Configuring a forward only name server
To configure a forward only name server, use this procedure, which edits a series of files and then uses SMIT or the command line to start the named daemon.
Note: You can achieve a similar configuration without running
a forward only name server. Instead, create an /etc/resolv.conf file
that contains name server lines that point to the forwarders you wish
to use.
- 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 the forwarders and forward only lines in the options stanza
of the /etc/named.conf file listing the IP addresses
of the name servers receiving the forwarded requests. For example:
options { ... directory "/usr/local/domain"; forwarders { 192.100.61.1; 129.35.128.222; }; forward only; ... };
- 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"; };
- Specify the forwarders and forward only lines in the options stanza
of the /etc/named.conf file listing the IP addresses
of the name servers receiving the forwarded requests. For example:
- Edit the /usr/local/domain/named.ca file.
For example: See the DOMAIN Cache File Format for TCP/IP in 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.
; 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. - 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.
- Specify the start of authority (SOA) of the zone and
the default time-to-live information. For example:
$TTL 3h ;3 hour @ IN SOA venus.abc.aus.century.com. gail.zeus.abc.aus.century.com. ( 1 ;serial 3600 ;refresh 600 ;retry 3600000 ;expire 86400 ;negative caching TTL )
- Specify the name server (NS) record. For example:
<tab> IN NS venus.abc.aus.century.com.
- Specify the pointer (PTR) record.
1 IN PTR localhost.
Note: All lines in this file must be in Standard Resource Record Format.
- Specify the start of authority (SOA) of the zone and
the default time-to-live information. For example:
- Create an /etc/resolv.conf file by
typing the following command:
touch /etc/resolv.conf
The presence of this file indicates that the host should use a name server, not the /etc/hosts file, for name resolution.
Alternatively, the /etc/resolv.conf file might contain the following entry:
nameserver 127.0.0.1
The
127.0.0.1
address is the loopback address, which causes the host to access itself as the name server. The /etc/resolv.conf file can also contain an entry such as:domain domainname
In the previous example, the domainname value is
austin.century.com
. - Perform one of the following steps:
- Enable the named daemon using the
smit stnamed
SMIT fast path. This initializes the daemon with each system startup. Indicate whether you want to start the named daemon now, at the next system restart, or both. - Edit the /etc/rc.tcpip file. Uncomment the
line for the named daemon by removing the comment
(#) symbol from the following line:
#start /etc/named "$src_running"
This initializes the daemon with each system startup.
- Enable the named daemon using the
- 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