bind on standalone pc

[Kevin Darcy]

Jens wrote:

> I have a standalone PC with internet dial-up.
> I'd like to use bind 8.2.4 for
> a) caching
> b) aliasing
> c) resolving of non-ICANN names
>
> b) means that I want to resolve "smtp" depending on the provider I
> use. For example if I use provider1, "smtp" should be resolved to
> smtpx.provider1.com.

If your provider provides a reasonable "default domain" via DHCP, then
you should just be able to configure your MTA with the unqualified name
"smtp" and it should just work, shouldn't it? Why do you need help from
BIND here?

For that matter, why do you need to configure your MTA with your
provider's SMTP server name at all? Why not just use the MX records in
the Internet DNS and deliver mail directly to their destinations? Is
your provider adding any value here?

> And with c) I want to resolv names like www.bbc.news, i.e. I define
> some extrax (root-)servers.

Configure your nameserver as a root server with a version of the root
zone which is a superset of the real root zone. Make sure this "private
root" server never answers queries from the Internet, however, otherwise
you could poison other people's caches. Also, make sure to keep your
private root zone constantly in synch with the real root zone otherwise
you may find yourself unable to resolve names in recently-added ccTLDs
and the like.


- KKevin