With DNS Manager, you can add or change Microsoft DNS servers and the zones managed by those servers. It is important to note that when creating the primary and secondary servers required for Internet connectivity, you must first define and configure a server by using DNS Manager. You then define one or more zones managed by that server.
The generally used reference to primary and secondary DNS servers is actually misleading when applied to the actual configuration and operation of DNS name servers. Because each DNS server manages its portion of the domain name space using the administrative grouping of a zone, data on the server is stored in zone files.
When data is transferred between primary and secondary servers, it is the zone files that are transferred. Microsoft DNS server is designed to incorporate this operational characteristic by assigning the primary or secondary characteristic to the zone file. In other words, the designation of primary or secondary data source is configured on a zone-by-zone basis and not a server-by-server basis. You configure zone properties to create the primary or secondary data files.