Creating a primary zone

A primary (or non-secondary) zone contains the source zone file corresponding to a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) and its subdomains. You can create a primary zone and the corresponding DNS records manually, or import a zone file from another DNS provider. After creating the zone and its associated records, you must update the delegation at the domain registrar to point to IBM NS1 Connect® name servers.

The following instructions reflect a configuration in which NS1 Connect is the primary or only DNS provider for the specified domain. After publishing the zone to one or more NS1 Connect DNS networks, you must update the name server delegation to point to the name servers assigned to the zone. If you are using multiple DNS providers, you must configure outgoing zone transfers within the zone settings to allow secondary XFR servers to request and receive updated zone data. Refer to Configuring NS1 Connect as a primary DNS provider for more information.

Procedure

Follow the instructions below to create a primary zone in NS1 Connect.

  1. Click DNS > Zones.
  2. Click Add zone.
  3. In the Domain name field, enter the FQDN for the zone. If you are synchronizing DNS data from NS1 Connect to Amazon Route 53 through IBM Cloud Sync, make sure that the FQDN is unique and not already used in Route 53.
  4. Under DNS networks, select one or more NS1 Connect DNS networks on which to publish the zone. In most cases, this should include the Managed DNS network. The network(s) selected inform which name servers are assigned to the zone. Optionally, clear all networks to leave the zone unpublished. Note that DNS traffic to your domains will not flow through NS1 Connect name servers until the delegation is updated at the domain registrar.
  5. Under Zone settings, select Normal setup, and enter or adjust the following zone settings:
    SOA TTL
    The amount of time in seconds that DNS resolvers should cache the SOA record, which contains administrative information about the zone. The default value is 3600 (seconds) or one hour.
    Refresh
    The amount of time in seconds between each AXFR query from secondary servers to request an updated zone file from NS1 Connect. The default value is 43200 (seconds) or 12 hours.
    Retry
    If the secondary servers' attempt to refresh the primary zone file fails, this is the amount of time before the secondary server attempts the refresh again. The default value is 7200 (seconds) or two hours. The secondary servers will repeat attempts to connect to the NS1 Connect name servers at this rate until the zone file is refreshed successfully or until the zone file expires.
    Expire
    If attempts by the secondary name servers to refresh the primary zone file fail repeatedly, this is the amount of time in seconds before the zone file expires. At this point, the NS1 Connect name servers would be considered down and no longer authoritative for the zone. The default value is 1209600 (seconds) or 14 days.
    NX TTL
    The amount of time in seconds DNS resolvers should cache a negative response to a DNS query for a domain, such as an NXDOMAIN error or an EBOT/NODATA response. The default value is 3600 (seconds) or one hour.
    RNAME
    The email address of the primary administrator for this zone.
    MNAME
    The domain name of the nameserver that is the original or primary source of data for this zone.
  6. Click Save zone. The new zone appears in the list and an NS record is automatically generated. If you selected DNS networks to publish the zone to, the NS record contains the NS1 Connect name servers of the network assigned to the zone.

If you did not select DNS networks to publish the zone to, you can publish the zone at a later time.

After creating the primary zone, add the corresponding DNS records and adjust the zone configuration settings as desired. When you are ready to activate traffic flow to your domains through NS1 Connect nameservers, you must locate the nameservers assigned to the zone and update the nameserver delegation at the domain registrar.

Attention: Do not update the nameserver delegation at the domain registrar until you are ready to begin sending DNS traffic to NS1 Connect nameservers. If you are undergoing a large migration to or between services on the NS1 Connect platform, consult with IBM support before updating the nameserver delegation at the registrar.

If you published to an external network to synchronize or back up DNS data through Cloud Sync, the synchronization or back up begins immediately.