Chapter 2. Adding a Forward Master Zone
To add a forward master zone (also known as a primary master), click the Add button, select Forward Master Zone, and enter the domain name for the master zone in the Domain name text area.
A new window as shown in Figure 2-1 will appear with the following options:
Name — Domain name that was just entered in the previous window.
File Name — File name of the DNS database file, relative to /var/named.
Contact — Email address of the main contact for the master zone.
Primary Name Server (SOA) — State of authority (SOA) record. This specifies the name server that is the best resource of information for this domain. The default value is @, which means that the SOA is the same as the domain name entered in the Name field above.
Serial Number — The serial number of the DNS database file. This number must be incremented each time the file is changed, so that the slave name servers for the zone will retrieve the latest data. BIND Configuration Tool increments this number each time the configuration changes. It can also be incremented manually by clicking the Set button next to the Serial Number value.
Time Settings — The Refresh, Retry, Expire, and Minimum TTL (Time to Live) values that are stored in the DNS database file.
Records — Add, edit, and delete record resources of type Host, Alias, and Name server.
The configuration shown in Figure 2-1 creates the following entry in /etc/named.conf:
zone "forward.example.com" {
type master;
file "forward.example.com.zone";
}; |
It also creates the file /var/named/forward.example.com.zone with the following information:
$TTL 86400 @ IN SOA @ root.localhost ( 1 ; serial 28800 ; refresh 7200 ; retry 604800 ; expire 86400 ; ttl ) |
After configuring the Forward Master Zone, click OK to return to the main window as shown in Figure 1-1. From the pulldown menu, choose File => Apply to write the /etc/named.conf configuration file, write all the individual zone files in the /var/named directory, and have the daemon reload the configuration files.