Re: dns?

[Andrew Cady <d@jerkface.net>]

On Sat, Feb 25, 2006 at 11:25:49PM -0800, Alvin Oga wrote:
> 
> hi ya
> 
> > Rylan Vroom wrote:
> > 
> > Hello, How do you tell debian to use a local dns server before going
> > to = the ones maintained by my ISP?
> 
> you can't ...

You sure can.

> vi /etc/resolv.conf
> 	localhost
> 	dns.isp.net
> 	dns2.isp2.net
> 
> if localhost does not reply in time, it's bz ls -laR'ing, it will go
> to the isp

This timeout can be adjusted in resolv.conf, or the other hosts can be
removed, although I'm not sure that's what OP meant; I suspect he just
wants priority to be given to the local DNS server.  If that is the
case, it is sufficient to list it first.

> adding localhost is a bad idea if you do not have
> a domain configured on that machine 
> 	your-domain.com
> 
> and you should not be using your pc as a dns server either...

Running a local caching dns server is just fine, and can improve
performance.  If you are serving dhcp on a network, it is more or less
required.  This is quite distinct from running an authoritative DNS
server which serves requests to the internet; that should not be done on
a home PC, unless you know what you're doing.  But probably only people
who do would even try.

resolv.conf(5) contains an interesting comment:

  On a normally configured system this file should not be necessary.
  The only name server to be queried will be on the local machine; the
  domain name is determined from the host name and the domain search
  path is constructed from the domain name.

No doubt this is a holdover from ancient unix tradition: a "normal"
modern system is far less likely to run a local DNS server.  However, it
still doesn't hurt.