DNS

General Information
DNS is an acronym for Domain Name System. A DNS server simply provides an IP address for a name. When you type in fedoraproject.org into Firefox the name is sent to DNS and matched up with a IP address, then you're request for the web page is sent to the IP address provided. The web page is then sent to your IP address and displayed in what ever number tab requested it.

As you can see from the simplified description above DNS is a necessary part of the internet and really any network that is to big to remember IP addresses.

DNS is capable of so much more. and this guild is only for a basic DNS server. More information can be provided by visiting Internet Systems Consortium, Inc, The current home of bind.

DNS runs on port 53 UDP and uses 53 TCP for zone transfers. -Ronnie orangespike.ca

Information
A caching only DNS server simply gets the IP records requested, stores them, and servers them to the local system/network. These records have a TTL (Time To Live) setting on them. When the TTL expires and the IP is requested once again will refresh it's record. This is the simpliest of DNS server to setup.

Installing
Much like most software on Fedora the command is as follows. yum install bind

Configuration
No configuration is needed. Just start the service. service named start Point your computers DNS settings to the IP of the new DNS server, and test.

Information
This is the one to use if you would like internal name resolution, or managing your own domain. This setup also uses the chaching ability for name resolution outside the local network. Which means that one DNS is all you need.

Installing
Exactly like the Caching Names Server yum install bind

Basic Configuration
The configuration file is located /etc/named.conf Open the file and scroll down to the bottom. To add your own entry into your DNS server add the following replacing domain with the domain name you are going to use. zone "domain" { type master; file "/var/named/domain.hosts"; };

This tells bind to look in the /var/named directory for a record file named domain.hosts.

The next step is to create that file. Open a text editor and add this replacing domain with your domain and IP Address with the IP address of the system that domain should point to $ttl 38400 domain. IN     SOA     domain. domain. (                        1207369840                         10800                         3600                         604800                         38400 ) domain. IN     NS      domain. domain. IN     A       IP Address Here is the file once more with the lines explained. $ttl 38400 - Note of Time To Live in seconds domain. IN     SOA     domain  domain. (                        1207369840 - serial for this entry need to increase after every change                         10800 -  How often to try and refresh the entry                         3600 - How often to retry                         604800 - When the entry expires                         38400) The real TTL setting domain. IN     NS      domain. domain. IN     A       IP Address Start the named service with. service named start Point a computer's DNS setting at the IP of this server and test.

Basic Configuration
Still to come