DNS, BIND9 ... diving in ...

[Joshua Tinnin]

OK, here we go ...

I'm going to attempt setting up BIND9 for the first time, and I don't 
have a lot of experience with DNS. My setup is a LAN behind a router 
using NAT on an ADSL connection with a dynamic IP on its interface 
assigned by my ISP. I'm not interested in setting up an authoritative 
server for this reason, and the internal names do not need to be sent 
to the WAN. From what I understand, I'll be setting up a caching name 
server. I basically understand this much.

However, what I've done to this point is assign non-authoritative names 
(hope I'm getting that terminology correct) to my computers here, 
though FreeBSD assumes they're authoritative, which most of the time 
doesn't present a problem, as I'm not running DNS locally, nor am I 
running a MTA to deliver mail to the outside; sendmail only delivers 
locally, and I use my ISP's mail servers otherwise. But, the names I've 
assigned are obviously not worthwhile in terms of how they are seen to 
the WAN or any authoritative DNS server. Is it possible to assign 
non-authoritative names to internal boxen without screwing with DNS 
conventions? I ask this, as my internal names are always attached to 
mail headers, for instance, but to admins they're useless, and I'm 
essentially "forging" a header by doing so, as my IP doesn't match the 
name I've given. For instance:

Received: from unknown (HELO smogmonster.com)
	(jtinnin at pacbell.net@64.173.27.15 with plain)
	by smtp811.mail.sc5.yahoo.com with SMTP; 30 Apr 2005 11:26:08 -0000

Well, I don't own smogmonster.com (when I first picked it, nobody did, 
but now someone does), but FreeBSD wouldn't let me assign a name that 
wouldn't ever resolve, like simply "smogmonster". Is this a problem, or 
should I not worry about it? Or am I missing something vital here?

Also, is there any sort of guide on how to set up DNS in my situation? 
I've read the handbook, and it seems most of it is covered, but 
additional sources are always welcome. Later, I'll be getting static 
IPs and will probably have my ISP handle rDNS, but I'll need to assign 
authoritative names at that point, though not until then.

- jt