Basic DNS proposed setup/functionality question

[Chris Buxton]

At 11:24 AM +0900 5/31/01, Jean-Christian Imbeault wrote:
>We have a LAN that uses private IP addresses and is connected to our ISP
>by
>a firewall. (I'm assuming it does some sort of NATing since we have
>access
>to the Net).
>
>Basically I want to be able to address machines in our LAN by name
>instead
>of IP. So I tough I'd set up a local DNS server that would answer for
>queries
>on the LAN for names on the LAN and pass everything else on.
>
>This might sound like a basic question, but is this the right way to go?

Yes, it works fine. You'll want to configure your internal DNS server 
to forward queries to your ISP's servers. What you describe is 
precisely what I have set up on my own small office LAN.

>Can
>I simply just pass requests on to the name servers we currently use (our
>
>ISP's I presume) and just forget about what happens next.

Essentially.

>  Or will my
>local DNS server be taxed by replies from the requests in passes on?

It'll have to relay those replies back to the client machines.

>(I ask this since the local machine is an old Pentium 300 and I don't
>know
>if it can handle being a full fledged DNS server on top of a Samba and
>http server.)

LOL!

Sorry for laughing, but a few of our customers are running DNS 
servers on 60 MHz PowerPC's, serving hundreds of zones and/or 
handling hundreds of recursive queries per second. I have in the past 
used a 25 MHz Motorolla 68030 processor as my own personal resolver.

DNS is a very lightweight protocol, especially when you use 
forwarding rather than having your server do its own recursive 
resolving. It takes relatively little RAM, hard drive space, network 
bandwidth, and CPU time.
____________________________________________________________________

Chris Buxton <cbuxton at menandmice.com>

Men & Mice <http://www.menandmice.com/> provides:
  - DNS training, including Active Directory
  - QuickDNS, a DNS management system for servers on Linux & Mac OS
    (Solaris support coming soon!)
  - DNS Expert, a DNS analysis and troubleshooting utility
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