Web Server Administration

Chapter 4
Name Resolution

Overview

Understand the domain name service

(DNS)
Identify the components of DNS
Configure zone files
Install and configure DNS in Linux
Understand name resolution in Windows
Install and configure DNS in Windows 2003
Troubleshoot DNS

Understanding the DNS

DNS is used to map host names to IP

addresses on the Internet

Also called name resolution or address resolution

Whenever a host is added, a configuration file has to be
manually changed
A host represents a service on a server such as FTP or a
Web server
There can be many hosts on a single computer

A Microsoft Windows 2003 network uses

DNS to resolve computer names on a LAN

DNS in Windows is designed to be dynamic - as computers

are added to the network, DNS automatically changes

Clients

On your PC, the TCP/IP

configuration contains the
address(es) of your DNS server(s)
Whenever you use a URL, whether
in a browser, or a utility such as
ping, DNS servers are used

Domain Namespaces

The root level domain is "."

Top-level domains include com, org, fr

More have been added in 2000

Second-level domains are often owned by

companies and individuals

Significant in creating DNS files

microsoft.com, ccsu.edu

A subdomain is a further division of a secondlevel domain

For ccsu.edu, there is phx.ccsu.edu

Not common

Domain Namespaces

Second-level domains, such as ccsu.edu

have control over naming within their
domain
Create hosts such as www, ftp
A name such as www.ccsu.edu is a fully
qualified domain name (FQDN)
We could create subdomains such as phx

www.phx.ccsu.edu

New Top-Level Domains

.biz - businesses
.info - anyone can register
.name - must register first and last name
.pro - for professionals only

must provide proof

.aero, .museum, .coop are controlled by

organizations

Host Names

The first portion of a URL is typically a host name

Typically different from the name of the computer
Many hosts can be associated with the same Web
server

How DNS Works

DNS Components

Name server also known as DNS

server

supports name-to-address and address-toname resolution

Name resolver also called DNS

client

Can contact DNS server to lookup name

Used by browsers, e-mail clients, and
client utilities such as ping

DNS Servers that Define the

Internet

Primary and secondary servers

store the host names used on the
Internet
Caching and forwarding servers
search the Internet for host names

Primary and Secondary

Servers

Primary Server

Defines the hosts for the domain

It has authority for the domain

Secondary Server

Maintains the database for the domain

Gets data from primary server

Provides fault tolerance and load distribution
Required for Internet domains

In a simple environment, the ISP will have the primary

and secondary DNS servers

ISP maintains DNS

You have to send changes to ISP
You have the secondary server which gets updates from
the primary server

Resolve Host Names

Caching Server

Resolves host names

Caches (saves) the results
Automatically installed when DNS is installed
No configuration necessary

Forwarding Server

Caching server that has access to the

Internet and forwards traffic from other
caching servers

Caching and Forwarding Servers

Zones

A zone is a part of the domain

namespace
For a domain as small as
technowidgets.com, the domain name
represents a single zone
For large organizations (such as IBM),
subdomains can be divided into
separately maintained zones

Each zone typically has a separate DNS

Zones

Zones must be contiguous

admin.ccsu.edu can be combined with

ccsu.edu
admin.ccsu.edu cannot be combined with
student.ccsu.edu

There must be one primary DNS server

in each zone (plus a secondary server)
Each zone can have multiple secondary
DNS servers

Zone File Configuration

Forward Lookup

These zones contain entries that map

names to IP addresses

Reverse Lookup

These zones contain entries that map

IP addresses to names

Lab Projects

DNS Configuration in Linux

Projects 4-1 through 4-3
Projects 4-4 deals with multiple
domains

Objective: Upon completion you must show using the dig command you get
the correct IP and corresponding domain name!

Review of Zoning

A zone is a part of the domain namespace

For a domain as small as technowidgets.com, the
domain name represents a single zone
For large organizations (such as IBM), subdomains
can be divided into separately maintained zones

Each zone typically has a separate DNS

Zone file configuration

Forward Lookup

These zones contain entries that map names to IP addresses

Reverse Lookup

These zones contain entries that map IP addresses to names

DNS Configuration in Linux

File Structure
Client DNS Configuration

Server DNS Configuration

File name:
/etc/resolve.conf

Adding nameserver and domain

Nameserver: Corresponding IP
address
Domain: Corresponding domain
name

File name:
/etc/named.conf

Name resolution

Server DNS Configuration in

Linux- File Structure
File name:
/etc/named.conf

/var/named/
named.technowidgets.com
Forward Lookup file
Defines other subdomains such as:
research.technowidgets.com.
mail.technowidgets.com.

