changing any dns server attribute bumps SOA serial

[Barry Margolin]

In article <cdk5lb$28q$1 at sf1.isc.org>,
 Kevin Darcy <kcd at daimlerchrysler.com> wrote:

> Jeff Stevens wrote:
> 
> >I don't know the history here, but I am told the BIND 4 servers did not bump 
> >the serial when the zone attributes changed but only when the zone data 
> >changed, and I have a customer that is not happy his BIND 8 servers do zone 
> >transfers when he updates the attributes (no zone data changes).
> >
> >What is the reason for the SOA now incrementing, so that I can respond to 
> >this?
> >
> What do you mean by "zone attributes"? SOA values? The SOA is a record 
> in the zone, so if it changes, the SOA *should* be bumped, since the 
> zone as a whole has changed. If BIND 4 didn't do this, then it was a bug.

The only time BIND changes the SOA serial number by itself is when the 
server implements dynamic update.  Since this wasn't implemented until 
BIND 8, I don't understand what this thread is talking about.  BIND 4 
never had any reason to bump the serial number by itself, it's something 
that the DNS administrator always had to do after he edited the zone 
file.  And he should do it even if the only change he's made is to the 
other fields of the SOA record -- otherwise, those changes won't 
propagate to the slaves.

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar at alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***