Solaris Naming Setup and Configuration Guide

Setting Up a Non-Internet Root Master

If your network is connected to the Internet, your root domain server exists at the root domain Internet site; all you need to do is provide that site's Internet IP addresses in your cache file, as explained in "Internet named.ca File".

If your network is not connected to the Internet, you must set up primary and secondary name servers in the root-level domain on your local network. This enables all domains in your network to have a consistent authoritative server to which to refer; otherwise, machines might not be able to resolve queries.

For example, suppose your non-Internet domain is named private and you designate the machine ourroot as your root server. The ourroot machine has an IP address of 192.1.1.10. You would then perform the following steps:

  1. Create named.ca files on your primary master servers that point to your own root server.

    For example:


    ourroot.private.  999999  A  192.1.1.10

    A named.ca file must also contain NS records for each internal domain and subdomain and A records for each server as described in "Setting Up a Non-Internet Root Master".

  2. Add a cache resource record for the root domain to the boot files of all DNS name servers on your network.

    For example:


    cache     .    named.ca 

    (See "Configuration File" for more information.)

  3. Remove the root domain cache resource record from the boot file of your root server.

    In other words, delete the cache . named.ca line from ourroot's boot file.

  4. Insert a primary line for the root domain in the root server's boot file.

    For example, in ourroot's boot file you would add the line:


    primary    .  ourroot.private

    Caution - Caution -

    If you later decide to connect your network to the Internet, you must replace all the named.ca files on all of your servers with the current Internet files and replace the primary . rootserver line with a cache . named.ca line in the former root server's boot file.