M9AM   Introduction to Domain Name System Administration 
William LeFebvre, Group Sys Consulting

Who should attend: Systems or network administrators who have never been exposed to DNS before, except as users. No prior knowledge of DNS is required, although a basic understanding of the IP protocols, TCP and UDP, data encapsulation, and the seven layer ISO model will be beneficial. This class is designed for the beginning DNS administrator and is the first in a series of two tutorials offered on DNS (M9 am & M12 pm).

This course is an introduction to DNS for network administrators. The Domain Name System (DNS) is the primary method which the Internet uses to name and number machines. It is used to translate names like "www.usenix.org" into a numeric address like 131.106.3.253. DNS is critical to the operation of the Internet and any site which is serious about joining the Internet community will need to understand how to configure and administer DNS.

This course will describe the basic operation of DNS, and will provide instructions and guidelines for the configuration and operation of DNS on UNIX platforms using the BIND software distribution. This class is designed for the beginner and is intended to provide a foundation for the afternoon tutorial (M12 pm) "Intermediate Topics in Domain Name System Administration."

Topics to be covered include:

	DNS and BIND
	The DNS Name Hierarchy
	The four components of the DNS protocol
	Query methods: iterative versus recursive
	Essential resource records: SOA, A, PTR, CNAME, NS
	Zone transfers and secondaries
	Vendor-specific differences