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Table of Contents
Ubuntu - Bind - Configure Bind9
Configuration Options
BIND9 can be configure in many different ways, mostly:
- Caching nameserver: BIND9 will find the answer to name queries and remember the answer when the domain is queried again.
- Primary nameserver: BIND9 reads the data for a zone from a file on its host and is authoritative for that zone.
- Secondary nameserver BIND9 gets the zone data from another nameserver that is authoritative for the zone.
Configuration Files
The DNS configuration files are stored in /etc/bind.
The primary configuration file is /etc/bind/named.conf, which in the layout provided by the package just includes these files.
- /etc/bind/named.conf.options: global DNS options.
- /etc/bind/named.conf.local: for your zones.
- /etc/bind/named.conf.default-zones: default zones such as localhost, its reverse, and the root hints.
NOTE: The root nameservers used to be described in the file /etc/bind/db.root.
This is now provided instead by the /usr/share/dns/root.hints file shipped with the dns-root-data package, and is referenced in the named.conf.default-zones configuration file mentioned above.
It is possible to configure the same server to be a caching name server, primary, and secondary: it all depends on the zones it is serving. A server can be the Start of Authority (SOA) for one zone, while providing secondary service for another zone. All the while providing caching services for hosts on the local LAN.