{"id":2718,"date":"2015-08-06T13:58:42","date_gmt":"2015-08-06T09:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rakhesh.com\/?p=2718"},"modified":"2015-08-06T13:58:42","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T09:58:42","slug":"exporting-and-importing-windows-dns-zones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rakhesh.com\/windows\/exporting-and-importing-windows-dns-zones\/","title":{"rendered":"Exporting and Importing Windows DNS zones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exporting a DNS zone is easy. Use the dnscmd<\/code>.<\/p>\n

C:\\> dnscmd DNS-SERVER \/zoneexport \"blah.com\" \"blahexport.txt\"\r\n\r\nDNS Server DNS-SERVER exported zone\r\n  blah.com to file C:\\Windows\\system32\\dns\\blahexport.txt on the DNS server\r\nCommand completed successfully.<\/pre>\n
Importing too is easy but the commands aren’t so obvious. Again you use dnscmd<\/code>, with the \/zoneadd<\/code> switch as though you are creating a new zone. The help page for this misses out on an important switch though – \/load<\/code> – which lets you load the zone from an exported or pre-existing file. <\/p>\n
You can find this switch in the dnscmd<\/code> help:<\/p>\n
C:\\> dnscmd \/zoneadd\r\n\r\nUsage: DnsCmd <ServerName> \/ZoneAdd <ZoneName> <ZoneType> [<Options>]\r\n  <ZoneName> -- FQDN of zone\r\n  <ZoneType>:\r\n    \/DsPrimary [\/dp <FQDN>]\r\n      -- DS integrated primary zone\r\n    \/Primary \/file <filename>\r\n      -- standard file backed primary;  MUST include filename.\r\n    \/Secondary <MasterIPAddress> [<MasterIPAddress>] ..] [\/file <filename>]\r\n      -- standard secondary, MUST include at least one master IP;\r\n         filename is optional.\r\n    \/Stub <MasterIPAddress> [<MasterIPAddress>] ..] [\/file <filename>]\r\n      -- stub secondary, only replicates NS info from primary server\r\n    \/DsStub -- as \/Stub but DS integrated - use same options\r\n    \/Forwarder <MasterIPAddress> [<MasterIPAddress>] ..] [\/Timeout <Time>]\r\n                                 [\/Slave]\r\n      -- forwarder zone, queries for names in zone forwarded to masters\r\n    \/DsForwarder -- as \/Forwarder but DS integrated - use same options\r\n  <Options>:\r\n    [\/file <filename>]  -- filename, invalid for DS integrated zones\r\n    [\/load]             -- load existing file;  if not specified,\r\n                           non-DS primary creates default zone records\r\n    [\/a <AdminName>]    -- zone admin email name; primary zones only\r\n    [\/DP <FQDN>]        -- fully qualified domain name of directory partition\r\n                           where zone should be stored; or use one of:\r\n                             \/DP \/domain - domain directory partition\r\n                             \/DP \/forest - forest directory partition\r\n                             \/DP \/legacy - legacy directory partition<\/pre>\n
So the way to import a zone is as follows: first, copy the exported file into the c:\\windows\\system32\\dns<\/code> folder of the DNS server<\/span> and preferably rename it so the extension is a .dns<\/code> (not required, just a nice thing to do). Then run a command similar to below:<\/p>\n
dnscmd DNS-SERVER \/zoneadd \"blah.com\" \/primary \/file blah.com.dns<\/pre>\n
That’s it. This will create a primary zone called “blah.com” and use the zone file that’s already in the location. <\/p>\n
Note that you can’t use this technique for AD integrated zones. But that’s no issue. Simply import as above and then convert the zone to AD integrated via the GUI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Exporting a DNS zone is easy. Use the dnscmd. C:\\> dnscmd DNS-SERVER \/zoneexport “blah.com” “blahexport.txt” DNS Server DNS-SERVER exported zone blah.com to file C:\\Windows\\system32\\dns\\blahexport.txt on the DNS server Command completed successfully. Importing too is easy but the commands aren’t so obvious. Again you use dnscmd, with the \/zoneadd switch as though you are creating a … Continue reading Exporting and Importing Windows DNS zones<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[333,85],"tags":[47,464],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rakhesh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rakhesh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rakhesh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rakhesh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rakhesh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rakhesh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rakhesh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rakhesh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rakhesh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}