The default caching-nameserver package configuration files are your starting point.
In a full-fledged DNS server configuration, you would work with the following files:
| DNS Server Configuration Files | |
| File | Description |
| /etc/named.conf | Holds the list of DNS zones and types (master or slave) that this name daemon will control. |
| /var/named/<zonename>.zone | A zone configuration file for forward lookups: “A” records map FQDNs to IPs “CNAME” records (canonical name records) supplement the “A” list “NS” records hold DNS server host names “MX” records hold mail server host names |
| /var/named/<encoded_IP>.in-addr.arpa | Holds reverse lookup records: “PTR” records list names used for a particular network; the network address is encoded by reversing the order of the octets: 192.168.2.0 network has the file 1.168.192.in-addr.arpa |
| /var/named/named.local | Holds a “PTR” record pointing to the loopback address, 127.0.0.1 |
| /var/named/named.ca | Holds the IP address of top-level DNS servers; commonly called the “DNS cache file.” |