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bind

Introduction​

This cheat sheet provides a quick reference for some common BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) DNS server commands and concepts. BIND is an open-source DNS server software used to manage and resolve domain names on the Internet.

Installation​

To use BIND, you need to install it on a server. Installation methods vary depending on your operating system. Refer to the official BIND documentation for installation instructions.

BIND Concepts​

Zone Files​

Zone files contain DNS records for a specific domain or zone.

  • Create a forward zone file for a domain:
    $TTL 1D
    @       IN      SOA     ns1.example.com. admin.example.com. (
                    2022010101 ; Serial
                    1H ; Refresh
                    15M ; Retry
                    1W ; Expire
                    1D ; Minimum TTL
                    )
    @       IN      NS      ns1.example.com.
    @       IN      NS      ns2.example.com.
    @       IN      A       192.168.1.10
    www     IN      A       192.168.1.20

Zone Types​

BIND supports various zone types, including forward and reverse zones.

  • Define a forward zone in named.conf:
    zone "example.com" {
      type master;
      file "/etc/bind/zones/example.com.zone";
    };

Configuration Files​

BIND's configuration is defined in various configuration files:

  • named.conf: Main configuration file.
  • named.conf.options: DNS server options.
  • named.conf.local: Local zones.
  • named.conf.default-zones: Default zones.

DNS Records​

BIND supports various DNS record types, including A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, and PTR records.

  • Create an MX record in a zone file:
    @       IN      MX      10      mail.example.com.

Views​

Views allow you to serve different DNS data based on client IP addresses or ACLs.

  • Define a view in named.conf:
    view "external" {
      match-clients { any; };
      recursion no;
      zone "example.com" {
        type master;
        file "/etc/bind/zones/example.com.external.zone";
      };
    };

BIND Command-Line​

  • Check BIND configuration for errors:

    named-checkconf /etc/bind/named.conf

  • Start BIND:

    sudo systemctl start bind9

  • Stop BIND:

    sudo systemctl stop bind9

  • Restart BIND:

    sudo systemctl restart bind9

  • Reload BIND configuration:

    sudo systemctl reload bind9

  • Query DNS records using dig:

    dig example.com A

Conclusion​

This cheat sheet covers some common BIND DNS server commands and concepts. BIND is a versatile DNS server software for managing domain name resolution; refer to the official BIND documentation for more in-depth information and advanced usage.