Zone versioning
In IBM® NS1 Connect®, zone versioning refers to manually saving a copy of your zone data that you can revert to later. This can be useful for troubleshooting issues or if you need to change the zone configuration temporarily. You can save up to three "inactive" versions of a zone. The "active" version represents the current zone configuration. Any changes you make to the zone are saved automatically to the active version. If you create a new version or revert to an old one, the previously active version becomes inactive.
To see all existing zone versions in NS1 Connect:
- Click .
- Click the name of the zone to view details.
- Click the Versions tab.
This page contains a list of versions (active and inactive) for the selected zone and provides details for each version, including:
- Name
- A name you give to a zone version for internal reference only. How you name your versions is up to you, but we recommend using something to help distinguish between them.
- ID
- Each zone version is automatically given a unique identifier when it is created, and then the ID is updated each time you activate (restore) it.
- Status
- This indicates the current status, active or inactive, for each version. You can only have one active version at a time. You cannot delete the active version.
You can also view timestamps for each version indicating when it was created, when it was last activated or restored, and when it was last deactivated.
Important notes
- Zone versioning and outgoing zone transfers (XFR) are not compatible.
- In other words, you cannot create a zone version or restore past zone versions if you have outgoing zone transfers (XFR) enabled or configured. Similarly, all inactive zone versions must be deleted to enable outgoing zone transfers. Zone transfer configurations are not included in the saved version data. If necessary, you can disable outgoing zone transfers to create or activate a zone version and enable outgoing zone transfers later.
- IBM Cloud Sync does not support zone versioning
- Cloud Sync does not support synchronization or backup of zone versions.
- You cannot activate zone versioning on zones that have URL redirect records.
- Redirect records are versioned while redirect configurations are not. When creating new zone versions or reverting to a previous version, the redirect records and redirect configurations could result in misconfiguration: a redirect record may exist while its redirect configuration doesn’t or a redirect configuration exists, but its redirect record doesn't. Consequently, the URL redirect you configured for the zone may not work.
- You cannot save backup versions of a secondary or linked zone.
- Due to the nature of secondary zones on NS1 Connect you cannot create backup versions as secondary zone data is pulled directly from the primary DNS provider and updated on a recurring basis. The same is true for linked zones which do not support any extra configuration other than that of the target zone to which it points.
- You cannot create versions of a zone containing >8000 records.
- If your zone exceeds 8000 records, you will not be able to create a new version. You will still be able to activate previously saved versions (containing <8000 records).
Instructions
Each section below provides instructions for creating, previewing, deleting, and activating zone versions using the NS1 Connect web application. If preferred, refer to the end of this topic for details on managing zone versions using the NS1 Connect API.
You can save up to three inactive versions of a zone after which point you will have to select an older version to replace with any new versions you create.
Follow the instructions below to create a new version for a zone in the NS1 Connect web application. If you are using the NS1 Connect API, refer to the API reference section for an index of relevant API requests.
- Click .
- Click Create version.
- Enter a name for this version for internal reference (40 character max).
If you have exceeded the maximum number of versions allowed for a zone, you will be prompted to select another inactive version to delete upon creating the new version.
- Click Create. A banner appears indicating that the version was created successfully. The new version appears in the list and is set to the "active" version. You might need to refresh the page to see the changes.
Before activating or deleting an inactive version of a zone, you can preview the records and configuration settings contained within that version.
From the list of zones, click the preview icon next to the name of an inactive version.
A secondary browser tab or window appears containing a preview of the selected zone version. You can view the records and configuration settings associated with that version of the zone.
You can delete or activate the version from here, or you can close the preview window and return to the primary window.
You can delete an inactive version of a zone to make room for a new one or to prevent accidental rollback to the zone at that state. Before you delete a version, you can preview the zone data it contains.
- From the list of versions, select the checkbox of the version that you want to delete.
- Click Delete. A message appears asking you to confirm the change.
- Click Yes, delete version. A banner appears indicating the version was deleted successfully. The deleted version is removed from the list. You might need to refresh the page to see the changes.
You can activate an old version to revert back to the state of the zone at the point the version was created. Before doing so, you can preview the zone data by clicking the preview icon next to the version name.
- From the list of versions, select the checkbox of the inactive version that you want to activate (restore).
- Click Activate. A message appears asking you to confirm the change.
- Click Activate again. The version you just activated appears at the beginning of the list and it is assigned a new version ID. All other versions are set to inactive.