Managine DNS (bind) information for OSX client

[Dan Shoop]

At 11:24 AM -0700 5/24/07, Kurt Werle wrote:
>I will soon start managing 2-3 domain's DNS information.  I really don't
>enjoy editing named.conf by hand.  I'm considering installing webmin to
>help deal with this, but thought I'd ask for suggestions for other tools.

Serious, the best tools for this is your favorite editor. GUI tools 
do not offer the richness and options that crafting well mannered 
zone files normally require. This of course also means you need to 
understand BIND's configuration, how DNS operates, best practices for 
zone files and why you don't do certain things. The "DNS and BIND" 
book and "DNS Cookbook" are both pretty much mandatory reading prior 
to your management of DNS, regardless of how you manage the 
underlying configuration and zones.

However, you should first consider if you should be hosting your DNS. 
Unless you have a dual-homed WAN network you really don't qualify for 
hosting your DNS as the specifications call for two DNS servers for 
your zone on two different networks to assure availability.

I'd suggest that if you don't have a dual-homed WAN that you consider 
using a DNS hosting service company, like dyndns. Most of these 
services offer excellent wed based GUIs. In many cases you can also 
implement the hosting company as a DNS slave and you maintain a local 
DNS master server that you then manage.

Remember, even the big enterprises, for example Microsoft, don't host 
their own DNS, for a wide range of reasons.
-- 

-dhan

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Dan Shoop                                                   AIM: iWiring
Systems & Networks Architect                      http://www.ustsvs.com/
shoop at iwiring.net                                http://www.iwiring.net/
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