Chapter 27. Managing Domain Names

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Essential DNS Concepts

• DNS Hierarchy

• Configuring DNS with YaST2

• Hosts File

• Basic DNS Tools

• Configuring Name Servers with BIND

• Logging

The domain name system (DNS) is the lifeblood of the Internet. Without DNS, we would all be forced to remember TCP/IP addresses to get to websites, get to our email, buy merchandise, or look up information in a search engine. To go to www.novell.com to learn more about SUSE, for example, you would have to remember 130.57.4.27. Why attempt to remember a set of numbers such as this when you can remember www.novell.com/linux? The DNS brings a level of simplicity into surfing the Web and doing work with SUSE Linux. In this chapter we will learn how DNS is used with SUSE Linux. Of course, there are ways around this by editing your HOSTS file, for example, to make the lack of DNS bearable by adding a local DNS database to your personal system but for the most part, if you don't want to update this file each time you want to use DNS, make certain you implement a DNS server in your enterprise so that you can remember www.novell.com, instead of 130.57.4.27.

In Chapter 12, "Connecting to the Internet," you learned how to connect to the Internet. In Chapter 25, "Setting Up Networks and Samba," you learned about TCP/IP fundamentals. In this chapter, you will build on the concepts of the Internet and TCP/IP and learn about the DNS, how it is configured on your SUSE Linux system, and how to modify it if needed. In this chapter, you will also learn how to set up SUSE Linux as a DNS client in YaST, edit DNS configuration files, use tools such as nslookup to gather information, and finally, learn the fundamentals of using Linux as a DNS server.