Prerequisites

• running server with CentOS 9
• root or sudo privileges
• An available domain name to configure

Step 1: Installing BIND

As always start with updating the system:

sudo yum update -y

Once updated and reboot, install BIND and its utilties

sudo yum install bind bind-utils -y

Edit the main BIND configuration file named named.conf:

vi /etc/named.conf

Inside the configuration file, set the options for your DNS server. Below is a basic configuration snippet:

options {
        listen-on port 53 { any; };
        //listen-on-v6 port 53 { ::1; };
        directory       "/var/named";
        dump-file       "/var/named/data/cache_dump.db";
        statistics-file "/var/named/data/named_stats.txt";
        memstatistics-file "/var/named/data/named_mem_stats.txt";
        secroots-file   "/var/named/data/named.secroots";
        recursing-file  "/var/named/data/named.recursing";
        allow-query     { any; };

        recursion no;

        dnssec-validation yes;

        managed-keys-directory "/var/named/dynamic";
        geoip-directory "/usr/share/GeoIP";

        pid-file "/run/named/named.pid";
        session-keyfile "/run/named/session.key";

        include "/etc/crypto-policies/back-ends/bind.config";
};

The above settings allow the server to listen on port 53 for any incoming DNS requests and respond to queries from any source.

Step 3: Defining the Zone Files

Create forward and reverse zone definitions within the named.conf file. These will point to the actual files that contain the DNS records.

zone "paessens.local" IN {
        type master;
        file "/var/named/paessens.local.zone";
};

zone "122.168.192.in-addr.arpa" IN {
        type master;
        file "/var/named/192.168.122.rev";
};

Be sure to replace paessens.local with your actual domain name and adjust the reverse zone file name to reflect your network’s IP address space.

Step 4: Creating Zone Files

Create the forward zone file:

vi /var/named/paessens.local.zone

Insert the DNS records for your domain:

$TTL 86400
@   IN   SOA   dns.paessens.local. admin.paessens.local. (
               2023010401   ;Serial
               3600         ;Refresh
               1800         ;Retry
               604800       ;Expire
               86400        ;Minimum TTL
)

;Name Server Information
@   IN   NS    dns.paessens.local.

;IP address for hostname
dns   IN   A     192.168.122.2

;Additional A Records
@        IN   A   192.168.122.1
host     IN   A   192.168.122.3
engine   IN   A   192.168.122.4

Similarly, create the reverse zone file:

vi /var/named/192.168.122.rev

And define reverse mappings:

$TTL 86400
@   IN   SOA   dns.paessens.local. admin.paessens.local. (
               2023010401  ;Serial
               3600        ;Refresh
               1800        ;Retry
               604800      ;Expire
               86400       ;Minimum TTL
)

@   IN   NS  dns.paessens.local.
1   IN   PTR paessnes.local.
2   IN   PTR dns.paessens.local.
3   IN   PTR host.paessens.local.
4   IN   PTR engine.paessens.local.

Step 5: Starting and Enabling BIND

After configuring BIND and setting up the zone files, start the BIND service:

systemctl start named

Enable it to run on system boot:

systemctl enable named

References

How to Set Up a Primary DNS Server with BIND on CentOS 9