setting up redhat dns server

R

ring.of.steel

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hi,

i would like to setup a caching dns server as the one provided by the isp is slowwww. what hardware would you recommend me using? will a pIII 500 be enough?

apparently the packages i need are

Code: 
[LIST]
[*]bind (includes DNS server, named)  	
[*]bind-utils (utilities for querying 	DNS servers about host information)  	
[*]bind-libs (libraries used by the 	bind server and utils package)  	
[*]bind-chroot (tree of files which 	can be used as a chroot jail for bind)  	
[*]caching-nameserver (config files for a simple caching 	nameserver)  	
[/LIST]

how would i configure the server to cache all dns queries and autoflush after 2 weeks? also would i notice a difference compared to the isp server with general browsing. i have a dynamically assigned ip by the isp if this matters.

thanks
 
Setting up a caching BIND server is extremely easy.

Yes, start with those RPMs listed.

You can configure BIND to go out to the internet and do its own recursive lookups, or you can configure it to "forward" all requests to 1 or more other DNS servers (such as your ISPs DNS servers). If your ISP limits you from sending DNS requests out to the internet, you won't have a choice here and will have to forward to their DNS servers. You will, however, get the advantage of your own local cache.

Make sure you configure BIND (it's "acl" keyword in named.conf) to only allow DNS requests from your local network.

You won't need much horsepower at all to run this, especially if it is only for your home use, or small office use. P3/500 will be plenty.

I don't believe you can configure BIND to cache all values for 2 weeks and then auto-flush. BIND will cache based on the TTL values assigned to each resource record. This may be overridable, but I've never bothered with it. Some sites set specific TTL values for a reason (local or global load balancing, etc), such as google or pretty much anyone else using Akamai's DNS system. Also, you may not want to cache negative values for 2 weeks, so be careful there.
 
It would be much easier to just use someone else's DNS servers; no extra computer using power, no configuration hassles, etc (unless you want to learn how to do it).

opendns.com offers free DNS services.
 
Fint said:
It would be much easier to just use someone else's DNS servers; no extra computer using power, no configuration hassles, etc (unless you want to learn how to do it).

opendns.com offers free DNS services.
Click to expand...

It's possibly worth noting that the folks that run opendns.com are a for-profit org, and as such they have a vested interest in you and your browsing habits. If you are ok with that, then I've heard they are great.

I'd never use them though.
 
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