Installing and Administering Internet Services

Chapter 3 85
Configuring and Administering the BIND Name Service
Choosing Name Servers for Your Domain
• If your network is isolated from the Internet, and your host will be
the only BIND name server in your organization, you need to
configure a root name server. See “Configuring a Root Name Server”
on page 132.
To Choose Which Servers Will Be Master Servers
Follow these guidelines when selecting a master server:
• You must have at least two master servers per domain: a primary
master and one or more secondary masters for redundancy. One host
may be master for multiple domains: primary for some, secondary for
others.
• Choose hosts that are as independent as possible for redundancy. For
example, choose hosts that use different power sources or cables.
• Choose hosts that have the most reliable Internet connectivity, with
the best gateway connections.
• Name servers for a particular zone need not physically reside within
that domain. In general, zones are more accessible to the rest of the
Internet if their name servers are widely distributed instead of on the
premises of the organization that manages the domain.
A zone is the portion of the name space for which a name server has
the complete set of authoritative data files.