3.2 DNS Notify

The DNS Notify operation is described in RFC 1996. DNS Notify can inform the slave servers about data changes in the zone. If DNS Notify is used, a slave server can have actual zone data sooner than waiting for the expiration of the time interval in the refresh field, listed in the zone SOA record.

Communication between the master and slave servers concerning the zone is initiated, when using the DNS Notify operation, by the master server. The master server informs slave servers of any possible changes in zones; so if the zone is changed, the master tells slave servers "Ask me for the transfer." The slave server then requests the zone transfer immediately after receiving this notify message.

The DNS notify message will be received by all severs that are listed in the NS records for the given zone. The server indicated in the SOA record is not informed since it is presumed that it is this server that generates the messages. Some implementations enable master server administrators...