Sample DNS Name Server Configuration

This document contains a sample name server configuration. The examples given will be for a VMS system running MultiNet; differences under Unix are noted where appropriate.

The example demonstrates how a subdomain of Arizona.EDU can configure and run its own name server.

In the example, you have subdomain called Philosophy.Arizona.EDU . There is also a subnet, 128.196.23.0, and three hosts in the subdomain: the department's hub machine, Socrates.Philosophy.Arizona.EDU, and two workstations, Wittgenstein.Philosophy.Arizona.EDU (also known as Ludwig...) and Hegel.Philosophy.Arizona.EDU. Socrates will act as the name server for the subdomain, as well as the mail exchanger for the workstations. For the sake of elegance, you want Socrates also to be known as just Philosophy.Arizona.EDU.

On Socrates, edit the BIND config file MULTINET:NAMED.CONF  to look like the following example. 

Options {
  /* The following are defaults, but shown for examples */
  fake-iquery no;
  check-names master fail;
  check-names slave warn;
  check-names response ignore;

  /* get bind4-like behavior of listing local nets first */
  sortlist {
    { localhost; localnets; };
    { localnets; };
  };

  /* round-robin A,NS,MX records only */
  rrset-order {
    class IN type A  name "*" order cyclic;
    class IN type NS name "*" order cyclic;
    class IN type MX name "*" order cyclic;
    order fixed;
  };
};

/* disable the default control socket */
controls {
  inet 127.0.0.1 port 101 allow { none; };
};


zone "." in {
  type hint;
  file "MULTINET:DOMAIN-NAME-SERVICE.CACHE";
};

zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa" in {
  type master;
  file "MULTINET:DOMAIN-NAME-SERVICE.LOCAL";
};

zone "Philosophy.Arizona.EDU" in {
  type master;
  file "MULTINET:Philosophy.Hosts";
};

zone "23.196.128.IN-ADDR.ARPA" in {
  type master;
  file "MULTINET:Philosophy-Net.Reverse";
};

zone "Arizona.EDU" in {
  type slave;
  masters { 128.196.128.234; };
  file "MULTINET:Arizona.dump";
};

zone "196.128.IN-ADDR.ARPA" in {
  type slave;
  masters { 128.196.128.234; };
  file "MULTINET:Ariz-Reverse.dump";
};
 

          

; Authoritative data for the Philosophy.Arizona.EDU zone
@ IN SOA Socrates.Philosophy.Arizona.EDU. System.Philosophy.Arizona.EDU. (
         1       ; serial
         43200   ;   refresh - 12 hrs
         21600   ;   retry - 6 hours
         604800  ;   expire - 1 week
         86400 ) ;   minimum - 1 day
  IN NS  Socrates.Philosophy.Arizona.EDU.
  IN NS  Arizona.EDU.    ; assume Arizona.EDU is secondary for us
;
  IN A      128.196.23.5    ; Socrates' IP address
  IN MX     10      Philosophy.Arizona.EDU.
  IN HINFO  "VAX 9000/430" "VMS+MultiNet"
;
  IN TXT    "site manager: Joe Beets &ltbeets@philosophy.arizona.edu>"
  IN TXT    "              Phone: 1 602 621 6700 / Fax : 621 5555"
;
Socrates IN   A       128.196.23.5
       IN     MX      10      Philosophy.Arizona.EDU.
       IN     HINFO   "VAX 9000/430" "VMS+MultiNet"
;
Wittgenstein IN A       128.196.23.6
; Wittgenstein can handle its own mail, so give it an MX record in
; preference to the hub machine.
       IN     MX       5      Wittgenstein.Philosopy.Arizona.EDU.
; If Wittgenstein is not reachable, then Socrates will accept mail
; for it.
       IN     MX      10      Philosophy.Arizona.EDU.
       IN     HINFO   "VAXstation 3100/76" "VMS+MultiNet"
; "Ludwig.Philosophy.Arizona.EDU" is an alias for
; "Wittgenstein.Philosophy.Arizona.EDU".
Ludwig IN     CNAME   Wittgenstein
;
Hegel  IN     A       128.196.23.7
; Hegel can't handle its own mail, so don't give it an MX record
; pointing to itself.
       IN     MX      10      Philosophy.Arizona.EDU.
       IN     HINFO   "PC clone"      "MS-DOS"

The at sign (@) signifies "this domain," that is, "Philosophy.Arizona.EDU".

Note also that you can have multiple resource records per hostname without repeating the hostname on each line. The reverse domain file Philosophy-Net.Reverse has SOA (Start of Authority) and NS (Name Service) records identical to those in the forward file. From there it looks like this:

  5       IN      PTR     Socrates.Philosophy.Arizona.EDU.
  6       IN      PTR     Wittgenstein.Philosophy.Arizona.EDU.
  7       IN      PTR     Hegel.Philosophy.Arizona.EDU.

Now restart the name server, and Socrates becomes the authoritative name server for Philosophy.Arizona.EDU and for 23.196.128.IN-ADDR.ARPA.

Note: In practice, you would need to coordinate with the name server (in this example, Arizona.EDU) to ensure delegation of authority and secondary name service backup is handled correctly. Click to read how delegation is handled on the rootward side.