DNS and Bind: Help for System Administrators

DNS and BIND tells you everything you need to work with one of the Internet's fundamental building blocks: the distributed host information database that's responsible for translating names into addresses, routing mail to its proper destination, and even listing phone numbers with the new ENUM standard. This book brings you up-to-date with the latest changes in this crucial service.

The fifth edition covers BIND 9.3.2, the most recent release of the BIND 9 series, as well as BIND 8.4.7. BIND 9.3.2 contains further improvements in security and IPv6 support, and important new features such as internationalized domain names, ENUM (electronic numbering), and SPF (the Sender Policy Framework).

Whether you're an administrator involved with DNS on a daily basis or a user who wants to be more informed about the Internet and how it works, you'll find that this book is essential reading.

Topics include:

• What DNS does, how it works, and when you need to use it
• How to find your own place in the Internet's namespace
• Setting up name servers
• Using MX records to route mail
• Configuring hosts to use DNS name servers
• Subdividing domains (parenting)
• Securing your name server: restricting who can query your server, preventing unauthorized zone transfers, avoiding bogus servers, etc.
• The DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) and Transaction Signatures (TSIG)
• Mapping one name to several servers for load sharing
• Dynamic updates, asynchronous notification of change to a zone, and incremental zone transfers
• Troubleshooting: using nslookup and dig, reading debugging output, common problems
• DNS programming using the resolver library and Perl's Net:: DNS module

Cricket Liu graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, that great bastion of free speech, unencumbered Unix, and cheap pizza. He joined Hewlett-Packard after graduation and worked for HP for nine years.Cricket began managing the hp.com zone after the Loma Prieta earthquake forcibly transferred the zone's management from HP Labs to HP's Corporate Offices (by cracking a sprinkler main and flooding a Labs computer room). Cricket was hostmaster@hp.com for over three years, and then joined HP's Professional Services Organization to co-found HP's Internet Consulting Program.Cricket left HP in 1997 to form Acme Byte & Wire, a DNS consulting and training company, with his friend Matt Larson. Network Solutions acquired Acme in June 2000, and later the same day merged with VeriSign. Cricket worked for a year as Director of DNS Product Management for VeriSign Global Registry Services.Cricket joined Infoblox, a company that develops DNS and DHCP appliances, in March, 2003. He is currently their Vice President of Architecture.Cricket, his wife, Paige, their son, Walt, and daughter, Greta, live in California with their two Siberian Huskies, Annie and Dakota.

Paul Albitz is a software engineer at Hewlett-Packard. Paul earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, and a Master of Science degree from Purdue University.Paul worked on BIND for the HP-UX 7.0 and 8.0 releases. During this time he developed the tools used to run the hp.com domain. Since then Paul has worked on various HP products during his 19 year career: HP JetDirect software, HP OfficeJet fax firmware, HPPhoto web site, and HP Photosmart Premier software.Paul and his wife Katherine live in San Diego California with their two cats, Gracie and Tiffany.