Network Administration: BIND Basics

BIND is the most widely used DNS software on the Internet. On Unix-like operating systems, like Linux, it is the defacto standard. Your distribution of Linux most likely came with the extremely powerful program BIND.

Installing BIND

You can quickly find out whether BIND is installed on your system by entering the following command from a shell prompt:

rpm -q bind

If BIND has been installed, the package version is displayed. If not, the message package bind is not installed is displayed.

BIND is usually installed by default when you install Linux as a network server. If it isn’t, you can easily install it by following these steps:

1. Choose System→Administration→Add/Remove Software.

   
   

   This summons the Add/Remove Software program.

   
   



2. Type Bind in the text box and click the Find button.

   
   

   The BIND package will be located.

   
   



3. Select the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) DNS (Domain Name Server) package.

   
   



4. Click Apply.

   
   

   The Add/Remove Software program grinds and whirs for a moment and then installs the package you selected.

   
   



5. Close the Add/Remove Software program.

   
   

   You’re done! BIND is now installed.

   
   

Restarting BIND

BIND runs as a service called named. As a result, when you make changes to your DNS configuration, you have to restart the named service to apply the changes. To do that, use this command:

service named restart

You can also restart the named service from the Service Configuration tool. Choose Main Menu→System Settings→Server Settings→Services. This brings up a dialog box that lists all of the running services. Scroll down the list to find named, select it, and then click the Restart button.

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