I have a problem with my ISP, BellSouth. Its DNS (Domain Name System) service is slow, and there have been times that it just doesn't work. Since I make my living off nonstop Internet connectivity, this is bad news. Without DNS, using the Web and e-mail becomes almost impossible.
What to do? Well, I could use BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) 9.3 on any of my Linux systems. BIND is almost everyone's favorite DNS software, and I've installed and managed it before. But, and it's a big but, full-scale BIND can be a pain to run. So, for my small—19 PCs and 5 servers—LAN it would be overkill.
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So, I looked for easier solutions that would speed up my Internet access. At the same time, with 24 systems in my house, having a centralized host file system makes a good deal of sense.
One approach is to use BIND, but to use it as a caching-only nameserver. With this, the first time someone on the network asks to be connected to Google, it goes out to BellSouth for the site's IP address, but then the next time someone looks for Google, the local caching nameserver will deliver the address.
Read the full story on Linux-Watch: DIY DNS Service
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