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How to manage DNS Zones using PowerShell

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This article shows you how to manage your DNS zones by using Azure PowerShell. You can also manage your DNS zones using the cross-platform Azure CLI or the Azure portal.

This guide specifically deals with Public DNS zones. For information on using Azure PowerShell to manage Private Zones in Azure DNS, see Get started with Azure DNS Private Zones using Azure PowerShell.

A DNS zone is used to host the DNS records for a particular domain. To start hosting your domain in Azure DNS, you need to create a DNS zone for that domain name. Each DNS record for your domain is then created inside this DNS zone.

For example, the domain 'contoso.com' may contain several DNS records, such as 'mail.contoso.com' (for a mail server) and 'www.contoso.com' (for a web site).

When creating a DNS zone in Azure DNS:

  • The name of the zone must be unique within the resource group, and the zone must not exist already. Otherwise, the operation fails.
  • The same zone name can be reused in a different resource group or a different Azure subscription.
  • Where multiple zones share the same name, each instance is assigned different name server addresses. Only one set of addresses can be configured with the domain name registrar.

Note

You do not have to own a domain name to create a DNS zone with that domain name in Azure DNS. However, you do need to own the domain to configure the Azure DNS name servers as the correct name servers for the domain name with the domain name registrar.

For more information, see Delegate a domain to Azure DNS.

Set up Azure PowerShell for Azure DNS

Before you begin

Important

Using this Azure feature from PowerShell requires the AzureRM module installed. This is an older module only available for Windows PowerShell 5.1 that no longer receives new features. The Az and AzureRM modules are not compatible when installed for the same versions of PowerShell. If you need both versions:

  1. Uninstall the Az module from a PowerShell 5.1 session.
  2. Install the AzureRM module from a PowerShell 5.1 session.
  3. Download and install PowerShell Core 6.x or later.
  4. Install the Az module in a PowerShell Core session.

Verify that you have the following items before beginning your configuration.

Sign in to your Azure account

Open your PowerShell console and connect to your account. For more information, see Sign in with Azure PowerShell.

Connect-AzAccount

Select the subscription

Check the subscriptions for the account.

Get-AzSubscription

Choose which of your Azure subscriptions to use.

Select-AzSubscription -SubscriptionName "your_subscription_name"

Create a resource group

Azure Resource Manager requires that all resource groups specify a location. This location is used as the default location for resources in that resource group. However, because all DNS resources are global, not regional, the choice of resource group location has no impact on Azure DNS.

You can skip this step if you are using an existing resource group.

New-AzResourceGroup -Name MyDNSResourceGroup -location "West US"

Create a DNS zone

A DNS zone is created by using the New-AzDnsZone cmdlet.

The following example creates a DNS zone called contoso.com in the resource group called MyDNSResourceGroup:

New-AzDnsZone -Name contoso.com -ResourceGroupName MyDNSResourceGroup

The following example shows how to create a DNS zone with two Azure Resource Manager tags, project = demo and env = test:

New-AzDnsZone -Name contoso.com -ResourceGroupName MyDNSResourceGroup -Tag @{ project="demo"; env="test" }

Get a DNS zone

To retrieve a DNS zone, use the Get-AzDnsZone cmdlet. This operation returns a DNS zone object corresponding to an existing zone in Azure DNS. The object contains data about the zone (such as the number of record sets), but doesn't contain the record sets themselves (see Get-AzDnsRecordSet).

Get-AzDnsZone -Name contoso.com –ResourceGroupName MyDNSResourceGroup

Name                  : contoso.com
ResourceGroupName     : myresourcegroup
Etag                  : 00000003-0000-0000-8ec2-f4879750d201
Tags                  : {project, env}
NameServers           : {ns1-01.azure-dns.com., ns2-01.azure-dns.net., ns3-01.azure-dns.org.,
                        ns4-01.azure-dns.info.}
NumberOfRecordSets    : 2
MaxNumberOfRecordSets : 5000

List DNS zones

By omitting the zone name from Get-AzDnsZone, you can enumerate all zones in a resource group. This operation returns an array of zone objects.

