Configure Solaris 10 DNS client

Let’s get started!

I just got my brand new Solaris 10 server, but somehow although I have a DNS server in my domain, it cannot resolve any names given.  What’s wrong?

We have to first check the existence of some files and the status of the DNS client service.

So, first thing to do:  check the service

# svcs -a | grep dns

disabled     XX:XX:XX    svc:/network/dns/server:default

disabled     XX:XX:XX    svc:/network/dns/client:default

Then, let’s check the files.

Does the resolver configuration file exists? Try to see its contents with the following command.

# cat /etc/resolv.conf

cat: cannot open /etc/resolv.conf

Let’s then, create the file and edit it to add our name servers.

# touch /etc/resolv.conf

# vi /etc/resolv.conf

Add some lines with the following format

domain somedomain.com

nameserver 10.11.12.13

nameserver 14.15.16.17

nameserver 18.19.20.21

search firstdomain.com,seconddomain.com,thirddomain.com

where domain is the domain to look for as default, nameserver is the IP of each name server we have (up to three) and search is the domains that must be added as sufix to the name to look for if none was given.

That’s it with the resolver.  Now, we should go check the naming service switch file, /etc/nsswitch.conf

If you look for some nssswitch file in the /etc directory you’ll find that there are several templates already configured for your use. So backup your current file and replace it with the nsswitch.dns file provided.

# cp /etc/nsswitch.conf /etc/nsswitch.orig

# cp /etc/nsswitch.dns /etc/nsswitch.conf

Once you’re done.  Enable the dns client service and check again its status

# svcadm enable /network/dns/client

# svcs -a | grep dns

disabled    XX:XX:XX    svc:/network/dns/server:default

online      XX:XX:XX    svc:/network/dns/client:default

And welcome to the naming world, Solaris 10.

Hope this helps some of you.