Q. My local nameserver root zone file is outdated. It has no information about IPv6 and recently changed root server IP address. How do I update my root hints data file under Debian and Red Hat Bind 9 server?
A. Besides your local information, the nameserver also needs to know where the nameservers for the root zone are.
You can retrieve root zone file by visiting ftp://ftp.rs.internic.net. Login as anonymous user and get db.cache file from domain subdirectory.
Sample Old Outdated Root Hints File
; <<>> DiG 9.2.3 <<>> ns . @a.root-servers.net. ;; global options: printcmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 18944 ;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 13, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 13 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;. IN NS ;; ANSWER SECTION: . 518400 IN NS A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 518400 IN NS M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION: A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 198.41.0.4 B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 192.228.79.201 C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 192.33.4.12 D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 128.8.10.90 E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 192.203.230.10 F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 192.5.5.241 G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 192.112.36.4 H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 128.63.2.53 I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 192.36.148.17 J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 192.58.128.30 K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 193.0.14.129 L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 198.32.64.12 M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 IN A 202.12.27.33 ;; Query time: 81 msec ;; SERVER: 198.41.0.4#53(a.root-servers.net.) ;; WHEN: Sun Feb 1 11:27:14 2004 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 436
Use wget command to retrieve file and store to /etc/bind/db.root (Debian / Ubuntu Linux), enter:
# wget --user=ftp --password=ftp ftp://ftp.rs.internic.net/domain/db.cache -O /etc/bind/db.root
Under Red Hat / CentOS / Fedora Linux, default location is /var/named/named.root, enter:
# wget --user=ftp --password=ftp ftp://ftp.rs.internic.net/domain/db.cache -O /var/named/named.root
Reload rndc to update information, enter:
# rndc reload
Another option is run dig command to fetch information:
# dig +bufsize=1200 +norec NS . @a.root-servers.net > /var/named/named.root
The root zone's nameservers change over time, don't assume this list is current. Always download a new version of db.cache once or twice year is sufficient. You can also schedule cron jon to update file. The best place to get update about this file is bind-users mailing list.
Sample updated root hints data file
; This file holds the information on root name servers needed to ; initialize cache of Internet domain name servers ; (e.g. reference this file in the "cache ." ; configuration file of BIND domain name servers). ; ; This file is made available by InterNIC ; under anonymous FTP as ; file /domain/db.cache ; on server FTP.INTERNIC.NET ; -OR- RS.INTERNIC.NET ; ; last update: Feb 04, 2008 ; related version of root zone: 2008020400 ; ; formerly NS.INTERNIC.NET ; . 3600000 IN NS A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 198.41.0.4 A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 AAAA 2001:503:BA3E::2:30 ; ; formerly NS1.ISI.EDU ; . 3600000 NS B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 192.228.79.201 ; ; formerly C.PSI.NET ; . 3600000 NS C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 192.33.4.12 ; ; formerly TERP.UMD.EDU ; . 3600000 NS D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 128.8.10.90 ; ; formerly NS.NASA.GOV ; . 3600000 NS E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 192.203.230.10 ; ; formerly NS.ISC.ORG ; . 3600000 NS F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 192.5.5.241 F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 AAAA 2001:500:2f::f ; ; formerly NS.NIC.DDN.MIL ; . 3600000 NS G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 192.112.36.4 ; ; formerly AOS.ARL.ARMY.MIL ; . 3600000 NS H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 128.63.2.53 H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 AAAA 2001:500:1::803f:235 ; ; formerly NIC.NORDU.NET ; . 3600000 NS I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 192.36.148.17 ; ; operated by VeriSign, Inc. ; . 3600000 NS J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 192.58.128.30 J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 AAAA 2001:503:C27::2:30 ; ; operated by RIPE NCC ; . 3600000 NS K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 193.0.14.129 K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 AAAA 2001:7fd::1 ; ; operated by ICANN ; . 3600000 NS L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 199.7.83.42 ; ; operated by WIDE ; . 3600000 NS M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 A 202.12.27.33 M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 3600000 AAAA 2001:dc3::35 ; End of File
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thanks a lot
very nice article
Very nice article!
http://www.internic.net/domain/named.root
wget defaults to anonymous mode for ftp, there’s no need to explicitly set user and password.
eg: “wget ftp://ftp.rs.internic.net/domain/db.cache”
it’s probably a good idea to check the return code from wget incase the download fails.
rm -f /tmp/db.cache && wget ftp://ftp.rs.internic.net/domain/db.cache -O /tmp/db.cache && mv /tmp/db.cache /etc/bind/db.root