How to restore a DNS zone from backups

Introduction

This article covers restoring a DNS zone file from a cPanel backup.

Procedure

1. Access the server's command line as the 'root' user via SSH or "Terminal" in WHM.
2. Backup the /var/named directory.

   cp -av /var/named{,.$(date +%s)}

3. Locate the backup from which to restore the zone.
   Please note that a zone may be restored from a system or account backup.
4. Create a temporary directory in which to extract the zone file.

   mkdir /temp_location

5. Change the temporary directory.

   cd /tmp_location

6. Extract the zone file from the backup.
   • System backup

     tar xfvz /backup/$date/system/dirs/_var_named.tar.gz var/named/$domain.tld.db

     Please note that "$date" and "$domain.tld" must be replaced with the backup folder name for the date and the domain name of the zone to restore.
   • Account backup

     tar xfvz /backup/$date/accounts/$username.tar.gz $username/dnszones/$domain.tld.db

     Please note that "$date," "$username," and "$domain.tld" must be replaced with the backup folder name for the date, the cPanel username of the domain owner, and the domain name of the zone to restore, respectively.
7. Copy the extracted zone file to the /var/named/ folder.
   • System backup

     cp -v var/named/$domain.tld.db /var/named/

     Please note that "$domain.tld" must be replaced with the domain name of the zone to restore.
   • Account backup

     cp -v $username/dnszones/$domain.tld.db /var/named/

     Please note that "$username" and "$domain.tld" must be replaced with the cPanel username of the domain owner and the domain name of the zone to restore.
8. Restart the DNS service.

   /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/restartsrv_named

    

Additional resources

How to manually locate and extract a file or directory from a cPanel backup