Domain Names Books

This is by far the best book available on DNS. It is very informative and yet the reading style is entertaining (not fluffy though). Overall, it is a joy to read. The author is able to communicate effectively to both the expert and the novice. Look no further than here for a great DNS reference book. Way to go Ron Aitchison!

while the reference from Paul Albitz/Cricket Liu is sometimes hard to read and long winded, this text from Mr. Aitchinson covers everything and yet stays very clear and simple. I could configure and start a caching only DNS server in less than 30 minutes (well, after omitting the first few introductory chapters ;-). If you want to look up sth., there is also a big reference section. There is also an errata-page at:
http://www.netwidget.net/books/apress/dns/notes.html

I also found this book *much* more useful as the first, because of the fact that it is much more up-to-date!
I can recommend this book to everyone, who
*) wants to install/configure/start/maintain a DNS server
*) wants to get informed about the Domain Name System in general

Up to now, this book is really an insiders' tip!!

After reading several of the chapter sections at the authors website, I needed a bit more understanding about how to install and configure Bind 9 onto our Windows box. I wanted to use Bind on old hardware running NT4. I fired off an email to the author and got several pointers that fixed the problems I was having. I realized the pointers he had given me were all covered in his book. After purchasing the book, I not only found out lots of stuff about what all the parameters are but also discovered how to manage bind over the LAN in a secure way. This book is a must have for anyone that wants to use Bind 9 for the first time. It has helped me several times already.

The Domain Name System is a critical component of any large network or any computer connected to the Internet. While a home user would not need to setup a DNS server, business networks of any significant size would benefit from an internal server, DNS caching router or other components. This book takes the reader through a very good explanation of DNS and BIND, how it works, how to set it up, how to test it, and how to troubleshoot it. There are many books on DNS and BIND but most either assume a certain level of prior knowledge, provide theory without implementation information, or provide implementation information without any theory so you have no idea how to troubleshoot a problematic implementation. Author Ron Aitchison does an excellent job of discussing both theory and implementation in this book so you end up with a thorough education. He even covers the implementation of a secure DNS server. This book actually takes the reader from a level of complete novice through advanced DNS administrator and does an excellent job of it. Pro DNS and BIND is highly recommended and one of the better books on the subject available.

Ron Aitchison's Pro DNS and BIND packs a whopping 550 pages of material which is easy to read for the novice or ongoing DNS administrator, and which is very well written (I greatly enjoyed the author's style). After a short introduction in which I learnt some interesting facts about the provisioning of the root servers, the author implements a first zone describing the necessary concepts such as resource records, queries and zone transfers very clearly, followed by the different types of DNS setups (master, slave, caching, forwarding and stealth servers); these are covered in depth in chapter 7. Chapter five covers IPv6 and its relevance to BIND. Throughout the book, references to other DNS server implementations are given, but the primary focus is of course BIND 9.3.0.

Aitchison leads the reader through detailed installation of BIND on Linux, FreeBSD and even Windows (ISC has an installer for Windows in its portfolio), after which common DNS tasks are discussed (how to delegate a subdomain, how to define SPF records, etc. read it on-line here) as well as a chapter on tools.

The third part of the book is dedicated to securing DNS configurations with topics ranging from simple administrative issues (chroot jails) through securing DNS updates and zone transfers with TSIG and DNSSEC.bis which is covered very extensively in chapter 11.

Chapters 12 and 13 provide extensive commented references on BIND configuration and Zone files. There is of course plenty of on-line reference information on these two topics (including the author's very good DNS for Rocket Scientists) but I like to have reference information on hardcopy (in the event my DNS servers fail, and I can't reach the on-line documentation :-) )

In part 5 the author shortly covers programming with the BIND API and the resolver libraries, and he follows that with an interesting chapter on DNS Messages and Records, good to have if you want to sniff your way through DNS traffic.

The publisher's web site carries a sample chapter as well as the source code to the book which is also available in TAR format on the author's web site together with complementary information and pointers to further resources.

My only complaint about this otherwise excellent book is that on two or three occasions I read a paragraph that I thought I'd just read before; some duplication must have taken place (or I was tired). For the next edition, I'd like to read a chapter on interoperability between BIND and Microsoft Windows DNS servers, specifically regarding DNSSEC.

