We need:
- One Vanilla Installation of Ubuntu 10.0 (any version should still work fine)
- Machine with enough hard disk space (i used about 10gb for a NON-production testing only machine)
- A working internet connection
Lets get started.
*quick note, i have a GUI installed in this box (XFCE) this is absolutly NOT necessary (and most of the time NOT recommended for actual servers)
Set up your Server’s Hostname properly:
to view your current hostname: cat /etc/hostname
cat is a util used to print text out to standard out from a text file. /etc/hostname is where the hostname of the computer is stored.
How to View your Hostname
To set a Host-name simply:
echo “YOUR-HOST-NAME-HERE” > /etc/hostname
echo is a program to repeat what you types into standard out. The “>” sign is for porting information in linux. Here we port that information into the file “/etc/hostname”
Setting a custom host-name in your Computer
Set your Domain preferences:
to view your current settings: cat /etc/resolv.conf
to set a new domain: echo “domain geek.local” > /etc/resolv.conf
Setting up your Network Settings:
Now normally, in a real life situation you’d have a Static IP for your DNS server (this isnt a recommendation this is a MUST). However, personally i’m setting this up on a Vritual Machine, which means i have to switch between connecting the server to my REAL network and to my virtual network. What does this mean for us? We basically need to be a wizzz at changing your network settings on the fly!
Here’s the quick Run down:
Viewing your Current Network Settings:
ifconfig -a
This will basically show you all your currently set network settings. Dont get confused by the “lo” interface. That’s the local loop interface in Linux.
To set a static IP on your network interface:
ifconfig <interfacename> <ip-address> netmask <network-mask/subnet mask>
eg. ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.110 netmask 255.255.255.0
Setting a Static IP for a selected Network Interface
To get IP settings automatically from a DHCP server
dhclient <interface-name>
e.g. dhclient eth0
Getting down Network Configuration settings from a DHCP server
Installing BIND9 and other Necessary Tools
1. Make sure your server is connected to the internet
2. sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get update
3. sudo apt-get install bind9 dnsutils
Installing BIND9 & DNSUTILS
If everything went well, you should see this message:
Success!
Setting up Forward-look-up files and reverse look-up files will be posted shortly!
