Networking Guide
Chapter 6, Configuring the Domain Name Service

DNS server configuration files

DNS server configuration files

Each DNS server, and the named daemon in particular, uses several files to load its databases. In many installations, this underlying file complexity is never altered, as the basic configuration suffices. However, if you intend to configure a primary server or perform configuration above and beyond that described in ``Basic DNS configuration'', you must be aware of the following files and their functions:

/etc/named.boot
The boot file, which contains zone names, authorizations, and pointers to zone database files. See ``Sample /etc/named.boot file''.

root.cache
The root servers file, which contains a list of authoritative root servers. The location and name of this file are specified in the boot file. See ``Sample root.cache file''.

named.local
The local loopback address file. By default, this file contains the standard loopback address, 127.0.0.1. The location of this file is specified in the boot file. See ``Sample named.local file''.

hosts
One or more zone host files. Each file contains data about machines in its zone. The location and names of these files are specified in the boot file. See ``Sample hosts file''.

hosts.rev
One or more reverse domain files. These files specify the in-addr.arpa domain and allow for address-to-name mapping. The location and names of these files are specified in the boot file. See ``Sample /etc/named.rev file''.