This book is an absolute must have for anybody who needs to understand DNS in the first place (irrespective of the implementation he or she plans to use), and it is a must have for a systems administrator who is either intending to deploy or has already deployed BIND 9.3. I wish I'd read this book before the first mentioned above.

"Addressing The World embarks on a less traveled but more meaningful journey of an in-depth look into country code domain extensions. The authors successfully show a correlation between the domain name and its culture, from both the real world and cyberspace perspectives. Addressing The World is a must read for anyone interested in learning about the origins of domain names and the purpose behind them."

A pithy 600 pages of the most fascinating intellectual property reading I have ever came across. I especially like the examples regarding the Indian conglomerate Tatas and the adult entertainment industry. Worth every penny of the 200 Yankee dollar price!

This is a very realistic and engaging account of samurai life just before the Meji restoration. Samurais are not idealised in this book, but instead their every day life is described. The focus is on women, as it retells history mainly from the view of the author's mother, but as women were completely dependent on men at the time, a lot of the account deals with how men as well as women lived. Topics such as school, dress, dwellings, amusments, family, marriage and divorce are covered, and at the same time the unrest in Mito domain before the restoration. The grandfather of the author had his own school and worked at the Office of Japanese History. He was one of the lower class samurai, but was recognized by the daimyo for his great learning and taught even his children at some point.
If you want to understand Japanese society in the 19th century up to the Restoration, this is an extremly interesting book. Highly recommended!

Just received this item, planned on using for reference material. Haven't gotten to read it yet though...

Most all if not all of the principles covered in this book are current although BIND 9.1 is NOT. BIND is at 9.5 now. There is a fifth edition out that is more current. Unless they discount this heavily, I'd pass.

If you work with DNS/BIND for a living, you either already have this book, or know someone you can borrow it from. It's the one to own.

This book is the best investment I have made in my knowledge of DNS. I think any network admin should have this book on their desk at all times. It should become a bed side reading for anybody who is serious about TCP/IP protocols. DNS may be a pretty tricky topic to understand for many people. It uses both TCP and UDP for its queries and gets pretty convoluted as you dive into it. This books demystifies it very well. There is a very clear distinction between zones and domains. I have not seen that many materials clearly explaining the difference between the two. The book gives you a taste of what threats you may face running a DNS server. It explains how to perform zone transfers and zone delegations and clearly defines which suite of protocols is used to accomplish it.
This book can be a reference as well as a textbook read. I recommend it to all people out on the internet.

This book is a good in-depth resource for anyone who wants a very comprehensive understanding of DNS hosting and troubleshooting. You can use it as a reference, reading sections as you need them, or read it cover to cover. I've opted for the former and am about half-way through. So, far I've read about things I've never been able to find good information for on the web. Keep up the good work!

This is a good reference book. However, if you know nothing about creating web sites it may be of little use. Also, if you wish to start a blog or a blogging business, this book is NOT for you! It only talks about [...], which is so easy to use it hardly deserves a chapter.

Now a days, creating a web site is more about design than development; resources exist on the internet where millions of web developers will share their ideas and creativity for free - but how does one access it and where are these resources located?? The Missing Manual Series, Creating Web Sites addresses these questions and more. This book is an excellent starter book for those who are just getting their feet wet in the world of web design, development and programming, but that's not to say that an expert wouldn't find this book a handy resource. Creating Web Sites also answers a lot of questions that I had about different aspects of web development. The section on e-commerce and the other web resources referenced within the book, points you to the right places in which to grab code, and get ideas to build great web sites. The Missing Manual series is one that I recommend to everyone (this is the 2nd book from the series I own) - all the books are very thorough, but easy to follow; if you're a novice this book should be required, if you're a pro this should be a handy resource to add to your library.

Some of the introductions are a little dated (i.e. jokes that reference beanie babies, etc.), but the other content of the book is still pretty current. This is a really helpful book for the beginning web designer. It is definitely a good reference to have, espically for design students. This book covers things that appear in the software Dreamweaver. It discusses codes for things such as CSS, HTML, etc.

