Configuring DNS

DNS maps hostnames to IP addresses and vice versa. Configuring DNS can be somewhat difficult. However, you can easily configure your Linux system as a caching name server. A caching name server remembers mappings it has recently fetched and can supply them to clients. Accessing a local or nearby caching name server is much faster than accessing a remote name server.

The Linux program that performs name resolution is the Berkeley Internet Name Daemon (BIND). BIND is sometimes referred to as named (pronounced name dee), an abbreviation for name daemon. So, the same facility is variously referred to as DNS, BIND, or named. Some Linux/Unix systems are configured to use a name server other than BIND; however, BIND is the most popular name server on the Internet.

To install BIND and configure it as a caching name server, use GnoRPM to install the bind and caching-nameserver packages.

To start the named service, issue the command:

            service named start

To verify whether the service is running, issue the following command:

            service named status

The command should report the process ID of the named server.

To use the named server, you must specify its IP address in the resolver configuration. To do so, launch the network configuration tool by choosing Programs System Network Configuration from the GNOME menu or System Network Configuration from the KDE menu.

Make a record of the existing specification and then specify 127.0.0.1 as the IP address of the primary name server. Test your name server by pinging an Internet host:

            ping www.apu.edu

A series of replies confirms that the name server is working. Press Ctrl-C to halt the pinging.

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