thank you for the responses ... and Matthew I think it is getting clearer now .... however you mention: > you > probably have installed a caching nameserver. i used the Bind Configuration tool; initially when it generates the DNS records files, the configuration is caching nameserver; however, when I imported my hosts file, it automatically also created addition zones which includes my domain - lab.mycompany.com. I checked my /etc/named.conf configuration against a sample configuration URL and compared a "caching" vs "standard DNS" and it seems like I have the standard DNS configured ... can someone pls confirm that the info I am following is correct? (source: http://www.linux-sxs.org/internet_serving/dns.html#common) 1. CACHING: =========== /etc/named.conf(CACHING ONLY Configuration) #---------------------------------------------- #This file must be named named.conf and be in /etc #It is used by the "named" daemon to determine the basic configuration and what files contain the details options { #Global DNS settings directory "/var/named"; #tells DNS to use the listed directory for other config files #forward first; #check the "forwarders" before doing any resolution #forwarders { # list of domain servers the check ("local" DNS) #10.150.22.7; #internal DNS server for company #}; }; zone "." { #Settings for the ROOT ZONE type hint; #Specifies this as the ROOT ZONE type file "root.hints"; #File that containing links to the ROOT SERVERS (/var/named/root.hints) }; zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa" { #Used for reverse lookup (ie IP Address to Name) #notice it is your network address backwards+"in-addr.arpa" #So this is for 127.0.0 network type master; #Specifies this as a MASTER ZONE file "pz/127.0.0"; #File that contains the details for this zone (/var/named/pz/127.0.0) }; 2. STANDARD: ============= /etc/named.conf(Standard Configuration) #---------------------------------------------- #This file must be named named.conf and be in /etc #It is used by the "named" daemon to determine the basic configuration and what files contain the details options { #Global DNS settings directory "/var/named"; #tells named where to find the rest of the config files #forward first; #check the "forwarders" before doing any resolution #forwarders {# list of domain servers the check ("local" DNS) #10.150.22.7; #internal DNS server for company #}; }; zone "." { #Settings for the ROOT ZONE type hint; #Specifies this as the ROOT ZONE type file "root.hints"; #File that containing links to the ROOT SERVERS (/var/named/root.hints) }; zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa" { #Used for reverse lookup (ie IP Address to Name) #notice it is your network address backwards+"in-addr.arpa" #So this is for 127.0.0 network type master; #Specifies this as a MASTER ZONE file "pz/127.0.0"; #File that contains the details for this zone (/var/named/pz/127.0.0) }; zone "e-i-s.cc" { #Your zone name (domain name) notify no; # notify is used with master/slave DNS servers. Not necessary for one DNS svr. type master; # Specify this as a MASTER ZONE file "pz/e-i-s.cc"; #File that contains details for this zone (/var/named/pz/e-i-s.cc) }; zone "10.133.10.in-addr.arpa" { #Again-Reverse Lookup type master; #Again-MASTER ZONE file "pz/10.133.10"; #Again-Details file. (/var/named/pz/10.133.10) }; > -- best, Vince
