Chapter 4 Name Resolution

At a Glance

Instructors notes
Chapter Objectives Instructor Notes Discussion Topics Quick Quizzes Key Terms

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
Understand the domain name service (DNS) Identify the components of DNS Install and configure DNS Troubleshoot DNS

INSTRUCTOR NOTES
What is DNS? It is used to map host names to IP addresses on the Internet. It is also called name resolution or address resolution. Whenever a host is added, a configuration file has to be manually changed. A host represents a service on a server such as ftp or a Web server. There can be many hosts on a single computer. Name resolution is used in Windows LAN to achieve the same thing. DNS in Windows is designed to be dynamic - as computers are added to the network, DNS automatically changes. It is called DDNS or Dynamic DNS. On your PC, the TCP/IP configuration contains the address(es) of your DNS server(s). Whenever you use a URL, whether in a browser, or a utility such as ping, DNS servers are used to translate the host, such as www.technowidgets.com, to an IP address. Domain Namespaces The root level domain is "." (a dot) which is significant in creating DNS files. Top level domains include com, org, fr. More top level domains were added in 2000. . Second-level domains are often owned by companies and individuals. They include microsoft.com, devry.edu, and redhat.com. A subdomain is a further division of a second-level domain. For example, devry.edu is divided into phx.devry.edu, nj.devry.edu, and many others. The organizations who own second-level domains, such as devry.edu, have control over naming within their domain. For example, they can create hosts such as www.devry.edu, ftp.devry.edu, and bb.devry.edu. A name such as www.devry.edu is a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) New top-level domains .biz - businesses .info - anyone can register .name - must register first and last name .pro - for professionals only - must provide proof .aero, .museum, .coop are controlled by organizations Host Names The first portion of a URL is typically a host name and is typically different from the name of the computer. Many hosts can be associated with the same Web server. For example, web hosting company may have hundreds of Web sites on the same computer with each one belonging to a different domain. How DNS Works The Name Server (DNS server) supports name-to-address and address-to-name resolution. The name resolver (DNS client) can contact DNS server to lookup a host name in order to get the associated IP address. DNS is used by browsers, email clients, and client utilities such as ping and tracert There are two categories of DNS Servers.

The first category is responsible for creating the Internet "database". The primary and secondary servers store the host names used on the Internet. The second category of DNS servers resolve host names to determine IP addresses. The caching and forwarding servers search the Internet for host names. The primary server defines the hosts for the domain and maintains the database for the domain. The secondary server gets data from primary server. It provides fault tolerance and load distribution. The secondary server is required for Internet domains. Your ISP often has both the primary and secondary DNS server. However, you can maintain them if you want. The caching server resolves host names. It caches (saves) the result. It is automatically installed when DNS is installed. A forwarding server is a caching server that has access to Internet and forwards traffic from other caching servers. When you configure DNS, you configure a zone. A zone is a part of the domain namespace. For a domain as small as techowidgets.com, the domain name represents a single zone. For large organizations (such as IBM), subdomains can be divided into separately maintained zones. Each zone typically has a separate DNS. There must be one primary DNS server in each zone (plus a secondary server). Each zone can have multiple secondary DNS servers. Forward lookup zone - map name to IP address Reverse Lookup zone - map IP address to name

QUICK QUIZ
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. What does DNS stand for? Answer: Domain Name Service In the DNS structure, com, edu and org would be found at what level? Answer: toplevel What are the top-level domains that were approved in November, 2000? Answer: biz, info, name, pro, aero, museum, coop Which types of DNS servers that can be used to search the Internet for host names? Answer: Caching, forwarding True/False. DNS works to translate host names in browsers and e-mail clients. Answer: True True/False. You must make sure that your computer name is the same as the host name in DNS. Answer: False

DNS configuration in Linux /etc/named.conf describes the files that configure the zones There are two primary files that it describes. The forward lookup is described by named.technowidgets.com. It has our host names and how to handle e-mail. The reverse lookup is described by named.0.168.192

In /etc/named.conf, to create a DNS for the technowidgets.com domain add the following line: zone "technowidgets.com" { type master; file named.technowidgets.com; }; This allows technowidgets.com to be resolved by /var/named/named.technowidgets.com There can be multiple domains in a single named.conf file Also, we can add the following line to reference the reverse lookup file: zone 0.168.192.in-addr.arpa IN { type master; file named.0.168.192; }; It uses all or part of the 192.168.0.0 network The following is the named.technowidgets.com file: /var/named.technowidgets.com
$TTL 86400 @ IN SOA web1.technowidgets.com. admn.technowidgets.com. ( 2002072100 ; Serial 28800 ; Refresh 14400 ; Retry 3600000 ; Expire 86400 ) ; Minimum IN NS web1 IN A 192.168.0.100 IN MX 10 mail.technowidgets.com. A 192.168.0.100 CNAME web1 IN A 192.168.0.150 IN MX 10 mail A 192.168.0.200

web1 IN www IN research mail IN

The following named.0.168.192:

$TTL 86400 @ IN SOA web1.technowidgets.com. admn.technowidgets.com. ( 2002072100 ; Serial 28800 ; Refresh 14400 ; Retry 3600000 ; Expire 86400 ) ; Minimum NS web1 PTR web1.technowidgets.com.

