Solaris

hi all

forgive my ignorance, but when IVe set up DNS Ive put in the various server details in the /etc/resolv.conf and away I go. Suddenly Ive been reading about DNS, and I need to created a /etc/named.conf file.

so, my question is this. DNS, what part does the /etc/resolv.conf play in it, and what does BIND / named.conf do ??

Im assuming that resolv.conf resolves the DNS query to a server higher up in the structure, that may be able to answer what the ip / name is.

If I was running named.conf, then Im assuming Im the hiigher up server and have the details of all hosts in my named.conf ??

Is this correct ?

So, BIND uses named.conf and resolv.conf ?

SBK

It is unclear what you are wanting to do:
Set-up a DNS server or just configure your machine as a DNS client ?

1. /etc/resolv.conf should contain the nameserver ( i.e. the DNS server address, where searching should go). This is present in both DNS clients and servers.

2. /etc/named.conf

this file is on the DNS server, and it contains names of files that contains host-to-name mappings database.

For example, when you query the hostname of an ip such as 192.168.1.2, you go the DNS server (the address of which is on resolv.conf file), then on that server the name of the file that contains the answer should be in named.conf


Now, don't forget another important file:

/etc/nsswich.conf

this file contains the searching priority, whether the system should consult DNS server, or NIS, or NIS+, or local file...and so forth.

Sunfire, your like my own personal solaris guru :-)

The point of this thread wasnt how I do something, but more asking what the files / purpose is. :-)

Im used to setting up clients to use a DNS server, i.e. resolv.conf, but have never setup a DNS server, i.e. the named.conf. I had a suspicion that named.conf is the file which contains all the hosts's details, for DNS resolution requests.

Cool, I was right, so thanks Sunfire.

SBK