How do I administer my Zones?

Q: How do I modifying large zone files?
A: Make extensive use of QuickDNS’ Sort and Find features.

Q: How do I deal with large numbers of zone files?
A: Use QuickDNS Manager's type-ahead feature to easily locate individual zones in the Manager window. Simply start typing the name of the zone, and Manager will select zones that start with the characters you've typed.

For making batch changes (making one change to each of your zones), QuickDNS Manager for Mac OS 8/9/X has an extensive AppleScript dictionary. There are several very useful scripts included, and you can also use them as starting points for writing your own scripts.

Q: How do I map zones to sites?
A: Here are two examples: Here and here.

Q: How do I clone a zone?
A: There is an assistant/wizard for that. Try it, you’ll like it!

Q; What names should I assign to my servers?
A: One common practice is to choose a set of names, such as the characters in a book, or the gods of ancient Greece. However, for the purposes of easy administration in the long term (including an easy learning curve if someone else has to take over the reins), we recommend the following:

1. For service records (such as NS, MX, etc.), use names related to the service (such as ns1, ns2, mx1, and mx2). Make sure that these names have A records, since CNAME aliases won't work.
2. If one server is providing multiple services, don't be afraid to give it multiple names.
3. Using the name of a zone as a server name (especially in an NS record) is strongly discouraged.

Q: When/How do I configure a reverse zone?
A:
1. Before you create a reverse zone, check where the delegation leads. If the reverse zone doesn’t lead to you, and you aren’t using private IP’s, don’t create a reverse zone.
2. If you use a subnet smaller then a class C you’ll need to set up a classless subnet reverse zone.
3. Use QuickDNS’s assistant to create your reverse zone for you! When done,
confirm that the PTR record for your mail server's IP address refers to the name of your mail server.

More information on reverse zones can be found here.