DNS and BIND (5th Edition)
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Customer Review
Comprehensive, well-written, and accessible.
I'm the DNS administrator at a mid-size Internet Service Provider, and because we are an ISP, a lot of our day-to-day operations rely on the proper implementation of DNS. After all, as I found out today, we do primary DNS for approximately 1800 domains (yikes). The combination of everyday experience with DNS and the wealth of information - both theoretical and practical - that I got from this book has done so much for my understanding of DNS and of the Internet as a whole. The book begins with the basics of building a nameserver, but I know that if I have a specific question, I can use it as a reference book as well. It's also written in a straightforward, accessible manner. The only constructive criticism I can offer is that I wish it had more information about managing many domains (not just subdomains). That's still not enough to lower my overall rating to four starts from five. If you have to get one book on DNS, get this one - it will more than suffice. I look...
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Makes Transition To Bind 8 Painless!
Changing from a pre-8 version of BIND to version 8 of BIND is not as straightforward as previous upgrades have been. Then `named.boot' file is entirely different, among other changes. This book is great at identifying the required changes and assisting in making those changes.DNS and BIND clarifies all the mysteries associated with BIND (named) and DNS. Easy to read. Covers every detail from getting and installing the latest BIND, to configuration and troubleshooting. Has a great chapter on nslookup and another that gives detailed explanations of just about every BIND related error message. The only thing they left out is info on configuring syslog to manipulate in a usable manner the BIND generated messages.For some reason, DNS seems to be a mystery to so many sysadmins. If it were as simple as people often pretend it is (typical system admin person: "Oh, I already know everything about DNS that I need to know... so why read a book or take a course?"), then...
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Setting up BIND on a *ix server? Start here.
I really needed to understand DNS/BIND; not just know how to start, run, and update it- but really understand DNS. This book was perfect. The authors introduced DNS with a high-level overview and then moved in closer to help you set it up. You can actually read the fist 3 chapters and work through the next 2 while setting up your server and domain. The rest of the book really gets into the nuts and bolts of DNS and BIND. Don't stop after chapter 5, continue reading and pick all the knowledge you will need to be a DNS/BIND admin.
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Product Description
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
The Domain Naming System (DNS) is a glorious thing. It takes familiar Internet network and machine names (like "amazon.com") and converts them to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses (like "208.35.218.15") that are meaningful to routers and therefore useful for identifying the machine you want to reach. What's amazing is that DNS enables someone in Germany to refer, by name, to a computer in Mongolia even if no one in Germany has ever accessed the distant machine before. It's pretty much self-configuring, too: No human effort in Germany is necessary to make the Mongolian machine reachable by name. DNS and BIND explains how DNS works better for this than any other piece of documentation, printed or otherwise. The work of Paul Albitz and Cricket Liu, now in its fourth revision, has long been considered a classic among systems administrators and network architects, particularly those with a Unix bent.
The fourth edition is mainly an update: The authors have added coverage of incremental and conditional zone transfer with BIND's new NOTIFY features, as well as of Transaction Signatures (TSIG), and DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC). Sections on firewalling and DNS for IPv6 addresses have been expanded. Throughout, Albitz and Liu maintain their impeccable style, combining text and illustrative listings into an educational whole. --David Wall
Topics covered: The Domain Naming System (DNS) and how it's implemented by BIND (through versions 8.2.3 and 9.1.0), how to set up BIND, how to configure MX records for mail service, parent and child domains, NOTIFY, and DNS security. Top to learn more







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