The Domain Naming System (DNS) is a glorious thing. It takes familiar Internet network and machine names (like "amazon.com") and converts them to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses (like "208.35.218.15") that are meaningful to routers and therefore useful for identifying the machine you want to reach. What's amazing is that DNS enables someone in Germany to refer, by name, to a computer in Mongolia even if no one in Germany has ever accessed the distant machine before. It's pretty much self-configuring, too: No human effort in Germany is necessary to make the Mongolian machine reachable by name. DNS and BIND explains how DNS works better for this than any other piece of documentation, printed or otherwise. The work of Paul Albitz and Cricket Liu, now in its fourth revision, has long been considered a classic among systems administrators and network architects, particularly those with a Unix bent.

The fourth edition is mainly an update: The authors have added coverage of incremental and conditional zone transfer with BIND's new NOTIFY features, as well as of Transaction Signatures (TSIG), and DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC). Sections on firewalling and DNS for IPv6 addresses have been expanded. Throughout, Albitz and Liu maintain their impeccable style, combining text and illustrative listings into an educational whole. --David Wall

Topics covered: The Domain Naming System (DNS) and how it's implemented by BIND (through versions 8.2.3 and 9.1.0), how to set up BIND, how to configure MX records for mail service, parent and child domains, NOTIFY, and DNS security.


Book Description
DNS and BIND is about one of the Internet's fundamental building blocks: the distributed host information database that's responsible for translating names into addresses, routing mail to its proper destination, and many other services. As the authors say in the preface, if you're using the Internet, you're already using DNS--even if you don't know it. This edition brings you up to date on the new 9.1.0 and 8.2.3 versions of BIND along with the older 4.9 version. There's also more extensive coverage of NOTIFY, IPv6 forward and reverse mapping, transaction signatures, and the new DNS Security Extensions; and a new section on accommodating Windows 2000 clients, servers, and Domain Controllers.


Book Info
A guide to DNS and BIND, discussing a fundamental Internet building block, the distributed host information database that routes e-mail to its proper destination and performs other important tasks. Provides administrators and users with the tools to be better informed about the Internet and how it works. Softcover.


The publisher, O'Reilly and Associates
This book is a complete guide to the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) and the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) software, the UNIX implementation of DNS. In this second edition, the authors continue to describe BIND version 4.8.3, which is included in most vendor implementations today. In addition, you'll find complete coverage of BIND 4.9.4, which in all probability will be adopted as the new standard in the near future. DNS is the system that translates hostnames (like "rock.ora.com") into Internet addresses (like 192.54.67.23). Until BIND was developed, name translation was based on a "host table"; if you were on the Internet, you got a table that listed all the systems connected to the Net and their addresses. As the Internet grew from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of systems, host tables became unworkable. DNS is a distributed database that solves the same problem effectively, allowing the Net to grow without constraints. Rather than having a central table that gets distributed to every system on the Net, it allows local administrators to assign their own hostnames and addresses and install these names in a local database. This database is automatically distributed to other systems as names are needed. In addition to covering the basic motivation behind DNS and how to set up the BIND software, this book covers many more advanced topics, including using DNS and BIND on Windows NT systems; how to become a "parent" (i.e., "delegate" the ability to assign names to someone else); how to use DNS to set up mail forwarding correctly; debugging and troubleshooting; and programming. Assumes a basic knowledge of system administration and network management.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
O'Reilly's DNS and BIND has long been the authoritative guide to the Domain Name System and its most widespread software implementation. If you're responsible for a DNS server, you've probably owned, borrowed, seen, or at least heard of this classic.

Lately, BIND has been going through a significant transition: the new version 9.x has important new features, fixes some significant security bugs, but is also far less forgiving. If you're upgrading your BIND implementation (or considering it), now's the time to upgrade your copy of DNS and BIND.

In this excellent new Fourth Edition, Paul Albitz and Cricket Liu cover BIND 9.1 in detail -- along with both other widely used implementations, BIND 8.23 and 4.9 (still shipped by several key UNIX vendors). There's extensive new coverage here: NOTIFY, IPv6 forward and reverse mapping, transaction signatures, and DNS Security Extensions; even accommodating Win2K.

As before, DNS and BIND is organized to follow you as implement and manage a DNS zone. You start with theory, then configure hosts, maintain zones, plan growth, create subdomains, and implement security. The book also delivers in-depth troubleshooting help, including both DNS debugging and real-world problem scenarios (some of which boggle the mind.(Bill Camarda)

--Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer with nearly 20 years' experience in helping technology companies deploy and market advanced products and services. He served for nearly ten years as vice president of a New Jersey-based marketing company, where he supervised a wide range of graphics and web design projects. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

DNS and BIND is about one of the Internet's fundamental building blocks: the distributed host information database that's responsible for translating names into addresses, routing mail to its proper destination, and many other services. As the authors say in the preface, if you're using the Internet, you're already using DNS—even if you don't know it.

This edition brings you up to date on the new 9.1.0 and 8.2.3 versions of BIND along with the older 4.9 version. There's also more extensive coverage of NOTIFY, IPv6 forward and reverse mapping, transaction signatures, and the new DNS Security Extensions; and a new section on accommodating Windows 2000 clients, servers and Domain Controllers.

Whether you're an administrator involved daily with DNS or a user who wants to be more informed about the Internet and how it works, you'll find this book essential reading.

Topics include:

What DNS does, how it works, and when you need to use it How to find your own place in the Internet's name space Setting up name servers Using MX records to route mail Configuring hosts to use DNS name servers Subdividing domains (parenting) Securing your name server: restricting who can query your server, preventing unauthorized zone transfers, avoiding bogus name servers, etc. Mapping one name to several servers for load sharing Troubleshooting: using nslookup, reading debugging output, common problems DNS programming, using theresolver library and Perl's Net::DNS module

SYNOPSIS

The fourth edition of DNS and BIND covers the new 9.1.0 and 8.2.3 versions of BIND as well as the older 4.9 version. There's also more extensive coverage of NOTIFY, IPv6 forward and reverse mapping, transaction signatures, and the new DNS Security Extensions; and a section on accommodating Windows 2000 clients, servers and Domain Controllers.

FROM THE CRITICS

Internet Book Watch