2- Create these two files for

both forward and reverse
lookup files

1- Configure this file

so it reads the proper
lookup files below

/var/named/
named.0.168.192
Reverse Lookup File
Defines other subdomains such as:
web1
192.168.0. 20
research
192.168.0.150
mail
192.168.0.200

DNS Configuration in Linux

/etc/named.conf describes the

files that configure the zones
There are two primary files that it
describes

Forward lookup is described by

named.technowidgets.com
Reverse lookup is described by
named.0.168.192

/etc/named.conf
Creating a DNS for the technowidgets.com
domain

Default setup is for localhost 127.0.0.1

This is shown in figure 4-7

In named.conf add the following line

zone "technowidgets.com" {
type master;
file named.technowidgets.com;
};

This allows technowidgets.com to be

resolved by
/var/named/named.technowidgets.com
There can be multiple domains in a single
named.conf file

/etc/named.conf

Also, we can add the following line

zone 0.168.192.in-addr.arpa IN {
type master;
file named.0.168.192;
};

The domain begins at IN-ADDR.ARPA and has a

substructure which follows the Internet
addressing structure

Make sure
192.168.0.20
matches your hard
drive number!

Example: data for Internet address 10.2.0.52 is located

at domain name 52.0.2.10.IN-ADDR.ARPA

This allows for reverse lookup for the domain

It uses all or part of the 192.168.0.20 network

/var/named.technowidgets.com File
Content
Must be typed!

$TTL
86400
@
IN SOA web1.technowidgets.com. admn.technowidgets.com.
(
2002072100 ; Serial
28800
; Refresh
14400
; Retry
3600000 ; Expire
86400 ) ; Minimum
IN
NS
web1
IN
A
192.168.0.20
IN
MX 10 mail.technowidgets.com.
web1
IN
A
192.168.0. 20
www
IN
CNAME web1
research
IN
A
192.168.0.150
IN MX 10 mail
mail
IN
A
192.168.0.200

named.0.168.192 File
Content
$TTL 86400
Must be typed!
@
IN SOA web1.technowidgets.com.
admn.technowidgets.com. (
2002072100 ; Serial
28800
; Refresh
14400
; Retry
3600000 ; Expire
86400 ) ; Minimum
IN
NS
web1
20
150
200

IN PTR
IN PTR
IN PTR

web1.technowidgets.com.
research.technowidgets.com.
mail.technowidgets.com.

Starting DNS in Linux

Useful commands

To start DNS

To restart DNS

/etc/rc.d/init.d/named restart

To stop DNS

/etc/rc.d/init.d/named start

/etc/rc.d/init.d/named stop

To make DNS start when you boot Linux

Add the above commands to start DNS to

/etc/rc.d/rc.local

Configuring Client DNS in

Linux

Objective: How IP addresses are

corresponding to domain names

Modify /etc/resolv.config
The following line directs the client to use
the DNS server at 192.168.0.20 Your
HD!

nameserver 192.168.0.20

The following line associates this computer

with the technowidgets.com domain

domain technowidgets.com

Troubleshooting DNS
dig available on Linux
Use dig
command to
check the results!

Upon
Completion;
you must be able
to get this!
-- Must match
your HD!

Troubleshooting DNS

Linux

dig hostname.com
dig silent 192168-0-xx
ping

Windows

nslookup
hostname.com
nslookup x 192168.0.xx
Ipconfig
ping

References:

For Linux:

For windows

http://www.siliconvalleyccie.com/linux-hn/dns-static.
htm
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver200
3/library/ServerHelp/5fe46cef-db12-4b78-94d2-2a0b62a28271.msp
x

Read about IN-ADDR.ARPA domain

http://www.freesoft.org/CIE/RFC/1035/36.htm