The BIND DNS Configuration File
The BIND DNS service is referred to as named as in name daemon. When named runs on a server, it initializes the service using information in a configuration file called named.conf. The named.conf file contains information that the named service requires to properly respond to queries, interact with other servers, and perform all DNS server functions. As we'll see, named provides a wide variety of configuration parameters to configure and tune the service to operate in nearly any IP network. We'll discuss this configuration in terms of how it maps to major configuration constructs within the named.conf file.
- DNS server options - parameters governing server-level behavior
- DNS zone declarations and options - definition of each zone for which the server is authoritative and its corresponding parameters, including file name containing the zone configuration (options and resource records) information.
- DNS view declarations and options - definition of one or more views and each view's parameters; views enable a DNS server to provide a different answer to a query depending on the source and/or destination of the query, as well as whether the query is recursive.
- Address match lists for use on access control list (ACL) and other parameters
- Server control channel ACLs and keys
- Key definition for transaction signatures and DNSSEC
- Server parameters governing communications requirements between this server and another, such as the use of EDNS0, TSIG, etc.
- Server logging definition
- Statistics channel access configuration