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Chapter 16. Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND)

Remember to place dots (

.

) in zone files after all FQDNs and omit them on hostnames.

The dot denotes a fully qualified domain name. If the dot is omitted, then

named

will place the

name of the zone or the

$ORIGIN

value after the name to complete it.

If you are having problems with your firewall blocking connections from your

named

program to

other nameservers, you may need to edit its configuration file.

By default, BIND version 9 uses random ports above 1024 to query other nameservers. Some

firewalls, however, expect all nameservers to communicate using only port 53. You can force this

behavior by adding the following line to an

options

statement in

/etc/named.conf

:

query source address * port 53;

16.6. Additional Resources

The following sources of information will provide additional resources regarding BIND.

16.6.1. Installed Documentation

BIND features a full range of installed documentation covering many different topics, each placed

in its own subject directory:

/usr/share/doc/bind  version number

  Contains a

README

file with a list of the

Y

most recent features.

/usr/share/doc/bind  version number /arm

  Contains HTML and SGML of the

Y

BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual, which details BIND resource requirements, how to

configure different types of nameservers, perform load balancing, and other advanced topics. For

most new users of BIND, this is the best place to start.

/usr/share/doc/bind  version number /draft

  Contains assorted technical docu 

Y

ments that look at issues related to DNS service and some methods proposed to address them.

/usr/share/doc/bind  version number /misc

  Contains documents designed to ad 

Y

dress specific advanced issues. Users of BIND version 8 should consult the

migration

docu 

ment for specific changes they must make when moving to BIND 9. The

options

file lists all of

the options implemented in BIND 9 that are used in

/etc/named.conf

.

/usr/share/doc/bind  version number /rfc

  Every RFC document related to

Y

BIND is in this directory.

The following man pages are also useful:

named

  Explores assorted arguments that can be used to control the BIND nameserver daemon,

such as the use of an alternative configuration file and running on a different port number or as a

different user.

rndc

  Explains the different options available when using the

rndc

command to control a

BIND nameserver.

16.6.2. Useful Websites

http://www.isc.org/products/BIND   The home page of the BIND project, where you can find

information concerning current releases and download a PDF version of the BIND 9 Administrator

Reference Manual.