file systems

DNS & Bind by Cricket Liu has been the authoritative reference to all things DNS since it was first published several years ago. As I write this review in July of 2001, nothing has changed.

Taking the reader from the basic concepts of DNS and distributed host databases to set up to administration, DNS & Bind delivers a complete package that no other title has been able to match.

This book is easily the most comprehensive, well-organized, and clearly written text on DNS/BIND. Although the book does assume some prior experience with UNIX-type systems, it has enough high-level language and examples to keep the playing field even.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to both novices and system administrators alike.

I really needed to understand DNS/BIND; not just know how to start, run, and update it- but really understand DNS. This book was perfect. The authors introduced DNS with a high-level overview and then moved in closer to help you set it up. You can actually read the fist 3 chapters and work through the next 2 while setting up your server and domain. The rest of the book really gets into the nuts and bolts of DNS and BIND. Don't stop after chapter 5, continue reading and pick all the knowledge you will need to be a DNS/BIND admin.

If you've been afraid of diving into the depths of DNS, maybe because your readings through a few RFC documents proved fruitless, then fear no more.

In the first few chapter your taught how DNS servers work, sparing no detail. Concepts like negative-caching, recursive resolution, and inverse queries are explained and demonstrated with great examples and graphs. The chapters on configuring and managing BIND almost make things look too simple and easy. This is also a great book to learn how to use tools like 'nslookup' and 'dig'.

When it comes to the world of DNS records it's hard to find authoritative answers to questions, besides a few sites like Mr.DNS, the authors of this book recognized that need and sought to help fill the gap of knowledge.