Creating a linked zone

On IBM® NS1 Connect®, a linked zone refers to a vanity domain that forwards resolvers to the real or target domain. This configuration can be useful if you have multiple domains that should point to the same set of DNS records. In this way, you don't have to duplicate and manage multiple sets of DNS records.

For example, you have an existing zone configured with all the corresponding DNS records for the domain example.com. Then, you purchase the domain example.site to serve the same content. In this case, you would create a linked zone for example.site, specifying example.com as the target zone.

As another example, a CDN using NS1 Connect DNS services can instruct its customer (who is also using NS1 Connect) to use a linked record to point to the customer’s domain at the CDN, instead of a CNAME. This eliminates DNS round trips and (for A orAAAA records) allows direct resolution at the zone apex. A linked record can be any record type (A, MX, CNAME, and so on), but it must be the same types as a target or it will not resolve.

Before you begin

Consider the following before creating a linked zone:

  • You cannot create a linked zone that points to another linked zone.
  • Record-level query statistics are not available for linked zones. This data is aggregated and reflected within the record-level query reports in the target zone.
  • You cannot modify zone settings or add records to a linked zone. Clicking the name of a linked zone in the list of zones redirects you to the target zone details. The only operation you can perform on a linked zone is to delete it. This is done from the zone list by clicking the trash can icon next to the name of the linked zone.

  • The following instructions assume you already created the target zone and its corresponding DNS records.

Procedure

Follow the instructions below to create a linked zone pointing to an existing (target) zone on NS1 Connect.

  1. Click DNS > Zones.
  2. Click Add zone.
  3. Under Domain name, enter a valid, fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the linked zone. This is the vanity domain name.
  4. Under Zone settings, select Linked zone.
  5. Begin typing the name of the target zone in the search bar, and then select it from the list.
  6. Click Save zone.

The new zone appears in the list with an icon indicating it is a linked zone.