Web Server Programming

Chapter 4
Domain Name System

The Domain Name System (DNS) chapter of the text is purely background information. Students need some general understanding of the workings of DNS, but it is unlikely that a school could set up practical exercises. (Each student would need to take control of, and probably wreck, the operation of a couple of subnets with a local DNS server.)

Of course, out on the web there is more information about DNS and BIND (the most common implementation of DNS). The DNS Resources directory has sections with links to overviews of DNS, and to the reference documents and tutorials.

The Internet Software Consortium is the home of BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain implementation of DNS). Amongst other data, it has a history of the development of this software. At a simpler level, the "How it Works" site has an article on DNS. Network solutions will be happy to sell you a domain name (there are similar organizations at national levels).

The essential text for DNS managers remains that by Albitz & Liu:

This is published by O'Reilly & Associates with ISBN: 0-596-00158-4. You can get it from Amazon; Amazon has about 30 titles with specialist texts covering DNS on Windows, on Linux, and so forth.

Other miscellaneous DNS data available include the official list of top level domains (there are some really improbable ones like Christmas Island, and Bouvet Island). The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) site also has links to reference documentation on IP protocols, CIDR etc. Other sites with explanations of IP addressing, CIDR etc include Freesoft.org, Pacific Bell, and Computer Networking.