diff --git a/docs/tutorials/rfc2136.md b/docs/tutorials/rfc2136.md
index 891bc46422..8757654c02 100644
--- a/docs/tutorials/rfc2136.md
+++ b/docs/tutorials/rfc2136.md
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ following.
   faces the internet.
   - Add the key that you generated/was given to you above. Copy paste the four
   lines that you got (not the same as the example key) into your file.
+  - Make sure zone transfer is enabled for the key, this enables listing all
+  records
   - Create a zone for kubernetes. If you already have a zone, skip to the next
   step. (I put the zone in it's own subdirectory because named,
   which shouldn't be running as root, needs to create a journal file and the
@@ -85,6 +87,16 @@ following.
 
   - Reload (or restart) named
 
+### AXFR and the sync policy
+
+When using the `sync` policy, ExternalDNS requires AXFR (zone transfer) to be
+explicitly enabled via the `--rfc2136-tsig-axfr` flag. This is necessary for
+ExternalDNS to list all existing DNS records and determine which ones should be
+lifecycled.
+
+Without `--rfc2136-tsig-axfr`, ExternalDNS cannot list records and will act as
+if the policy was set to `upsert-only`. No warning will be provided.
+
 ### Using external-dns
 
 To use external-dns add an ingress or a LoadBalancer service with a host that