Installing a domain name server

BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) is an implementation of the Domain Name System (DNS) protocols. It might be an overkill, but it can be used to define the names of all machines on a local network.

Install

Emerge BIND the Gentoo way:

emerge search bind
emerge -f bind bind-tools
emerge bind bind-tools
    

The downloaded components are:

• the domain name server daemon named
• the DNS lookup utilities dig and host
• the nameserver query program nslookup (deprecated)

Configure

Edit the daemon configuration file /etc/bind/named.conf:

options {
        version "Bind";                       - Don't disclose real version to hackers
        directory "/var/named";
        listen-on-v6 { none; };
        recursion no;
};
zone "<domainName>"{
        type master;
        file "named.<domainName>.zone";
        notify yes;
};
zone "127.in-addr.arpa"{
        type master;
        file "pri/127.zone";
        allow-update { none; };
};
    

Edit the IP and name file /etc/bind/pri/<domainName>.zone:

$TTL 1W
@       IN      SOA     ns.<domainName>. root.localhost.  (
                                      2002081601 ; Serial
                                      28800      ; Refresh
                                      14400      ; Retry
                                      604800     ; Expire - 1 week
                                      86400 )    ; Minimum
                IN      NS      ns
localhost.      IN      A       127.0.0.1
<machine1>      IN      A       192.168.1.<nn>
<machine2>      IN      A       192.168.1.<nn>
    

Use

Start the daemon:

/etc/init.d/named start
rc-update add named default
    

Add the server in the domain server list of every machine by editing /etc/resolv.conf.