Domain Name System (DNS) is a distributed database system that provides hostname-to-IP resource mapping (usually the IP address) and other information for computers on a network. A computer on the network or Internet can use a DNS server to locate any other computer by name. For example, if a user enters http://www.novell.com in an Internet browser, DNS is used to map www.novell.com to IP address 130.57.4.70 and the browser then makes the HTTP request to address 130.57.4.70.
If the server is configured for DNS with a local domain, the server can handle local name resolution (particularly the name of the server) and forward requests for names it doesn't know to the DNS server at your ISP. This recommended configuration lets your network function either disconnected from or connected to the Internet.
If you have selected one of the Novell® Small Business preconfigured server patterns or installed iManager, you can use the Novell Small Business Setup Role in iManager to help set up DNS quickly rather than using the DNS/DHCP Configuration utility or the DNS role in iManager. Using this tool, you can specify the setup requirements, and then the setup tool modifies all the required files to set up DNS.
This tool creates objects in the same eDirectoryTM context where the server object is located. It automatically creates a Locator object DNS-DHCP. It creates a DNS_server name object and an object for each DNS domain in the directory.
To use the setup task in iManager, open iManager, click Small Business Setup > Set Up DNS, and then follow the on-screen prompts.
If you need to modify the settings, you can rerun the setup task or use the DNS/DHCP Configuration utility or the DNS role in iManager to make further modifications to your DNS configuration. This utility does not create PTR or reverse-lookup records. To do so, use the DNS role in iManager.
For more information, see the Novell DNS/DHCP Services for NetWare Administration Guide for OES in the OES NetWare online documentation.