---
title: "Why don't my zones reload when I do an \"rndc reload\"?"
slug: "aa-00281"
description: "A zone can be updated either by editing zone files and reloading the server or by dynamic update, but not both. If you have enabled dynamic update for a zone using the \"allow-update\" option or by using \"update-policy\", you are not supposed to edit the zone file by hand, and the server will not attempt to reload it."
tags: ["rndc reload", "allow-update", "dynamic zones", "dynamic updates"]
updated: 2018-10-05T17:52:36Z
published: 2018-10-05T17:52:36Z
canonical: "kb.isc.org/aa-00281"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.isc.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Why don't my zones reload when I do an "rndc reload" or SIGHUP?

A zone can be updated either by editing zone files and reloading the server or by dynamic update, but not both. If you have enabled dynamic update for a zone using the "**allow-update**" option or by using "**update-policy**", you are not supposed to edit the zone file by hand, and the server will not attempt to reload it.

If you need to manually edit the contents of a dynamic zone, you can run the "**rndc freeze**" command to cause the zone to be frozen and available in a disk file that can be edited in the usual manner. After the edits are done, you can run the "**rndc thaw**" command to allow the dynamic updates to continue, after reading the changes you made.