BIND Zone File Examples

Small, valid examples using reserved DNS names and address ranges

The examples below use example.test, IPv4 addresses from 192.0.2.0/24, and IPv6 addresses from 2001:db8::/32. These ranges are reserved for documentation and should be replaced with your real domain names and addresses before use.

Minimal Authoritative Zone

This is close to the smallest practical forward zone: one SOA record, one NS record, an address for the nameserver, and an apex A record.

$TTL 3600
@   IN  SOA  ns1.example.test. hostmaster.example.test. (
                2026051501  ; serial
                7200        ; refresh
                3600        ; retry
                1209600     ; expire
                3600        ; negative cache ttl
)

@       IN  NS  ns1.example.test.
ns1     IN  A   192.0.2.10
@       IN  A   192.0.2.20

Web and Mail Zone

This example adds common web, mail, policy, certificate, and service discovery records while keeping all names inside the same zone.

$TTL 3600
@   IN  SOA  ns1.example.test. hostmaster.example.test. (
                2026051502  ; serial
                7200        ; refresh
                3600        ; retry
                1209600     ; expire
                3600        ; negative cache ttl
)

; Nameservers
@       IN  NS      ns1.example.test.
@       IN  NS      ns2.example.test.
ns1     IN  A       192.0.2.10
ns2     IN  A       192.0.2.11

; Web
@       IN  A       192.0.2.20
@       IN  AAAA    2001:db8::20
www     IN  CNAME   example.test.
api     IN  A       192.0.2.21

; Mail
@       IN  MX      10 mail.example.test.
mail    IN  A       192.0.2.30
@       IN  TXT     "v=spf1 mx -all"
_dmarc  IN  TXT     "v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]"

; Certificate policy
@       IN  CAA     0 issue "letsencrypt.org"

; Service discovery
_sip._tcp IN SRV    10 60 5060 sip.example.test.
sip     IN  A       192.0.2.40

Adapting the Examples

• Replace example.test with your zone origin and keep trailing dots on fully qualified target names.
• Replace documentation addresses with real IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.
• Increment the SOA serial every time you change the zone.
• Remove records you do not operate, such as MX, CAA, SRV, or IPv6 records.
• Validate the complete zone after every edit, not just the changed line.