Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Second Edition

By : Jay LaCroix
Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Second Edition

By: Jay LaCroix

Overview of this book

Ubuntu Server has taken the data centers by storm. Whether you're deploying Ubuntu for a large-scale project or for a small office, it is a stable, customizable, and powerful Linux distribution that leads the way with innovative and cutting-edge features. For both simple and complex server deployments, Ubuntu's flexible nature can be easily adapted to meet to the needs of your organization. With this book as your guide, you will learn all about Ubuntu Server, from initial deployment to creating production-ready resources for your network. The book begins with the concept of user management, group management, and filesystem permissions. Continuing into managing storage volumes, you will learn how to format storage devices, utilize logical volume management, and monitor disk usage. Later, you will learn how to virtualize hosts and applications, which will cover setting up KVM/QEMU, as well as containerization with both Docker and LXD. As the book continues, you will learn how to automate configuration with Ansible, as well as take a look at writing scripts. Lastly, you will explore best practices and troubleshooting techniques when working with Ubuntu Server that are applicable to real-world scenarios. By the end of the book, you will be an expert Ubuntu Server administrator who is well-versed in its advanced concepts.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)

Setting up DNS with bind

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the purpose of a Domain Name System (DNS) server. Its simplest definition is that it's a service that's responsible for matching an IP address to a domain or hostname. When you connect to the internet, name-to-IP matching happens constantly as you browse. After all, it's much easier to connect to https://www.google.com/ with its domain name, than it is to remember its IP address. When you connect to the internet, your workstation or server will connect to an external DNS server in order to figure out the IP addresses for the websites you attempt to visit.

It's also very common to run a local DNS server internally in your organization. The benefit is that you'll be able to resolve your local hostnames as well, something that an external DNS server would know nothing about. For example...