Bind Configuration Files - Red Hat LINUX 7.2 Reference Manual

Section 14.2:BIND Configuration Files
time, usually specified by the retrieved zone record, for quicker resolution for other DNS clients
after the first resolution.
• forwarding — Forwards requests to a specific list of nameservers to be resolved. If none of the
specified nameservers can perform the resolution, the process stops and the resolution fails.
A nameserver may be one or more of these types. For example, a nameserver can be a master for some
zones, a slave for others, and only offer forwarding resolution.
14.1.3 BIND as a Nameserver
Red Hat Linux includes BIND, which is a very popular, powerful, open source nameserver. BIND uses
the named daemon to provide its name resolution services. All configuration information for BIND
is kept in the /etc/named.conf file and its zone files are in the /var/named directory. The
structure and options for these various types of files can be found in Section 14.2, BIND Configuration
Files.
BIND version 9 includes a utility called rndc to allow the administration of the running named
daemon. More information about rndc can be found in Section 14.3, Using rndc .

14.2 BIND Configuration Files

The BIND nameserver named server uses the /etc/named.conf file for configuration. All zone
files are placed in the /var/named directory.
Do manually edit the /etc/named.conf file or any files in the
/var/named directory if you are using the BIND Configuration Tool.
Any manual changes to those files will be overwritten the next time the
BIND Configuration Tool is used.
The /etc/named.conf file must be free of errors in order for named to start. While some erro-
neous options used in with some statements are not considered critical enough to stop the server, any
errors in the statements themselves will prevent named from starting.
14.2.1 /etc/named.conf
The /etc/named.conf file is a collection of statements using nested options placed in ellipses {
}. A sample /etc/named.conf file is organized similar to Figure 14–2, Sample organization of
/etc/named.conf .
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