SDB:How to Set up a Caching-Only DNS Server

Situation:

You want to set up a caching-only DNS server.

Solution:

BIND 8:

Install the package bind8.
Insert the following lines in /etc/named.conf:

forwarders {
        192.168.0.10;
        192.168.0.20;
        192.168.0.30;
};
forward only;
Explanation: At forwarders you find the IP numbers of the DNS servers to which DNS requests, which cannot be resolved directly, are forwarded. forward only; determines whether the requests will be only forwarded to the specified DNS server/s or, if the given DNS server/s do not know the answer, the request will be sent to the root name server. The entry forward only; results in all requests being forwarded and none sent to the root DNS servers (recommended).

General procedure

For SuSE Linux versions up to 7.3, set the following option in /etc/rc.config/:

START_NAMED=yes

From SuSE Linux 8.0 on, insert:

insserv named

While you are at it, you can also enter the server for the local system:

NAMESERVER=192.168.102.1

Enter 127.0.0.1 if you work exclusively with dynamic IP addresses. The settigs will be applied when you start /sbin/SuSEconfig after booting or with

init 1
init 2 (from SuSE Linux 8.0 on, init 3)

<keyword>dns,cache,named,bind</keyword>