Technical Library

Domain Name System

Introduction

Integration

History

Background

Pieces

Zone files (db files) are the files that the primary name server loads its zone data from. The data files contain resource records that describe the zone's hosts and delegations of subdomains. Most entries in the zone files are called resource records.

Structural resource records are the resource records that link the domain hierarchy together. In particular, they are the start of authority (SOA) and name server (NS) records.

Other information contained in zone files is the Data resource records stored on the name server, relative to the domain given in the SOA record.