BIND uses configuration files rather than registry values or a GUI tool. The configuration files end in .conf and they’re plain text files so they can be edited in your favourite text editor. I strongly recommend Notepad++ rather than something like WordPad otherwise you could run into problems with the CRLF ANSI code (Carriage Return and Line Feed – used to signify a new line).
All BIND configuration files live in a subfolder of the installation folder called etc. So if your installation folder was C:\BIND then the configuration files will be stored in C:\BIND\etc.
The most important configuration file is named.conf – this is what BIND looks for on startup. Common practice is now for named.conf to separately reference other configuration files instead. This makes configuration management a lot simpler. Think of it like this:
| BIND | The main program, also called named | ||
| > | named.conf | The primary configuration file | |
| > | named.conf.options | This file contains named settings | |
| > | named.conf.local | This file contains a list of zones managed by this server | |
| > | named.conf.logging | A detailed configuration file which instructs BIND how to log each event type |
Now that you understand the purpose of each BIND configuration file you’re ready to continue with your setup for either a caching-only nameserver, an authoritative nameserver, or both.