Technical data

8
Domain Name System/BIND (DNS/BIND)
TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS software supports the Berkeley Internet Name
Domain (BIND) service, which is a popular implementation of the Domain Name
System (DNS). BIND has been ported to many platforms, including UNIX,
Windows NT, and OpenVMS.
Before you add BIND servers to your network, you should understand the basic
BIND service concepts as they apply to the TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS product.
They are described in this chapter in the following topics:
• Overview of the BIND Service
• BIND Service Components
•Domains
• Domain Names
• Zones
•ReverseDomain
• BIND Server Functions
• BIND Server Configuration File
• BIND Server Database Files
•BINDResolver
_________________________ Note _________________________
BIND Version 9 is supported on Alpha systems only, and future support
of BIND Version 8 on VAX systems will be limited. Therefore, if you are
using BIND Version 8 on a VAX system, Compaq recommends that you
upgrade your BIND server to an Alpha system.
Things to Consider
In planning your TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS configuration, consider the
following:
• Should I configure BIND as a resolver only?
• Should I configure BIND as a name server only?
• Should I configure BIND and both a resolver and name server?
8.1 Overview of the BIND Service
DNS has a hierarchical, distributed namespace that makes it easy for people to
remember and locate the many hosts located throughout the Internet. Since
computers remember and locate the same hosts through a numerical address,
computers need a method for converting the host name to a numerical address.
BIND is a lookup service that maps host names to IP addresses and IP addresses
to host names in response to queries from other BIND servers and clients in
Domain Name System/BIND (DNS/BIND) 8–1