Red Hat LINUX 7.2 Reference Manual page 230

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• zone " <zone-name> " — Specifies particular zones for which this nameserver is authorita-
tive. The zone statement is primarily used to specify the file containing the zone's configuration
and pass certain options about that zone to named that override other global option statements
used in /etc/named.conf.
The name of the zone is important, as it is the default value assigned to the $ORIGIN directive
used in the zone file and is appended to non-FQDNs. So, for example, if this zone statement
defines the namespace for domain.com, you should use domain.com as the <zone-name>
so it will be placed at the end of hostnames used in the zone file.
The most common zone statement options include:
– allow-query — Specifies the clients that are allowed to request information about this
zone. The default is to allow all query requests.
– allow-transfer — Specifies the slave servers that are allowed to request a transfer of the
zone's information. The default is to allow all transfer requests.
– allow-update — Specifies the hosts that are allowed to dynamically update information
in their zone. The default is to deny all dynamic update requests.
– file — Specifies the name of the file in the named working directory (by default
/var/named) that contains the zone's configuration data.
– masters — Used if the zone is defined as a slave type. The masters option tells a slave's
named the IP address(es) from which to request authoritative zone information.
– notify — Works in a similar manner to the notify option used with the option state-
ment.
– type — Defines the type of zone. The following types may be used:
forward — Tells the nameserver to forward all requests for information about this zone
to other nameservers.
hint — A special type of zone that is used to point to the root nameservers, which are used
to resolve queries when a zone is not otherwise known. You should not need to configure
a hint zone beyond the default in /etc/named.conf.
Chapter 14:Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND)
Be very careful about allowing hosts to update information about their
zone. Do not enable this option unless the host specified is completely
trusted. It is a much better idea to have an administrator manually
update the zone's records and reload the named service, if possible.
CAUTION