This option only appears if you have created secondary zones but have not configured primary zones.

    Show secondary zones

    3. Select the zone to initiate the transfer process.

    4. Select Start zone transfer.

    Select zone transfer

    Alternatively, you can begin zone transfer using the Start zone transfer option in either the ACTIONS column or the Details & Records window.

    5. Select Start transfer in the Start zone transfer view to begin the process.

    Confirm zone transfer

    Result: The zone transfer process has begun.

    AXFR

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    Failed: Indicates that an error occurred during creation, update or deletion.

    Copy the UUID of the zone.
  • Create certificate: Select to create a certificate. For more information, see Certificate Manager.

  • JSON view: Displays the JSON data in a formatted view.

  • Copy endpoint HREF: Copy the Cloud DNS API HREF of the zone. It is especially useful when using the Cloud DNS API for advanced DNS management.

  • Delete Secondary Zone: Delete the respective secondary zone.

  • Start Zone Transfer
    View Secondary Zone Details

    Reverse DNS

    A reverse DNS (rDNS) maps a public IP address and a domain name. A reverse DNS lookup zone contains the attributes that instruct Cloud DNS to perform a Pointer (PTR) lookup against DNS servers to find the domain name mapped to the IPv4 or IPv6 addresses.

    For more information about IPv6 configuration in the DCD, see IPv6 Configuration.

    Prerequisites:

    • You need an IONOS Cloud account with API credentials configured with the appropriate permissions.

    • You must be a contract administrator, owner, or a user with Access and manage DNS privilege to create and manage PTR records. You can also set User privileges via the .

    • Before creating a Reverse DNS record, it is recommended to create an A or AAAA record for the IP address you want to use for the reverse DNS record. For more information, see .

    • Sub-users can create Reverse DNS records for IPv4 addresses only if the user group they belong to has access to the concerned reserved IP block. For more information, see .

    Note:

    • Reverse DNS lookup is supported "only" for the following:

      • Public IPv6 addresses assigned to your VDCs.

    Quick Links

    View Secondary Zone Details

    Prerequisite: Only contract administrators, owners, and users with Access and manage DNS privilege can create and manage secondary zones. You can set user privileges in the DCD or via the API.

    To view details of a given zone, follow these steps:

    1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > Cloud DNS > Public zones tab.

    2. Select Secondary Zones from the drop-down list.

    Select secondary zones

    Info: The Public zones section displays the zones if you have already created them. Select Show secondary zones to view secondary zones. This option only appears if you have created secondary zones but have not configured primary zones.

    3. Select the zone to view its details. You can either click on the zone name or select Details & Records from the ACTIONS column.

    Result: The following information is displayed in the Details & Records window:

    • Zone details

      • Zone name: Displays the name of the zone.

    Reserved IPv4 addresses.

  • The IPv4 address must be from a reserved IP range. To reserve an IPv4 address, follow these steps: 1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Network Services > IP Management. 2. Enter a name and the number of IPv4 addresses. 3. Select a region where you want your IPv4 addresses to be reserved. 4. Select Reserve IP to reserve the IPv4 address. 5. Select OK to confirm the reservation.

  • For a reverse DNS record, you can use an IPv6 address that belongs to any of the /56 IPv6 blocks assigned to the VDC and has a prefix length of /128. For example, consider the IPv6 address 2001:db8:1234:5678::1/128, which belongs to a 2001:db8:1234:5678::/56 block. For more information, see IPv6 Configuration.

  • API
    Create a DNS Record
    Add users to a group

    Create PTR Records for Reverse DNS

    Learn how to create PTR records for reverse DNS.

    Update PTR Records

    Learn how to update PTR records associated with reverse DNS.

    View PTR Records

    Learn how to view the list of PTR records.

    Delete PTR records

    Learn how to delete PTR records.

  • State: Indicates if the zone is Available.

    • Available: Indicates that the zone is available and healthy.

    • Provisioning: Indicates that the zone is being created or updated.

    • Destroying: Indicates that the zone is being deleted.

    • Failed: Indicates that an error occurred during creation, update or deletion.

  • UUID: Displays the UUID of the zone. Click Copy if you want to copy it to the clipboard.

  • Creation date: Displays the creation date and time of the zone.

  • Last modified: Displays the last modified date and time of the zone.

  • Primary IPs: Displays the primary IP addresses that is associated with the respective secondary zone.

  • Nameservers: Displays the nameservers of the zone. Click Copy if you want to copy it to the clipboard.

  • Description: Displays the description of the zone.

  • Select

    • Start zone transfer to initiate manual zone transfer.

    • Edit zone to update zone details.

  • The zone records transferred from the primary zone are listed. You can view the FQDN, record type, content, whether it is enabled or disabled, and view record details.

  • Show secondary zones
    Corresponding secondary zone selection
    Zones Details