Windows NT TCP/IP Network Administration

Chapter 8. Configuring DNS Name System

Strictly speaking, name service is not necessary for computers to communicate. It is, as the name implies, a service—specifically, a service intended to make the network more user-friendly. Computers are perfectly happy with IP addresses, but people prefer names. The importance of name service is indicated by the amount of coverage it has in this book. Chapter 3 discusses why name service is needed; Chapter 7 covers how the NetBIOS name service (WINS) is configured; this chapter covers how Domain Name System (DNS) is configured, and Appendix B is a reference for the records used to build a DNS database. This chapter provides sufficient information to show you how to configure DNS software to run under Windows NT. But if you want to know more about why something is done, don’t hesitate to refer to Appendix B and Chapter 3.

DNS is a client/server software system. The client side of DNS is called the resolver. It generates the queries for domain name information that are sent to the server. The DNS server software, which is called the name server, answers the resolver’s queries. Both sides of DNS require configuration.

This book covers three basic DNS configuration tasks:

• Configuring the resolver

• Configuring the name server

• Constructing the name server database files, called the zone files

There is a distinction between a DNS domain and a DNS zone. A domain is a logical grouping that encompasses the domain itself, all subdomains of that domain, and ...