A stub zone is a copy of a zone that contains only those resource records that are necessary to identify the authoritative Domain Name System (DNS) servers for that zone. Typically, you use a stub zone to resolve names between separate DNS namespaces. For more information, see Understanding Zone Types.

Membership in the Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477.

Adding a stub zone

To add a stub zone using the Windows interface

  1. Open DNS Manager.

  2. In the console tree, right-click a DNS server, and then click New Zone to open the New Zone Wizard.

  3. Follow the instructions to create a new stub zone.

Additional considerations

  • To open DNS Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click DNS.

  • The stub zone cannot be hosted on a DNS server that is authoritative for the same zone.

  • If you integrate the stub zone into Active Directory Domain Services(AD DS), you have the option to specify that the DNS server hosting the stub zone uses a local list of master servers when it updates the stub zone's resource records, rather than having the DNS server use the master servers list that is stored in AD DS. If you want to use a local master servers list, you must have the IP addresses of the local master servers.

To add a stub zone using a command line

  1. Open a command prompt.

  2. Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    dnscmd <ServerName> /ZoneAdd <ZoneName> {/Stub|/DsStub} <MasterIPaddress...> [/file <FileName>] [/load] [/DP <FQDN>]

    Parameter Description

    dsncmd

    The command-line tool for managing DNS servers.

    <ServerName>

    Required. Specifies the DNS host name of the DNS server. You can also type the IP address of the DNS server. To specify the DNS server on the local computer, you can also type a period (.)

    /ZoneAdd

    Required. Adds a zone.

    <ZoneName>

    Required. Specifies the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the zone.

    /Stub|/DsStub

    Required. Specifies the type of zone. To specify an Active Directory–integrated stub zone, type /DsStub.

    <MasterIPaddress...>

    Required. Specifies one or more IP addresses for the master servers of the stub zone, from which it copies zone data.

    /file

    Adds a file for the new zone.

    <FileName>

    Specifies the name of the zone file.

    /load

    Loads an existing file for the zone. If this parameter is not specified, default zone records are created automatically.

    /DP

    Adds the zone to an application directory partition. You may also use one of the following:

    • /DP /domain—For a domain directory partition (replicates to all DNS servers in the domain).

    • /DP /forest—For a forest directory partition (replicates to all DNS server in the forest).

    • /DP /legacy—For a legacy directory partition (replicates to all domain controllers in the domain). This setting supports domains that have legacy domain controllers running Windows 2000 Server.

    <FQDN>

    Specifies the FQDN of the directory partition.

To view the complete syntax for this command, at a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

dnscmd /ZoneAdd /help

Additional considerations

  • To open an elevated Command Prompt window, click Start, point to All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

  • The stub zone cannot be hosted on a DNS server that is authoritative for the same zone.

  • If you integrate the stub zone into AD DS, you have the option to specify that the DNS server that hosts the stub zone uses a local list of master servers when it updates the stub zone's resource records, rather than having the DNS server use the master servers list that is stored in AD DS. If you want to use a local master servers list, you must have the IP addresses of the local master servers.

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