Configuring a forwarder

To configure a forwarder server, use this procedure, which edits a series of files and then uses SMIT or the command line to start the named daemon.

  1. Edit the /etc/named.conf file.
    If there is no named.conf file in the /etc directory, copy the /usr/samples/tcpip/named.conf sample file into the /etc directory and edit it. See the "named.conf File Format for TCP/IP" in the Files Reference for more information and a detailed example of a conf file.
    • Specify a forwarders line in the options stanza of the /etc/named.conf file that lists the IP addresses of the name servers that should receive the forwarded requests. For example:
      options {
          ...
          directory "/usr/local/domain";
          forwarders { 192.100.61.1; 129.35.128.222; };
          ...
      };
    • Specify the loopback zone. For example:
      zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa" in {
          type master;
          file "named.abc.local";
      };
    • Specify the hint zone. For example:
      zone "." IN {
          type hint;
          file "named.ca";
      };
  2. Edit the /usr/local/domain/named.ca file. See the "DOMAIN Cache File Format for TCP/IP" in the Files Reference for more information and a detailed example of a cache file.

    This file contains the addresses of the servers that are authoritative name servers for the root domain of the network. For example:

    ; root name servers.
    .          IN    NS    relay.century.com.
    relay.century.com.   3600000    IN    A     129.114.1.2
    Note: All lines in this file must be in Standard Resource Record Format.
  3. Edit the /usr/local/domain/named.abc.local file.
    See the DOMAIN Local Data File Format for TCP/IP in the Files Reference for more information and a detailed example of a local data file.
    1. Specify the start of authority (SOA) of the zone and the default time-to-live information. For example:
      $TTL 3h    ;3 hour
      
      @ IN SOA venus.abc.aus.century.com. gail.zeus.abc.aus.century.com.  (
      
                                 1       ;serial
                                 3600    ;refresh
                                 600     ;retry
                                 3600000 ;expire
                                 86400   ;negative caching TTL
      )
    2. Specify the name server (NS) record. For example:
      <tab>	IN    NS     venus.abc.aus.century.com.
    3. Specify the pointer (PTR) record.
      1      IN    PTR    localhost.
      Note: All lines in this file must be in Standard Resource Record Format.
  4. Create an /etc/resolv.conf file by typing the following command:
    touch /etc/resolv.conf

    The presence of this file indicates that the host should use a name server, not the /etc/hosts file, for name resolution.

    Alternatively, the /etc/resolv.conf file might contain the following entry:

    nameserver 127.0.0.1

    The 127.0.0.1 address is the loopback address, which causes the host to access itself as the name server. The /etc/resolv.conf file may also contain an entry like the following:

    domain domainname

    In the previous example, the domainname value is austin.century.com.

  5. Perform one of the following steps:
    • Enable the named daemon using the smit stnamed SMIT fast path. This initializes the daemon with each system startup. Indicate whether you want to start the named daemon now, at the next system restart, or both.
    • Edit the /etc/rc.tcpip file. Uncomment the line for the named daemon by removing the comment (#) symbol from the following line:
      #start /etc/named "$src_running"

      This initializes the daemon with each system startup.

  6. If you chose not to initialize the named daemon through SMIT, start the daemon for this session by typing the following command:
    startsrc -s named