How to modify zone data without restarting the name server

If you want to modify your zone data without restarting the name server, make the change to the zone data file. For BIND 9, run:

# rndc reload domain-name-of-zone

If you've modified multiple zones, just list them after reload. For example:

# rndc reload foo.example bar.example

Remember to increment the serial number in your zone's SOA record after changing the zone data. The primary master reloads the zone regardless of whether you've incremented the serial number, since the file's modification time has changed, but your zone's slaves only have the serial number to tell them whether the zone has been updated.

Reloading individual zones, as shown above, was introduced in BIND 8.2.1 and again in 9.1.0. With older versions of BIND, just use rndc reload or ndc reload, as appropriate. That takes a little more time, since the name server checks all zone data files to see which have changed.

If you're reloading a zone that exists in multiple views on a BIND 9 name server, specify the view with rndc reload domain-name-of-zone class view. For example:

# rndc reload foo.example in external

Unfortunately, you can't leave out the class, even though you're unlikely ever to reload a non-Internet class zone.

Telling a BIND 9 name server to reload a dynamically updated zone has no effect, since the name server doesn't expect you to update the zone manually.