A great book for any novice trying to build a web site. The book is divided into clear sections each giving excellent advise and information. I recommend this to anyone starting a web site. If you are fortunate enough to have Dreamweaver software for web creating I also strongly recommend "Dreamweaver 8 - The Missing Manual.

I have been searching for a good, fairly insightful, starter book on what to do to set up a website, that wasn't too advanced or way to boring.

This is it! The author knows his stuff, brings it into the learning forum in such a way that you are excited to read the next section and re-read for additional insights previously completed sections.

I am going to use this book, and will probably buy more by the same author/publisher.

The subtitle of this book, "How People Get Rich...", would be more accurate by using the past tense; "How People GOT Rich..." However, although it is no longer possible to do what the early domaim name speculators did to get rich, a fundamental knowledge of the evolution of this industry is probably an important prerequisite for spotting future opportunities.

The Domain Game provides an insightful look into the somewhat "hidden" world of domain name trading. This review is from the perspective of someone who owns a couple of business websites, but had no knowledge of the "ins and outs" of the this market. Having seen press coverage detailing the extraordinarily high prices some names have sold for, my interest was piqued.

The Domain Game is a well researched and written book that details the history of domain trading and introduces some of the key players in the "game". I enjoyed reading the stories of the risks taken and gains realized. The final chapter whets the appetite of those wanting to try for themselves.

Overall, a highly-readable and informative book that is a must-read for anyone interested in the field.

A thoroughly researched and engaging ride through the often murky world of domain name dollars and the watermelon farmers and venture capitalists that you find there.

Just as the book "Hackers" gave us insight decades ago into the nascent world of personal computers and the (mostly) men who wrested that industry from the darkened bedrooms and garages of nerds and geeks, David Kesmodel provides us with a broad and deep look into a highly lucrative business that many people don't even know exists.

The money made from the high visibility sale of marquee names such as business.com and diamond.com ($7.5M each) are well publicized. These deals pale in comparison to the $100M+ buyout of a domain name portfolio from a single entrepreneur (that no one except the domain game elite has ever heard of) that generates cash most people can only dream of in ways most people will never understand.

Interesting and informative and well worth the effort to read. I would have preferred a bit more development on how us normal schmucks can play the Domain Game. To be fair, towards the end of the book, there is some material directing the newbie on how to get started and an Appendix that includes online resources if you are so inclined. Some musings and projections by the author on how things might change in the future - now that the "cat is out of the bag" on this previously secret society - would have been a great read given Mr. Kesmodel's extensive research and obvious knowledge on the subject.

One can always hope for an updated edition!

When i bought this book i was somewhat afraid that it would be another book with get rich quick talk and with little real content. it proved otherwise with an interesting writing with flashbacks taking the reader trough the history of the domain market.

the go back and forward in the history has lead to a few inconsistences but overall it is very complete and seems accurate.

the major setback of this book is that it lacks more in dept tips, technics and software to use for the people that want to enter into the domain market.

overall it is a very easy and interesting book to read and it's money well spent.

On page 83 of Step Into The Spotlight!, I admitted that I have 503 domain names. My friends are ready to send me to "Domain Names Anonymous", but I stand my ground. They're not making any more lakefront and they're not making any more .coms. But in the past few months, I let a couple of hundred of them go, scrutinizing each one and really asking myself if I was going to use 'em to market my business. That's what domain names are for...aren't they?

I wish I'd had a copy of David Kesmodel's new book "The Domain Game" at the time. It's a fascinating history of the high stakes game of buying and selling domain names for fun and profit, mostly profit. The characters are as colorful as Damon Runyon's gamblers (brought to life in Guys and Dolls) from a watermelon farmer to a young reclusive guy who's near impossible to contact. There's intrigue, drama--all the elements necessary for a Hollywood blockbuster.

Those looking for a detailed "how to" on how to get rich from domain names may walk away disappointed and I must admit at a certain point, I did "cut to the chase" by skipping straight to the last chapter, ie the what can be done today portion of the show. But the narrative was gripping enough that I did go back and read what I missed. And I learned a lot. I gotta congratulate this guy, Kesmodel. He's a journalist and he got people to spill their secrets, big time. And I did put the book down several times to run to the computer and renew some of my almost-expired names. Well worth the read.

