Tuts4Tech

This tutorial will show you how to configure bind9 on debian to be a dns server for your LAN network.

1. Install bind9 and some DNS utilities

   apt-get install bind9 dnsutils

2. Set your systems hostname

   echo "server.home.local" > /etc/hostname 

   then edit /etc/hosts so it looks like this

   127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain   localhost
   192.168.1.2    server.home.local        server
   # The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
   ::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
   fe00::0 ip6-localnet
   ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
   ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
   ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
   ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

3. change you DNS servers by editing /etc/resolv.conf

   nano /etc/resolv.conf

   it should look something like this:

   search home.local
   nameserver 192.168.1.2

4. Creating a Zone

1. The zone files are the most important part of the BIND system. They hold all the information as to what hostname goes to an IP. to get started edit /etc/bind/named.conf.local

   nano /etc/bind/named.conf.local

   and then add the following:

   zone "home.local" {
           type master;
           file "home.local";
   };
   
   zone "1.168.192.in-addr.arpa" {
           type master;
           file "192.168.1";
   };

2. Now we need to create the zone file in /var/cache/bind/home.local

   nano /var/cache/bind/home.local

   and add the following:

   $TTL 604800
   @ IN SOA server.home.local. sysadmin.home.local. (
                   2008080101      ;serial
                   04800           ;refresh
                   86400           ;retry
                   2419200         ;expire
                   604800          ;negative cache TTL
                   )
   @       IN      NS      server.home.local.
   @       IN      A       192.168.1.2
   @       IN      MX      10      server.home.local.
   server  IN      A       192.168.1.2
   www     IN      CNAME   server
   desktop	IN	A	192.168.1.3
   printer	IN	A	192.168.2.4
   laptop	IN	A	192.168.2.5

Now we need to create the reverse DNS zone file to do so we need to create /var/cache/bind/192.168.1

nano /var/cache/bind/192.168.1

and add the following:

$TTL 604800
@ IN SOA server.home.local. sysadmin.home.local. (
                2008080101      ;serial
                604800          ;refresh
                86400           ;retry
                2419200         ;expire
                604800          ;negative cache TTL
                )
@       IN      NS      server.home.local.
@       IN      A       192.168.1.2
2	IN	PTR	server.home.local.
3	IN	PTR	desktop.home.local.
4	IN	PTR	printer.home.local.
5	IN	PTR	laptop.home.local.

nano /etc/bind/named.conf.options

forwarders {
                208.67.222.222; // your isps dns server
                208.67.220.220; // your isps dns server
        };

/etc/init.d/bind9 restart

dig home.local

; < <>> DiG 9.3.4 < <>> home.local
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER< <- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 54950
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;home.local.                    IN      A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
home.local.             64800   IN      A       192.168.1.2

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
home.local.             64800   IN      NS      server.home.local.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
server.home.local.        64800   IN      A       192.168.1.2

;; Query time: 1 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.1.2#53(192.168.1.2)
;; WHEN: Tue Aug  5 09:33:40 2008
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 79