If you are internally consistent, the zone data files can be named anything. This flexibility might lead to some confusion when working at different sites or referring to different DNS manuals and books.
For example, the file names that are used in Sun manuals differ from those used in the book DNS and BIND published by O'Reilly & Associates and both of those nomenclatures have some differences from that used in the public-domain Name Server Operations Guide for BIND.
In addition, this documentation uses generic names that identify a file's main purpose, and specific example names in code samples. For example, this documentation uses the generic name hosts when describing the function and role of a file. Example names db.doc and db.sales are used in code samples.
The required data files are the following.
/var/named/named.ca – See The named.ca File for additional information on the named.ca file. As long as you are internally consistent, you can name this file anything.
/var/named/hosts – See The hosts File for additional information on hosts files.
The name hosts is a generic name indicating the file's purpose and content. But to avoid confusion with /etc/hosts, you should name this file something other than hosts. The most common naming convention is db.domainname. Thus, the hosts file for the doc.com domain would be called db.doc.
If you have more than one zone, each zone must have its own hosts file. Each hosts file must have a unique name. For example, if your DNS domain is divided into doc.com and sales.doc.com zones, you could name one hosts file db.doc and the other db.sales.
/var/named/hosts.rev – See The hosts.rev File for additional information on the hosts.rev file.
The name hosts.rev is a generic name indicating the file's purpose and content. If you have more than one zone, each zone must have its own hosts.rev file. Each zone hosts.rev file must have a unique name. For example, if your DNS domain is divided into doc.com and sales.doc.com zones, you could name one hosts.rev file doc.rev and the other sales.rev.
/var/named/named.local – See The named.local File and for additional information on the named.local file. As long as you are internally consistent, you can name this file anything.
An include file is any file which is named in an $INCLUDE() statement in a DNS data file. $INCLUDE files can be used to separate different types of data into multiple files for your convenience. See The $INCLUDE File.
For reference purposes, the following table compares BIND file names from the above mentioned sources.
Table 3–1 File Name Examples
Solaris Names |
O'Reilly Names or Other Names |
U.C. Berkeley Names |
Content and Purpose of File |
---|---|---|---|
/etc/named.conf, same file name for all three sources |
BIND 8.1 adds a new named.conf file to replace the earlier named.boot file. This configuration file adds security, startup options, logging. The file specifies the type of server the file is running on. The file selectively applies options on a per-zone or per-server basis, rather than all zones or servers. The file contains a list of domain names and the names of the data files. |
||
/etc/resolv.conf, same file name for all three sources |
This file resides on every DNS client (including DNS servers) and designates the servers that the client queries for DNS information. |
||
named.ca |
db.cache db.root |
root.cache |
This file establishes the names of root servers and lists their addresses. |
Generic: hosts Examples: db.doc, db.sales |
Generic: db.domain Examples: db.movie, db.fx |
Generic: hosts Example: ucbhosts |
This file contains all the data about the machines in the local zone that the server serves. |
Generic: hosts.rev Examples: doc.rev |
Generic: db.ADDR Examples db.192.249.249 db.192.249.253 |
hosts.rev |
This file specifies a zone in the in-addr.arpa. domain, a special domain that allows reverse (address-to-name) mapping. |
named.local |
Generic: db.cache Example: db.127.0.0 |
named.local |
This file specifies the address for the local loopback interface, or local host. |
$INCLUDE files, same convention for all three sources |
Any file identified by an $INCLUDE() statement in a data file. |