On most modern networks, including the Internet, users locate other computers by name. This frees users from the daunting task of remembering the numerical network address of network resources. The most effective way to configure a network to allow such name-based connections is to set up a Domain Name Service (DNS) or a nameserver, which resolves hostnames on the network to numerical addresses and vice versa.

This chapter reviews the nameserver included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) DNS server, with an emphasis on the structure of its configuration files and how it may be administered both locally and remotely.