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Dump A DNS Zone

Problem

You want to know what the current content of a DNS zone is.

Possible Solution

This will work if your DNS server is friendly:

$ dig -t AXFR @$SERVER $ZONE

A reader pointed out an error I made, and adds…

The @ is important because it tells dig which dns server to ask. If you don't put the @ sign, then dig does TWO lookups, using the dns server defined in /etc/resolv.conf for both. First it tries to lookup $SERVER, then it tries to lookup $ZONE.

(Thanks Todd.)