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Chapter 3: The Domain Name System
Unfortunately, named can start but fail to load its initial data files, which leaves it
nonfunctional. So, check to see whether named is functioning by entering:
# rndc status
number of zones: 6
debug level: 0
xfers running: 0
xfers deferred: 0
soa queries in progress: 0
query logging is OFF
server is up and running
server1:/home/admin#
If DNS is not working correctly, you’ll instead see something like this:
# rndc status
rndc: neither /etc/bind/rndc.conf nor /etc/bind/rndc.key was found
If you get this error, take a look at the “Cannot Connect Using rndc” section toward
the end of this chapter.
Configuring an Authoritative DNS Server
If you want to find Jane Doe’s telephone number in a digital phone book, the phone
company publishes that information. But if you want to be able to find janedoe.com,
a system administrator has to come forward with the domain name and number (IP
address) and make them part of the distributed DNS directory. Administrators do
this by creating listings in what DNS aficionados call zone files.
A zone holds the information for a domain or, continuing with our earlier telephone
analogy, for a household. Say there are 15 kids living in your house, and someone
who’s looking for one of them calls you. Each kid has a cell phone, but you don’t
know all of their numbers by heart. Instead, you have a listing of your own, a direc-
tory you look in to ...