Download a zone file

Download a copy of any DNS zone as a standard zone file — useful for backups or moving DNS to another provider. This is for anyone managing domains in InfraNest.

Overview

• Saves all the DNS records in a zone to a plain text file in the standard BIND format
• Nearly every DNS provider, registrar and hosting control panel can read this format
• It's a read-only action — nothing changes in your zone and nothing is sent to your DNS provider

Download a zone file

1. Open DNS and click the zone you want.
2. Click Actions (top right) → Download zone file.

3. Your browser saves it as yourdomain.com.zone.

What's in the file

The file includes every record InfraNest holds for that zone — A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV, CAA and the rest — along with their TTLs. A few things worth knowing before you use it elsewhere:

• The SOA record and your apex nameservers aren't included. Those belong to whichever provider hosts the zone, and they'll be created for you at the new provider. Every importer expects this.
• Notes you've added to a record appear as comment lines. They're for you only — DNS itself ignores them.
• Cloudflare-proxied records are marked with a comment. The address shown is your real origin server, not the Cloudflare address the world currently sees. If you're moving away from Cloudflare, that's the address you want.
• Records still need checking. A zone file is a faithful copy of what InfraNest knows, not a promise that everything in it is correct. Give the MX and TXT records a read before you rely on them.

Move a zone to another provider

1. Download the zone file here.
2. At the new provider, look for Import zone file (sometimes called "Import BIND file" or "Import records").
3. Upload it and review what the provider says it will create.
4. Only once the records look right, point your domain's nameservers at the new provider.

WarningDo the nameserver change last. Until you change it, the old provider is still answering, so there's no rush and no outage if something needs fixing.

Troubleshooting

• Download doesn't start — check your browser hasn't blocked it; some browsers block files that start downloading automatically.
• File looks empty — a zone with no records still downloads, it just contains the header and nothing else. If that's a surprise, the zone may not have finished syncing yet: use Actions → Sync this zone first.

TipDownloading a zone file every so often is a simple way to keep your own snapshot of what your DNS looked like on a given day.