Configuring Domain Name System (DNS) servers

Configuring Domain Name System (DNS) servers

You can use the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) service to create and maintain a distributed host name and address database for computers on your network.

If you use BIND, you need not update every computer's /etc/hosts file each time you add a computer to the network. Instead, a Domain Name System (DNS) server adds the new computer to its host name database and answers queries from DNS clients on the local network and (if connected) outside networks or the Internet.

Your system is configured by default to use the network hosts file /etc/hosts found on each computer. You may want to configure and use DNS instead if:

Your network is large (over ten computers) and regularly adds and deletes hosts.
Your network is connected to the Internet. For example, you will usually need to configure DNS for convenience if you use a Web browser.

In previous releases, configuring a DNS name server required you to edit the DNS configuration and other database files. This required you to have a thorough knowledge of the format of these files and how they interact with one another. UnixWare includes the DNS Manager which provides a graphical administrative interface that you can use to create and maintain the DNS configuration files.

The complementary Client Manager allows you to configure a system as a client of DNS name service.

For more information about administering and troubleshooting name servers, see ``Administering and troubleshooting DNS'' and the references in ``Additional information about DNS''.