DNS is domain name system. In Ubuntu, DNS package is included in bind9 software package. The dns server is called named. Basically what dns do, it translates name to ip address. It also translates ip address to name, which is called reverse dns.
Setting up dns involves several other files in Ubuntu system, the directly involved bind9 configuration files package and related files not in bind package. Here are all files needed to set up dns server, in bind package and not in bind package.
DNS configuration files in bind package:
luzar@ubuntu:~$ cd /etc/bind/
luzar@ubuntu:/etc/bind$ ls -l
total 44-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 237 2011-05-09 15:42 db.0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 271 2011-05-09 15:42 db.127
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 237 2011-05-09 15:42 db.255
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 353 2011-05-09 15:42 db.empty
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 270 2011-05-09 15:42 db.local
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2878 2011-05-09 15:42 db.root
-rw-r--r-- 1 root bind 907 2011-05-09 15:42 named.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root bind 165 2011-05-09 15:42 named.conf.local
-rw-r--r-- 1 root bind 695 2011-05-09 15:42 named.conf.options
-rw-r----- 1 bind bind 77 2011-05-20 10:56 rndc.key
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1317 2011-05-09 15:42 zones.rfc1918
luzar@ubuntu:/etc/bind$
Related files not in bind package:
- /etc/resolv.conf
- /etc/hosts
- /etc/nsswitch.conf
Here are screenshots of the files:
/etc/named.conf
/etc/named.conf is the main dns server configuration file. Here is a default content screenshot:
/etc/resolv.conf
/etc/resolv.conf is dns resolver file. Here is a default content screenshot:
/etc/bind/named.conf.local
/etc/bind/named.conf.local is a zone configuration file for dns setup. Here is a default content screenshot:
/etc/bind/named.conf.options
/etc/bind/named.conf.options file contains generic options for bind bind name server. Here is a default content screenshot:
Bind databases files
/etc/bind/db.root
/etc/bind/db.local
/etc/bind/db.0
/etc/bind/db.255
/etc/bind/db.127
/etc/bind/db.empty
