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Zone is invalid: Line X: ignoring out-of-zone data

Seth Daughenbaugh
  • Updated

Symptoms

When attempting to add or edit a DNS record for a given DNS zone, you encounter an error similar to one of the following.

Error: API failure: Zone is invalid: Line 64: ignoring out-of-zone data (domain.tld) at /usr/local/cpanel/Cpanel/ZoneFile/LineEdit.pm line 390
Error: The DNS zone file is invalid. (Line 167: ignoring out-of-zone data (_2396f77ac753300ee0714ba20aaf307d))

 

Description 

This error occurs when cPanel attempts to validate the zone while there is an invalid DNS record in the zone, such as records for another domain, duplicate records, or a CNAME and other record for the same host. The error references the line with the issue.

 

Workaround

  1. Access the server's command line as the 'root' user via SSH or "Terminal" in WHM.
  2. Open the domain's DNS zone in your preferred text editor.
    Please note that the zone files are stored in the /var/named folder.
  3. Place a semi-colon ( ; ) at the beginning of the line in question to comment out the problematic DNS record.
  4. Increase the serial number line by 1.
  5. Confirm the DNS zone is valid by the following command. 
    named-checkzone domain.tld /var/named/domain.tld.db
  6. Reload the nameserver.
    rndc reload

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