HP-UX IP Address and Client Management Administrator's Guide (October 2009)

The advantage of a slave server is that you need to maintain only one set of the DNS database
files, and you need not synchronize these data files with other name servers.
A slave server can operate in either of the following methods:
• The slave server can store the authoritative data in backup files on its disk. When this type
of a slave server reboots, the slave server reads its data from the backup files and does not
to rely on loading data from a master server. After it is booted, the slave server checks with
the master server to verify that its data is up to date.
• The slave server can store the authoritative data only in the memory. When this type of slave
server boots, it always loads its data from a master server.
To set up a slave server, you need the following files:
• named.conf
• db.127.0.0
• db.cache
This section explains how to configure a slave server in your domain. It discusses the following
topics:
• “Creating Slave Server Data Files Using hosts_to_named” (page 77)
• “Creating the Slave Server’s Data Files Manually” (page 77)
• “Setting the Default Domain Name” (page 79)
Creating Slave Server Data Files Using hosts_to_named
This section discusses the steps involved in creating the slave server configuration files using
the hosts_to_named command.
1. If you want your slave server to store its data in backup files on its disk, run the
hosts_to_named command on the slave server as follows:
/usr/sbin/hosts_to_named -z primary_server’s_IP_address
If you want your slave server to always load its data from the master server, run
hosts_to_named on the slave server as follows:
/usr/sbin/hosts_to_named -Z primary_server’s_IP_address
2. If you run hosts_to_named with the -z option, copy the file conf.sec.save from the
current directory on the master server to the /etc directory on the slave server.
If you run hosts_to_named with the -Z option, copy the file conf.sec from the current
directory on the master server to the /etc directory on the slave server.
3. On the slave server, rename /etc/conf.sec.save or /etc/conf.sec to
/etc/named.conf.
4. Copy the files /etc/named.data/db.cache and /etc/named.data/db.127.0.0 from
the master server to the slave server.
The format of the data files copied from the master server is described in “Configuring a Master
Name Server” (page 67).
An example named.conf configuration file for a slave server is shown in “Creating the Slave
Server’s Data Files Manually” (page 77).
For more information on hosts_to_named, type man 1M hosts_to_named at the HP-UX
prompt.
Creating the Slave Server’s Data Files Manually
To create the slave server’s data files manually, complete the following steps:
Configuring a Slave Name Server 77