How to Do Zone Transfer in Windows Server

Introduction

In this article, I’m going to show you how to do zone transfer on a Windows server in the proper method and easiest way.

What is server zone transfer?

Server zone transfer is a process used to synchronize the data within a Domain Name System (DNS) zone across multiple servers. It's essentially a way to keep all the DNS servers responsible for a particular domain (like c-sharpcorner.com) up-to-date with the latest information.

Using zone transfer provides fault tolerance by synchronizing the zone file in a primary DNS server with the zone file in a secondary DNS server. The secondary DNS server can continue performing name resolution if the primary DNS server fails.

Note. Here you need two servers I used server one with full configuration like ADDS and DHCP and your second server needs to install the "DNS" service using add roles and features.

Step 1. On your server manager dashboard click "tool" then click "DNS".

Step 2. Right-click on "forward lookup zone" and click "new zone".

Step 3. Click "next".

Step 4. Select "Secondary zone" after clicking "next".

Step 5. Type your "MAIN" server’s domain name and click "next".

Step 6. Type your first server’s IP address after clicking "next".

Step 7. Click "finish".

Step 8. Come to server one (Main Server) open your DNS settings right-click on your domain name and click "properties".

Step 9. Click "zone transfers" after selecting "only to the following servers" then click "edit".

Step 10. Give your member server’s IP address then click "ok".

Step 11. Click "notify".

Step 12. Again, give your member server after clicking "ok".

Step 13. Click "apply" and "ok".

Conclusion

In this article, we all clearly understand how to do zone transfer on a Windows server in the proper method and easiest way. If there is clarification regarding this topic, feel free to contact me.