2.22.1 Problem
You want to filter an existing host table, such as an /etc/hosts file, into zone data files.
2.22.2 Solution
Use a tool such as h2n to filter your host table into the corresponding zone data files. With h2n, you specify the domain name of a forward-mapping zone to create as the argument to the -d option and the networks associated with that zone as the argument to one or more -n options. For example, the following command would build data files for the foo.example and 168.192.in-addr.arpa zones:
% h2n -d foo.example -n 192.168
These zone data files would each contain a SOA record and an NS record pointing to the local host, as well as A records or PTR records for hosts in /etc/hosts on the 192.168/16 network. Additional options allow you to create other records, including NS records pointing to other name servers.
2.22.3 Discussion
You can get a copy of h2n from the tar ball that accompanies DNS and BIND, located at ftp://ftp.oreilly.com/published/oreilly/nutshell/dnsbind/dns.tar.Z. Also, Andris Kalnozols of Hewlett-Packard has enhanced h2n significantly; he makes his souped-up version available at ftp://ftp.hpl.hp.com/pub/h2n/h2n.tar.gz.
There are other tools available for filtering host table-format data into zone data files; h2n is only one option. Take a look at the contents of bind-contrib.tar.gz, available in the same directory as the latest BIND 8 release, for some of your options.
2.22.4 See Also
Section 1.12 for how to get a copy of BIND (or bind-contrib.tar.gz), and "Tools" in Chapter 4 of DNS and BIND.
Getting Started
Zone Data
BIND Name Server Configuration
Electronic Mail
BIND Name Server Operations
Delegation and Registration
Security
Interoperability and Upgrading
Resolvers and Programming
Logging and Troubleshooting
IPv6