DNS server unique zone

Here, I will present the installation of:

• Local domain (.local)

That means all the INTERNAL resources are private. Nothing is reachable from the outside.

In the following examples I'll be using:

• INTERNAL zone: smartcards.local
• DNS server name: smartcard-gw
• Network: 172.16.50.0/24 ; router: 172.16.50.1 ; DNS server IP: 172.16.50.2

Zone configuration (name to IP @)

Declare the new zone

Edit configuration file:

vim /etc/bind/named.conf.local

Uncomment and adjust the file content

zone "smartcards.local" {
	type master;
        file "/etc/bind/smartcards.local";
};

Zone configuration file

Create the zone configuration file from a local template:

cp /etc/bind/db.local /etc/bind/smartcards.local

Edit configuration file:

vim /etc/bind/smartcards.local

Adjust the file content

;
; BIND data file for smartcards.local
;
$TTL    604800
@       IN      SOA     smartcard-gw.smartcards.local. root.smartcards.local. (
                       20140603         ; Serial
                                        ; As the serial be changed everytime you edit this file
                                        ; it is recommended to use the pattern "yyyyMMdd"
                         604800         ; Refresh
                          86400         ; Retry
                        2419200         ; Expire
                         604800 )       ; Negative Cache TTL

; 
; DNS server declaration
; Each NS must point to an A record, not a CNAME. 
; This is where the Primary and Secondary DNS servers are defined
;
@                IN      NS      smartcard-gw.smartcards.local.
smartcard-gw     IN      A       172.16.50.2

;
; Gateway (router)
;
cisco-router      IN      A       172.16.50.1

;
; Declare your servers and networks hosts 
;
smarcartd-prod-00 IN      A       172.16.50.50
smarcartd-prod-01 IN      A       172.16.50.51
smarcartd-prod-02 IN      A       172.16.50.52
smarcartd-prod-03 IN      A       172.16.50.53

; Create an alias to an existing record
;wwww             IN      CNAME   smartcard-gw

Notes:

• Don't forget to adjust the serial every-time you edit the file !

• NS = Name server

• A = IP v4 entry

• AAAA = IP v6 entry

• CNAME = Alias to a previous A or AAAA entry

Reverse zone (IP @ to name)

Now that the zone is setup and resolving names to IP Adresses a Reverse zone is also required. A Reverse zone allows DNS to resolve an address to a name.

Declare reverse zone

Edit configuration file:

vim /etc/bind/named.conf.local

Add the following reverse

# Our reverse zone
# Server IP 172.16.50.2
zone "50.16.172.in-addr.arpa" {
        type master;
        file "/etc/bind/db.172";
};

Key points:

• Replace 50.16.172 with the first three octets of whatever network you are using - in reverse order!

• Name the zone file /etc/bind/db.172 : it should match the first octet of your network.

Configure reverse zone

Now create the /etc/bind/db.172 file:

cp /etc/bind/db.127 /etc/bind/db.172

Edit the new file:

vim /etc/bind/db.172

The content is basically the same as /etc/bind/smartcards.local:

;
; BIND reverse data file for local 172.16.50.XXX net
;
$TTL    604800
@       IN      SOA     smartcard-gw.smartcards.local. root.smartcards.local. (
                       20140603         ; Serial
                                        ; As the serial be changed everytime you edit this file
                                        ; it is recommended to use the pattern "yyyyMMdd"
                         604800         ; Refresh
                          86400         ; Retry
                        2419200         ; Expire
                         604800 )       ; Negative Cache TTL
;
; Local server
;
@       IN      NS      smartcard-gw.
2       IN      PTR     smartcard-gw.smartcards.local.

; Gateway (router)
1       IN      PTR     cisco-router.smartcards.local

;
; Other components and hosts
;
50       IN      PTR     smartcard-prod-00.smartcards.local.
51       IN      PTR     smartcard-prod-01.smartcards.local.
52       IN      PTR     smartcard-prod-02.smartcards.local.
53       IN      PTR     smartcard-prod-03.smartcards.local.

Notes:

• Don't forget to adjust the serial every-time you edit the file !

• You only need to put the last byte value in the reverse

• PTR = redirection to A entry

Take changes into account

service bind9 restart

Add new hostname

This is how we had a new host-name into the network:

Update LOCAL zone

Edit local zone:

vim /etc/bind/smartcards.local

Add a A or AAAA entry:

my-new-host       IN      A       172.16.50.60

Update REVERSE zone

Edit local zone:

vim /etc/bind/db.172

Add a A or AAAA entry:

60       IN      PTR     my-new-host.smartcards.local.

Restart service

service bind9 restart

Sources

You can find a lot of information about DNS on the web. I used the following tutorials:

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BIND9ServerHowto

• https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/serverguide/dns-references.html#dns-record-types

• https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/serverguide/dns-configuration.html

• http://blog.bobbyallen.me/2013/09/19/setting-up-internal-dns-on-ubuntu-server-12-04-lts/

• http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/bind9 (in French)

Bug fixes:

• no forwarding due to DNS-SEC errors (broken trust chain): http://pewetheb.blogspot.se/2013/11/named-error-broken-trust-chain.html