“We all know what DNS (the Domain Naming System) does. It’s the
huge, structured global dictionary that lets us use
easy-to-remember names like: www.microsoft.com while the network
uses 207.46.130.150. While DNS is prevalent on the Internet, it can
also be used by networks that never connect to the Internet.”
“Last week, my office decided to bring our DNS in-house.
This change meant our computers, rather than our ISP’s
computers, handled this task. It seemed like a simple enough task.
Just start ‘named’ and edit some configuration files, right? Well,
actually, it is. But find the documentation that you need! The DNS
HOWTO was very helpful, but not enough. The BIND
documentation? Same. Either I’m really dense (which is a distinct
possibility), or configuring DNS is not well documented. About two
hours into the project, I got a little miffed and began hunting
online bookstores for DNS. Remarkably, I only got two matches. One
was the O’Reilly book: DNS and BIND (see references). A few short
calls to local bookstores and a 15-minute drive later, I had a
copy. Don’t try BIND without it.”