| title | excerpt | updated |
|---|---|---|
Managing the history of a DNS zone |
Find out how to view, compare, download and restore your DNS zone backups |
2025-02-19 |
The DNS (Domain Name System) zone is a domain name’s configuration file. It consists of DNS records that map the domain name to various services and functions.
For more information, please refer to our guides:
- Everything you need to know about DNS servers
- Everything you need to know about DNS zone
- Everything you need to know about DNS records
For various reasons, you may need to apply an old DNS configuration to your domain name.
DNS management is now easier thanks to the history of your DNS zones.
This guide explains how to view, compare, download and restore your DNS zone backups.
- A DNS zone for your domain name in your OVHcloud Control Panel
- Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel
- Sufficient rights to manage the domain name
To access this feature, click on the tabs below to view each of the 5 steps.
[!tabs] Step 1
Log in to the OVHcloud Control Panel, then go to the
Web Cloud{.action} section.
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Step 2
Click the
Domain names{.action} menu, then choose the domain name concerned.
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Step 3
Select the
DNS Zone{.action} tab once you have clicked on the domain concerned.Step 4
The table that appears will show your domain name’s DNS zone. There, you will find the list of DNS records that it contains. On the right of the table, there are several buttons you can use to perform actions on your DNS zone.
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Click
View your DNS zone history{.action}.Step 5
On the new page, a table displays the backup history for your DNS zone, ordered from the most recent date to the oldest. At the top of this table is the current version of your DNS zone. On this page, you can:
[!primary]
Your DNS zone backups are subject to the following limitations:
- We keep a maximum of 200 backups for the same DNS zone.
- Once a backup is older than 31 days, it is automatically deleted, with the exception of the 5 most recent backups.
To view the DNS zone of your choice, identify the corresponding row in the table, then click on the icon in the View{.action} column.
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The data for the DNS zone concerned is displayed.
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Click Close{.action} to return to the main page “DNS zone history”.
To download the DNS zone of your choice, identify the corresponding row in the table, then click on the icon in the Download{.action} column.
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The DNS zone is downloaded in .txt format.
If you would like to replace your current DNS zone with another one, simply restore an older DNS zone. In the table containing the history of your DNS zones, identify the row corresponding to the DNS zone you want to restore (check the date on the left-hand side of the row), then click on the icon in the Restore{.action} column.
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The following window will appear.
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Check that the date indicated in the message corresponds to the DNS zone you want to restore. As the yellow banner will show, please remember that the current DNS zone (at the top of the DNS zone history list) will be deleted and replaced with the DNS zone that you want to restore.
Click Restore{.action} to confirm the restoration or Cancel{.action}.
[!primary]
Modifying or restoring a DNS zone will take 4 to 24 hours to propagate fully to the DNS network.
You can compare the contents of two DNS zones. In the table containing the history of your DNS zone, identify the two rows corresponding to the two DNS zones you want to compare (check the date to the left of each row), then select them. To compare these two DNS zone versions, click on Compare versions{.action} in the top left-hand corner.
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A new page will appear, displaying the content of the two DNS zones. Above each version, you will see the corresponding date. By default, the most recent DNS zone version is on the left and the oldest DNS zone version is on the right. Colour-coded content helps you identify differences in content.
On the left, the content highlighted in red has been modified or deleted on the newer version.
On the right, the content highlighted in green has been changed or added from the older version.
You can also update the dates of the versions you want to compare by using the two drop-down lists.
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With this guide, you can now compare two DNS zones, and also view, download, restore and delete a DNS zone.
Everything you need to know about DNS servers
Everything you need to know about DNS zone
Everything you need to know about DNS records
Logging in to the OVHcloud Control Panel
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