On my network, I have a few computers, so I wanted one to cache dns entries and the rest to go through that computer, making my name resolution faster for frequently visited sites.

  1. Install bind9: sudo apt-get install bind9
  2. Edit /etc/resolv.conf on any system that will go through this nameserver, and add: ‘nameserver 192.168.1.2′ where nameserver is the ip of your server
  3. Modify /etc/bind/named.conf.options on the nameserver, and add:
forward only;    forwarders {      208.67.220.220;      208.67.222.222;    };

Restart the nameserver and visit welcome.opendns.com and it should say everything is good to go. These name servers are noticeably faster than my ISP provided ones. Update: Also check out Christer’s post, didn’t check the planet before I posted.

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