$zoneList = Get-AzDnsZone -ResourceGroupName MyDNSResourceGroup
$zoneList

By omitting both the zone name and the resource group name from Get-AzDnsZone, you can enumerate all zones in the Azure subscription.

$zoneList = Get-AzDnsZone
$zoneList

Update a DNS zone

Changes to a DNS zone resource can be made by using Set-AzDnsZone. This cmdlet doesn't update any of the DNS record sets within the zone (see How to Manage DNS records). It's only used to update properties of the zone resource itself. The writable zone properties are currently limited to the Azure Resource Manager ‘tags’ for the zone resource.

Use one of the following two ways to update a DNS zone:

Specify the zone using the zone name and resource group

This approach replaces the existing zone tags with the values specified.

Set-AzDnsZone -Name contoso.com -ResourceGroupName MyDNSResourceGroup -Tag @{ project="demo"; env="test" }

Specify the zone using a $zone object

This approach retrieves the existing zone object, modifies the tags, and then commits the changes. In this way, existing tags can be preserved.

# Get the zone object
$zone = Get-AzDnsZone -Name contoso.com -ResourceGroupName MyDNSResourceGroup

# Remove an existing tag
$zone.Tags.Remove("project")

# Add a new tag
$zone.Tags.Add("status","approved")

# Commit changes
Set-AzDnsZone -Zone $zone

When you use Set-AzDnsZone with a $zone object, Etag checks are used to ensure concurrent changes aren't overwritten. You can use the optional -Overwrite switch to suppress these checks.

Delete a DNS Zone

DNS zones can be deleted using the Remove-AzDnsZone cmdlet.

Note

Deleting a DNS zone also deletes all DNS records within the zone. This operation cannot be undone. If the DNS zone is in use, services using the zone will fail when the zone is deleted.

To protect against accidental zone deletion, see How to protect DNS zones and records.

Use one of the following two ways to delete a DNS zone:

Specify the zone using the zone name and resource group name

Remove-AzDnsZone -Name contoso.com -ResourceGroupName MyDNSResourceGroup

Specify the zone using a $zone object

You can specify the zone to be deleted using a $zone object returned by Get-AzDnsZone.

$zone = Get-AzDnsZone -Name contoso.com -ResourceGroupName MyDNSResourceGroup
Remove-AzDnsZone -Zone $zone

The zone object can also be piped instead of being passed as a parameter:

Get-AzDnsZone -Name contoso.com -ResourceGroupName MyDNSResourceGroup | Remove-AzDnsZone

As with Set-AzDnsZone, specifying the zone using a $zone object enables Etag checks to ensure concurrent changes aren't deleted. Use the -Overwrite switch to suppress these checks.

Confirmation prompts

The New-AzDnsZone, Set-AzDnsZone, and Remove-AzDnsZone cmdlets all support confirmation prompts.

Both New-AzDnsZone and Set-AzDnsZone prompt for confirmation if the $ConfirmPreference PowerShell preference variable has a value of Medium or lower. Since deleting a DNS zone can potentially cause unwanted conditions, the Remove-AzDnsZone cmdlet prompts for confirmation if the $ConfirmPreference PowerShell variable has any value other than None.

Since the default value for $ConfirmPreference is High, only Remove-AzDnsZone prompts for confirmation by default.

You can override the current $ConfirmPreference setting using the -Confirm parameter. If you specify -Confirm or -Confirm:$True , the cmdlet prompts you for confirmation before it runs. If you specify -Confirm:$False , the cmdlet doesn't prompt you for confirmation.

For more information about -Confirm and $ConfirmPreference, see About Preference Variables.

Next steps

Learn how to manage record sets and records in your DNS zone.
Learn how to delegate your domain to Azure DNS.
Review the Azure DNS PowerShell reference documentation.