Sync Groups and Templates

Both tools solve the same problem — the same entries in many zones — in two different ways. The difference is how long the binding lasts.

	Sync Group	Template
Effect	permanent, continuously enforced	one-time stamp
After applying	zone stays bound	zone is independent
Change to the source	affects all members	not retroactive
Typical case	mail server entries across the whole portfolio	initial setup of new domains

Sync Group

A Sync Group holds a set of record sets and a member list of zones. A subzone can be a member too — its sets then land under their name inside the zone, and $domain means the subzone. Whatever is in the group applies in every member zone — the group always wins.

Creating: Project → Sync Groups → Create; or directly from within a zone, in which case its entries are pre-filled.

In member zones, group-managed entries are grayed out and carry a reference to the group. Editing happens there, not in the zone.

Exactly identical entries are no collision: when a member zone already carries an entry that matches the group’s set exactly in name, type and values, reconciliation assigns it to the group automatically — it is the same entry, nothing is overwritten and the provider is not touched. This also works the other way around: manually creating an entry in a member zone that exactly matches a group set does not create a competing entry — it belongs to the group right away.

Enforce writes the group state to all members immediately. Otherwise this happens automatically when the group is changed and when new members are added.

The scope is partial: only the group’s entries are controlled; the rest of the zone remains untouched.

Template

A Template is a blueprint you apply to a zone — after that there is no connection anymore. Later changes to the Template leave already-stamped zones unaffected.

Applying: Open zone → Apply template. The target can be the zone itself or a subdomain.

Because Templates are often the precursor of a permanent synchronization, a Sync Group with the same sets can be pre-filled from a Template.

$domain in both

In values, $domain stands for the name of the target zone. That way a set like autodiscover CNAME autodiscover.$domain stays correct in every zone.

Example: mail setup for the whole portfolio

A Sync Group “Mail setup” with these sets:

Label	Type	Value
@	MX	10 mail.$domain
@	TXT	v=spf1 mx -all
_dmarc	TXT	v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@example.com

With all 40 customer zones as members. In kunde-a.de this becomes 10 mail.kunde-a.de, in kunde-b.com accordingly 10 mail.kunde-b.com — the same set, correct everywhere. When the mail server moves, you change one value in the group and all 40 zones follow. Anyone who fiddles with the MX directly in a member zone loses against the group at the next reconciliation — the group always wins.