Changing the Zone Type

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

You can use this procedure to change a zone’s type. You might need to do this when you need to replace the primary server for a zone, for example, to upgrade the hardware of the primary server.

The DNS Server service provides for three types of zones:

  • Primary zone

    When a zone that this Domain Name System (DNS) server hosts is a primary zone, the DNS server is the primary source for information about this zone, and it stores the master copy of zone data in a local file or in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). When the zone is stored in a file, by default the primary zone file is named zone_name.dns and it is located in the %windir%\System32\Dns folder on the server.

  • Secondary zone

    When a zone that this DNS server hosts is a secondary zone, this DNS server is a secondary source for information about this zone. The zone at this server must be obtained from another remote DNS server computer that also hosts the zone. This DNS server must have network access to the remote DNS server that supplies this server with updated information about the zone. Because a secondary zone is merely a copy of a primary zone that is hosted on another server, it cannot be stored in AD DS.

  • Stub zone

    When a zone that this DNS server hosts is a stub zone, this DNS server is a source only for information about the authoritative name servers for this zone. The zone at this server must be obtained from another DNS server that hosts the zone. For more information about stub zones, see Creating and Managing a Stub Zone.

To complete this task, perform the following procedure: