HPlogo Installing and Administering Internet Services: HP 9000 Networking > Chapter 3 Configuring and Administering the BIND Name Service

Choosing Name Servers for Your Domain
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You can configure your host as any of three types of BIND name servers:

Primary Master Server


A primary master server is the authority for its domain and contains all data corresponding to its domain. It reads its information from a master file on disk.

Secondary Master Server


A secondary is also the authority for its domain and contains that domain's data, but it gets its data over the network from another master server.

Caching-Only Server


A caching-only server is not authoritative for any domain. It gets its data from an authoritative server and places it in its cache.

If you do not want to run a name server at all on your host, you can configure the resolver to query a name server on another host. By default, the resolver is configured to query the name server on the local host.

To Choose the Type of Name Server to Run

No strict rules exist to determine which server configuration should be used on each host. Following are some suggestions for configuration:

  • Timeshare machines or cluster servers should be primary or secondary servers.

  • If you want the benefits of a name server but do not want to maintain authoritative data, you may want to set up a caching-only server. Running a caching-only server gives you better performance than querying a name server on a remote system, especially if the remote system is on the other side of a gateway or router.

  • PCs, workstations that do not want to maintain a server, and other small networked systems should be configured to query a name server on another host. Cluster nodes should query the name server on the cluster server.

  • If your network is isolated from the Internet, and your host will be the only BIND name server in your organization, you need to configure a root name server. See “Configuring a Root Name Server”.

To Choose Which Servers Will Be Master Servers

Follow these guidelines when selecting a master server:

  • You must have at least two master servers per domain: a primary master and one or more secondary masters for redundancy. One host may be master for multiple domains: primary for some, secondary for others.

  • Choose hosts that are as independent as possible for redundancy. For example, choose hosts that use different power sources or cables.

  • Choose hosts that have the most reliable Internet connectivity, with the best gateway connections.

  • Name servers for a particular zone need not physically reside within that domain. In general, zones are more accessible to the rest of the Internet if their name servers are widely distributed instead of on the premises of the organization that manages the domain.

    A zone is the portion of the name space for which a name server has the complete set of authoritative data files.



Configuring the Name Service Switch
  		 


Configuring a Primary Master Name Server  
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