Question : Find out version of BIND and how to update /etc/named.conf

I will need to make some modifications to our DNS server that is running a version of BIND.

Here is my sanitized uname output:

bash-2.05$ uname -a
SunOS XXXX 5.9 Generic_118558-11 sun4u sparc SUNW,UltraAX-i2

First, I want to know the version of BIND because I am considering outsourcing our DNS. In the /etc/named.conf file, here is a snippet of the relevant line that is keeping me from finding out the BIND version:

1: 2:

options { version "I have no idea";

I have tried the following three commands but could not find the version of BIND:

1. bash-2.05$ /usr/local/bind/etc/named -v

Result: No such file or directory. (This tells me that I am probably not running BIND 9.)

2. bash-2.05$ nslookup -q=txt -class=CHAOS version.bind. 0

Result: Get "I have no idea"

3. bash-2.05$ dig -t txt -c chaos VERSION.BIND @xxxx.xxxx.xxx

Result: Get "I have no idea"

The only thing that I can think of is to temporarily remove the "options - version" line which is not ideal. Is there any other way to find out without stopping any services?

Second, I need to modify the named.conf file to add some IPs for zone transfers. I know that when I modify a zone, I have to increment the SOA, find the BIND process number and kill it, then start it again with "/usr/local/bind/sbin/named -u kbind". Do I simply modify named.conf, save it, and then kill and start the BIND process the same way?

Thank you in advance for your help.
 

Answer : Find out version of BIND and how to update /etc/named.conf

"named -v" is not good if the version that is listed first in the path is not the version that is running.

Find out by a "ps -Af |grep named" or viewing the startup script to find the correct location of named.

I don't know where SunOS puts its default installation but an install from source is, unless modified, is in /usr/local/sbin/named.