If I run 'ldbedit --cross-ncs --show-binary -e nano -H /usr/local/samba/private/sam.ldb' on Samba 4.6.2, I get: dn: DC=devstation,DC=samdom.example.com,CN=MicrosoftDNS,DC=DomainDnsZones,DC=samdom,DC=example,DC=com objectClass: top objectClass: dnsNode instanceType: 4 whenCreated: 20160610204154.0Z uSNCreated: 3874 showInAdvancedViewOnly: TRUE name: devstation objectGUID: ebe32c64-2ad5-4a32-97f6-d05c94ad31e0 objectCategory: CN=Dns-Node,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=samdom,DC=example,DC=com DC: devstation whenChanged: 20180706060427.0Z dnsRecord: NDR: struct dnsp_DnssrvRpcRecord wDataLength : 0x0004 (4) wType : DNS_TYPE_A (1) version : 0x05 (5) rank : DNS_RANK_ZONE (240) flags : 0x0000 (0) dwSerial : 0x00000914 (2324) dwTtlSeconds : 0x00000e10 (3600) dwReserved : 0x00000000 (0) dwTimeStamp : 0x0037d826 (3659814) data : union dnsRecordData(case 1) ipv4 : 192.168.0.88 dNSTombstoned: FALSE uSNChanged: 373176 distinguishedName: DC=devstation,DC=samdom.example.com,CN=MicrosoftDNS,DC=DomainDnsZones,DC=samdom,DC=example,DC=com A similar command on Samba 4.8.2: ldbedit --cross-ncs --show-binary -e nano -H /var/lib/samba/private/sam.ldb returns: dn: DC=devstation,DC=samdom.example.com,CN=MicrosoftDNS,DC=DomainDnsZones,DC=samdom,DC=example,DC=com objectClass: top objectClass: dnsNode instanceType: 4 whenCreated: 20160610204154.0Z uSNCreated: 4063 showInAdvancedViewOnly: TRUE name: devstation objectGUID: ebe32c64-2ad5-4a32-97f6-d05c94ad31e0 objectCategory: CN=Dns-Node,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=samdom,DC=example,DC =com dc: devstation dNSTombstoned: FALSE dnsRecord:: BAABAAXwAAAUCQAAAAAOEAAAAAAm2DcAwKgAWA== whenChanged: 20180706061917.0Z uSNChanged: 75216 distinguishedName: DC=devstation,DC=samdom.example.com,CN=MicrosoftDNS,DC=Doma inDnsZones,DC=samdom,DC=example,DC=com I think this is what Andrew calls a 'regression'