IN 100 IN

150 200

IN IN

PTR PTR

research.technowidgets.com. mail.technowidgets.com.

Starting DNS in Linux To start DNS /etc/rc.d/init.d/named start To restart DNS /etc/rc.d/init.d/named restart To stop DNS /etc/rc.d/init.d/named stop To make DNS start when you boot Linux, add the command to start DNS to /etc/rc.d/rc.local. Configuring Client DNS in Linux Modify /etc/resolv.config The following line directs the client to use the DNS server at 192.168.0.100 nameserver 192.168.0.100 The following line associates this computer with the technowidgets.com domain domain technowidgets.com Test the DNS First, configure the Windows PC to use the DNS server: Start->settings->Network and Dialup Connections Right-click on Local Area Connection and select Properties Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click on Properties Change DNS to 192.168.0.10 Reboot, login, and go to a command prompt. Then type: ping www.technowidgits.com

QUICK QUIZ
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. True/False. DNS servers cannot be spit between your organization and your ISP. Either you have all the necessary DNS servers or your ISP has them. Answer: False True/False. In an SOA record, the serial number is your unique number you received when you registered your domain name. Answer: False What DNS record associates a host to an IP address? Answer: A or Address What DNS record creates an alias for a specified host? Answer: Canonical Name or CNAME The Linux utility dig, stands for what? Answer: domain information grouper What DNS record performs reverse DNS lookups? Answer: PTR

Discussion Topics
1. Describe the DNS hierarchy 2. Describe the servers that resolve names 3. Describe the servers that define the Internet

Key Terms
address resolution The process of converting a computer name to a numeric IP address. alias An alternate name, as for a computer or mailbox. Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) The software used for DNS in Linux and other non-Windows servers. caching server A server that is not authoritative for any zone. Instead, it handles queries by asking other servers for information. canonical name A hosts official name, the first hostname listed for the computers IP address in the hostname database. Dynamic Domain Name Service (DDNS) A service that allows DNS to be automatically updated when the IP address of a workstation changes or a new workstation is added to the network. Only Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003 support DDNS. forward lookup A zone that contains entries that map names to IP addresses. forwarding servers Servers that process requests that DNS servers cannot resolve locally. A forwarding server is not really a separate type of server, but a caching server used in a particular way. Also called a forwarder. host An individual computer on a network. host name A name that refers to a computer; more specifically, a service running on a computer. For example, ftp.technowidgets.com, www.technowidgets.com, and www.productswithpizazz.com are all host names that could exist on the same computer. name resolution Taking a common name of a network resourcea Web server, for instanceand converting it into a corresponding IP address. The name can be in the form of a DNS host name, such as www.technowidgets.com, or, in Windows, a computer name such as Web1. name resolver A DNS client. Technically, a name resolver is the client software component that uses the services of one or more name servers. name server An application that supports name-to-address and address-to-name translation. Also known as a DNS server. namespace A common grouping of related names such as hosts within a LAN. reverse lookup A zone that contains entries that map IP addresses to names. reverse (or reversing) proxy server A server designed to isolate your Web server environment from the Internet. Instead of your DNS pointing to your Web servers IP address, it points to the IP address of your proxy server. When an Internet user requests a Web page, the proxy server retrieves the page from an internal server, and then sends it back to the user. root server A special type of server that identifies the top-level domains on the Internet. secondary server A server that receives its authority and database from the primary server. The secondary server provides fault tolerance, load distribution, and easier remote name resolution for the primary DNS server. second-level domain A level that identifies a particular entity within a top-level domain. The second-level domain name includes the top-level domain.

Start of Authority (SOA) A type of resource record used by DNS where every domain name has an SOA record in its database that indicates basic properties of the domain and its zone. subdomain Second-level domains that are divided into further domain levels, as in the URL www.arda.jones.name. In this case, jones.name is the second-level domain controlled by the .name TLD, and arda.jones.name represents the subdomain that a person can register. top-level domain (TLD) Identifies the most general portion of the domain name. It is the end portion of the domain name, as in com, edu, and org.