DNS utilities and daemons

The following daemon and utilities form the heart of DNS operations:

named

This daemon must be running for DNS to be operational on all but remote servers. After you enable your server, named is invoked each time your system enters multiuser mode. It reads information found in the configuration file, named.conf(4tcp), and takes appropriate actions: priming the cache, accessing zone files, and so on. named can also be invoked from the command line; see named(1Mtcp) for more information.

named-xfer

This command enables you to transfer a DNS zone from one server to another in asynchronous mode so that named can continue processing requests. See the manual page for named-xfer(1Mtcp) for more information.

nslookup

This command allows you to request DNS information, including names, addresses, and other resource records, from any server you can reach from your computer. You can use nslookup to request a single record or start an nslookup session to request multiple records from one or more servers. See nslookup(1Mtcp) or “BIND 9 Administrator’s Guide” for more information.

dig

This command is similar to nslookup but with a slightly different syntax. See dig(1Mtcp) for more information.

host

This command is useful for finding out information about individual or multiple hosts. See host(1Mtcp) for more information.

Source: http://docsrv.sco.com/NET_tcpip/dnsC.daemons.html

DNS Server – BIND9

http://www.google.com is actually 74.125.71.104. Thanks to the power of DNS Servers! We do not have to remember the numeric address 74.125.71.104 just to visit google.com. A DNS Server, a Name Server as we may call it, contains a record of ip addresses and their equivalent domain name.

BIND (Berkley Internet Naming Daemon) is the most widely used DNS software on the Internet. It provides various services such as caching Name Server and serving DNS Zones for a domain name.

BIND9 Configuration Files

Configuration files are stored in /etc/bind.
Main configuration files are:

/etc/bind/named.conf
/etc/bind/named.conf.options
/etc/bind/named.conf.local

How to Install BIND9

sudo apt-get install BIND9

sudo apt-get install dnsutils

A useful package for testing and troubleshooting DNS issues.