Checking Your DNS Work

Checking Your Work

There are several small programs that are in the BIND package that allow integrity checking of the named configuration and zone files. These are great tools to maintain your sanity for testing purposes, as named can be quite particular about problems in the configuration and zone files.

[bash]# named-checkconf /etc/named.conf

The most common errors for misconfiguration in the named file are missing semicolons ";" after parameter settings.

The zone file should be checked for format consistency, and should resemble the above example.com zone file (substitutions should be made for the domain and hosts being configured).

[bash]# named-checkzone -d example.com /var/named/data/master-example.com

loading "example.com" from "/var/named/master-example.com" class "IN"

zone example.com/IN: loaded serial 10

OK

The reverse zone file should also be checked for any errors.

[bash]# named-checkzone -d 1.168.192.in-addr.arpa /var/named/data/reverse-192.168.1

loading "1.168.192.in-addr.arpa" from "/var/named/data/reverse-192.168.1" class "IN"

zone 1.168.192.in-addr.arpa/IN: loaded serial 10

OK