diff --git a/bin/tests/system/xferquota/setup.pl b/bin/tests/system/xferquota/setup.pl
index e4c9feed8b..fe6d409434 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/xferquota/setup.pl
+++ b/bin/tests/system/xferquota/setup.pl
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@
 # ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS
 # SOFTWARE.
 
-
+#
+# Set up test data for zone transfer quota tests.
+#
 use FileHandle;
 
 my $masterconf = new FileHandle("ns1/zones.conf", "w") or die;
@@ -25,9 +27,10 @@ for ($z = 0; $z < 1000; $z++) {
     my $zn = sprintf("zone%06d.example", $z);
     print $masterconf "zone \"$zn\" { type master; file \"$zn.db\"; };\n";
     print $slaveconf  "zone \"$zn\" { type slave; file \"$zn.bk\"; masters { 10.53.0.1; }; };\n";
-    my $f = new FileHandle("ns1/$zn.db", "w") or die;
+    my $fn = "ns1/$zn.db";
+    my $f = new FileHandle($fn, "w") or die "open: $fn: $!";
     print $f "\$TTL 300
-\@	IN SOA 	. . 1 9999 9999 99999 999
+\@	IN SOA 	. . 1 300 120 3600 86400
 	NS	ns1
 	NS	ns2
 	MX	10 mail1.isp.example.