Hi,

I'm completly new to Unix. Never had to get involved with it apart from playing around with it when it first come out.

Now I have to learn since I need to get a simple web server set up, but later it may get more complex. So I've been reading and trying stuff out and I'm getting more used to Linux.

My server is pretty much up and running, I can browse my pages using the ip address, but I've got to set up the DNS next, and that's where I'm getting lost. I've looked at a few how tos, but they refer to files and directories that don't exist, so I'm looking for pointers.

OK Questions:

Before I do anything I want to know if there is a DNS already installed, so does Linux come with DNS in the distribution, or do I need to go find some software? How can I tell if there is a DNS service running already?

If there is, is there a simple howto on configuring it?

Once that's set up, do I just need to go to my regsitrar website and set the DNS of my website using my server's ip addresses?

Please be kind here, I'm almost clueless in Linux, but strangly enuff it's not nearly so hard as I remember it being when I used it years ago.

thanks for replies

Oh and I have Red Hat 9, if that makes a difference.

dave

I think this is hard. Not a newbie question. Should have been posted in the networking forum. I haven't used Red hat 9 so I don't know what it has installed but Beyond Linux From Scratch has a good page about BIND http://lfs.securewebservices.co.uk/b...ther.html#bind
You should also read the BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual

Edit - also worth reading, the Linux Network Administrators Guide

Thanks for the pointers Andrew. Posted here cos I'm not sure what's hard or easy. Seems not to be a simple one, which is why I didn't find the answer in my net searches I guess, but it's something everyone who's set up a server from scratch has encountered.

I'll take a look at those links, and also see if I can ask around see if any of my friends are Unix experts. Not a topic I've ever had to discuss with them ;-).

The confusing thing for me is the number of ditectories all called /usr/etc/bin and so on and finding which file is where. That's half the battle.

thanks again


dave

most of the configuration files are in /etc. Bind should be installed or on the installation media for Red Hat 9. If you are planning to put this server on the internet you should upgrade to a newer distro since Red Hat 9 is not getting security updates anymore.