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Using DNS Manager, part 1

The DNS Manager tool in Windows NT Server is used to manage Microsoft DNS servers as well as to view resource records and zones. The DNS Manager automatically creates four zones. A DNS zone is a partition of the DNS namespace. Understanding these zones and what they do can help you make sound decisions regarding DNS implementations.

1. Cache zone - This zone contains the records needed to connect to the Internet root DNS name servers.
2. 0.in-addr.arpa - This zone is used to prevent passing reverse lookup queries for the IP address 0.0.0.0 to the root DNS server.
3. 127.in-addr.arpa - This zone is used to prevent passing reverse lookup queries for the loopback address name queries to the root DNS server.
4. 255.in-addr.arpa - This zone is used to prevent passing broadcast name queries to the root DNS server.

The purpose of all four of these zones is to minimize DNS traffic.