Configuring a Secondary Master Name Server

A secondary master server can operate in either of two ways:

It can store the authoritative data in backup files on its disk. When this type of secondary server reboots, it reads its data from the backup files and does not have to rely on loading data from a primary server. After it is booted, the secondary server will check with the primary server to verify that its data is up to date.
It can store the authoritative data in memory only. When this type of secondary server boots, it always loads its data from a primary master server.

This section explains how to configure a secondary master server in your domain. It contains the following sections:

Creating Secondary Server Data Files via hosts_to_named

If you want your secondary server to store its data in backup files on its disk, run hosts_to_named on the primary server as follows:
/usr/sbin/hosts_to_named -z primary_server's_IP_address
If you want your secondary server to always load its data from the primary server, run hosts_to_named on the primary server as follows:
/usr/sbin/hosts_to_named -Z primary_server's_IP_address
If you ran hosts_to_named with the -z option, copy the file boot.sec.save from the current directory on the primary server to the /etc directory on the secondary server.
If you ran hosts_to_named with the -Z option, copy the file boot.sec from the current directory on the primary server to the /etc directory on the secondary server.
On the secondary server, rename /etc/boot.sec.save or /etc/boot.sec to /etc/named.boot.
Copy the files /etc/named.data/db.cache and /etc/named.data/db.127.0.0 from the primary server to the secondary server.

The format of the data files copied from the primary master server are described in “Configuring a Primary Master Name Server”.

An example boot file for a secondary master server is shown in “To Create the Secondary Master Server's Data Files Manually”.

For more information on hosts_to_named, type man 1M hosts_to_named at the HP-UX prompt.

To Create the Secondary Master Server's Data Files Manually

Copy the files /etc/named.boot, /etc/named.data/db.cache, and /etc/named.data/db.127.0.0 from the primary server to the secondary server.
On the secondary server, use a text editor to make the following changes to /etc/named.boot:
- In every primary line except the one containing db.127.0.0, replace the word primary with the word secondary.
- In every secondary line, add the internet address of the primary server after the domain name.
- If you do not want your secondary server to store backup files on disk, delete the last field of every secondary line (the field that specifies the file name).

Following is an example boot file from a secondary master server:

 ;              domain                        server address   backup file
 ; type
 ;
 
 directory  /etc/named.data ;running directory for named
 
 secondary      div.inc.com                   15.19.8.119      db.div
 
 primary        0.0.127.IN-ADDR.ARPA                           db.127.0.0
 
 secondary      8.19.15.IN-ADDR.ARPA          15.19.8.119      db.15.19.8
 
 secondary      13.19.15.IN-ADDR-ARPA         15.19.8.119      db.15.19.13
 
 cache                                                         db.cache

This file specifies a file name in the fourth field for each domain. The secondary server will use this file as a backup file. It will read the authoritative data from the backup file when it reboots, and later it will contact the primary master server to verify the data.

The format of the data files copied from the primary master server are described in “Configuring a Primary Master Name Server”.

To Set the Default Domain Name

If you will be using an /etc/resolv.conf file on your host, configure the default domain name with the search or domain keyword. See “Configuring the Resolver to Query a Remote Name Server”. If you will not be using an /etc/resolv.conf file, follow these steps:

Set the default domain name with the hostname command, by appending the domain name to the host name, as in the following example:
/usr/bin/hostname indigo.div.inc.com
Do not put a trailing dot at the end of the domain name.
Set the HOSTNAME variable in the /etc/rc.config.d/netconf file to the same value, as in the following example:
HOSTNAME=indigo.div.inc.com

Configuring a Secondary Master Name Server

Technical documentation

» Table of Contents

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Creating Secondary Server Data Files via hosts_to_named

To Create the Secondary Master Server's Data Files Manually

To Set the Default Domain Name