BIND 9 features

Views on a single IBM i DNS server

The view statement allows a single DNS instance to answer a query differently depending on where the query comes from, such as the Internet or an intranet.

One practical application of the view feature is to split DNS setups without having to run multiple DNS servers. For example, in a single DNS server, you can define a view to answer queries from an internal network, while define another view to answer queries from external network.

New client commands

The following client commands enhance the management capability of your DNS server:

Dynamic Update Utility (NSUPDATE)

The Dynamic Update Utility (NSUPDATE) command is used to submit Dynamic DNS Update requests as defined in Request for Comments (RFC) 2136 to a DNS server. This allows resource records to be added or removed from a zone while the DNS server is running. Thus, you do not need to update records by manually editing the zone file. A single update request can contain requests to add or remove multiple resource records, but the resource records that are dynamically added or removed with the NSUPDATE command should be in the same zone.

Note: Do not manually edit zones that are under dynamic control by using the NSUPDATE command or through a DHCP server. Manual edits might conflict with dynamic updates and cause data to be lost.

Start DIG Query (DIG)

Domain Information Groper (DIG) is a more powerful query tool, compared with the Name Server Lookup (NSLOOKUP) command, that you can use to retrieve information from a DNS server or test the response of a DNS server. The NSLOOKUP command is deprecated and is only provided for compatibility with earlier versions. You can use DIG to verify that a DNS server is responding correctly before you configure your system to use it. You can also retrieve DNS information about hosts, domains, and other DNS servers by using DIG.

You can use the Start DIG Query (STRDIGQRY) command or its alias DIG to start the Domain Information Groper tool.

Start HOST Query (HOST)

The Start HOST Query (HOST) command is used for DNS lookups. You can use it to convert domain names to IP addresses (either IPv4 or IPv6) and vice versa.

Remote Name Daemon Control (RNDC)

The Remote Name Daemon Control (RNDC) command is a powerful utility that allows a system administrator to control the operation of a name server. It reads a configuration file, called rndc.conf, to determine how to contact the name server and to determine what algorithm and key it should use. If no rndc.conf file is found, then, by default, an rndc-key._KID file that is created during installation is used, which automatically grants access through the loopback interface.

IPv6 support

BIND 9 supports name-to-address and address-to-name lookups in all currently defined forms of IPv6. For forward lookups, BIND 9 supports both AAAA and A6 records, but A6 records are now deprecated. For IPv6 reverse lookups, it supports the traditional ”nibble” format used in the ip6.arpa domain, as well as the older, deprecated ip6.int domain.

Journal files

Journal files are used to hold dynamic updates for a zone. It is automatically created when the first dynamic update from a client is received, and does not disappear. This is a binary file and should not be edited.

With the journal file, when a server is restarted after a shutdown or crash, it replays the journal file to incorporate into the zone any updates that took place after the last zone dump. Journal files are also used to store updates for the incremental zone transfers (IXFR) method.