Structure of the DNS Directory

The DNS database namespace (directory) is split into Zones and Sub-zones. A zone is a point of delegation within the DNS tree so that a name server is authoritative for the domains that are grouped within the zone and any sub-zones below it. A Zone MUST be known by at least two Name Servers. A Primary name server is where the zone's domain names and host Resource Records are loaded manually into the configuration database. The secondary name servers populate their databases from the primary. Both the Primary and Secondary name servers can be Authoritative for the domains. This is because both types learn about their hosts from an internally configured database rather than a cached result from a previous query. A Caching Name Server is not authoritative for any zones or domains it merely learns the name resolutions by recursively querying auhoritative name servers. All name servers cache, caching is not limited to the Caching name server. A server that is Authoritative, answers DNS queries regarding their particular Zones and they are not reliant upon lower level name servers for the answer to a request. Name servers that query the Authoritative servers, cache the responses so that DNS traffic is kept to a minimum. The big DNS servers at the top of the DNS tree are authoritative for many thousands of Zones. All zones are expressed in the form of Resource Records (RR). These records can be transferred incrementally between Name Servers, or the whole zone can transferred as a large text file. This is known as Zone Transfer.