Slave/Secondary DNS Server (Read Only DNS Server)
How AXFR & IXFR Works in DNS for Zone
Transfer ?
The
term slave simply indicates that a name server will obtain the zone
records using zone transfer operations but will answer authoritatively for the
zone for as long as it has valid zone data (defined by the expiry field of the
zone’s SOA RR). The term slave in no sense implies priority of access.
As previously described, slave servers will be accessed, in general, just as
frequently as any master name server. Slave servers may also transfer their
zone files to other slave servers.
The Zone Transfer between Master
Server and Secondary Server
What
is AXFR ?
AXFR Transfer: The DNS polling process is accomplished by the slave name
server sending a query to the zone master requesting the SOA RR. If the SOA
RR’s serial number is greater than the current one maintained by the slave name
server, a full zone transfer (AXFR) is requested by the slave DNS. This is the
reason it is vital to be disciplined about updating the SOA serial number every
time anything changes in any of the zone records
The Serial number format may be
used as follows ;
YYYYMMDDSS:
For e.g 2014010800 -- > Serial
number of a zone training.com
If there is any change of Record for e.g Change of A
Record or update of Record of the zone training.com
The new Serial number will be -à
2014011000
Next Serial number will be -à 2014011001(the Last 2 Digit will
increase by 1 number if there are multiple change of record for the same zone
file in one day)
What
is IXFR Transfer(Incremental Zone
Transfer):
IXFR
Transfer(Incremental Zone Transfer): Transferring very large zone files can take a
long time and waste bandwidth and other resources. It is especially wasteful if
only a single record has been changed! RFC 1995 introduced the incremental
zonetransfer (IXFR), which (as the name suggests) allows the slave name server
and master name server to transfer only those records that have changed.The
process works as for AXFR. The slave name server sends a query for the domain’s
SOA RR to the zone master every refresh interval. If the serial number of the
SOA RR is greater than the one currently stored by the slave, the name server
requests a zone transfer and indicates whether or not it is capable of accepting
an IXFR. If both master and slave name servers support the feature, an IXFR
takes place; otherwise, an AXFR takes place. IXFRs use TCP
on port 53
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