This is one of those books for people what play around with webservers and DNS. There are more uptodate books now so only worth getting second hand.
It explains the topics in a very accessible way for anyone taking on the sys admin/network admin role.

I can't think of anything negative to say about this book. It's certainly not an outright replacement for its bigger cousin "DNS & BIND", but it is clearly written and well-organized; an excellent "how-to" resource to get you up and running quickly with a minimum of fuss and background theory. I'd like to see an updated version which covers DNS-SD in the near future.

This book has turned out to be the best investment I've made so far in my 20 year IT career. I've always trusted O'Reilly books for their detailed accuracy. However, for the task at hand, I didn't need a book to explain WHY things work... I needed one to tell me how to GET them to work. This book was perfect! It doesn't replace the DNS and BIND, 4th Edition, but is a great compliment... Actually, I'm finding the 4th Edition a perfect compliment to the Cookbook.

If you need to understand the difference between BIND 9 or Windows AD DNS and BIND 8, this is not the book for you. But if your management decides to tell you about the imporant new product launch on 20 servers in a new domain they just bought and kept under wraps to stun the competition which they need implemented in some novel way that requires a DNS twist, THIS will save you.
It will also save you if you are really a Windows admin, but you need to configure something in BIND. Or if you need to do something in BIND that you haven't done before.
Or if you don't care WHY you have to do task X, Y and then Z to get the desired result, but you need to know HOW? This is your book.

The WHY is in the BIND book from O'Reilly.

"DNS & BIND Cookbook" is a problem-solving text, which Network Administrators will be glad to read. It displayed utmost rationality in its simple and concise way of dealing with most problems, which arise from Domain Name Systems. It also exposed all the factors, which are likely to escalate Berkeley Internet Name Domain problems, before providing their remedies in a clear sequential order.
Net Administrators (as well as voracious users of any of the major Operating Systems) would appreciate the inclusion of an easy-to-digest chapter on Internet Protocol version 6, (IPv6). This book clearly made the mark!
Apart from the rather summarized information, which I noticed on two of its chapters, (i.e.: 'Create Zone Files For Your Domains' and 'Use Increment Transfer'), there is nothing that I will hold against this book. Cricket Liu did a very good job in writing it.

DomainIcons.Com recommend this insightful book to any individual who seeks to broaden their comprehension on domain names. Wow.

DomainIcons.Com recommend this insightful book to any individual who seeks to broaden their comprehension on domain names. Wow.

DomainIcons.Com recommend this insightful book to any individual who seeks to broaden their comprehension on domain names. Wow.

This is a clear introduction to an evolving and important topic. I have purchased domain name books that are completely out of touch with everything except the history of domain names (yawn!). This book is really useful. Very nice job from your DomainFool!

In general, I am a big fan of For Dummies books. However, this book does not live up the usually high For Dummies standard for two reasons. This book was written at the height of the dot-com bubble, and GreatDomains.com wrote this book.

Having GreatDomains.com write this book would be like having Weight Watchers write Dieting for Dummies. You can't expect unbiased advice from a leading company whose business model is selling expensive generic/descriptive domain names.

There is a controversy on generic vs. proper names, but this is barely mentioned in the For Dummies Book. The opposite view, "The kiss of death for an Internet brand is a common (generic) name" is taken in the book "The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding." I am not saying that one view or the other is correct, but a book on domain names should cover both sides.

Chapter 3 is titled "The New Land Rush in Domain Names." The first section is "Understanding the Reasons Behind Skyrocketing Domain Name Prices." Since the book has been published, domain name prices have fallen faster than dot-com stocks. All of the domain name prices in the book should be reduced by a factor of ten or more.

Still much of the book contains useful information, and the price is reasonable. You just have to keep in mind that the information is one-sided and written at the height of the dot-com bubble. A less biased but overly legal book is "Domain Names" by Elias & Gima. Also look at "How to Select & Buy an Elite Domain Name."

I'm going to be completely honest with you -
I only picked up this book because I was bored, and it was the only thing I hadn't read at my local library.
I LOVED IT.
The entire idea of etoy was incredible, and I really enjoyed this book.
And I'm not really into electronics and stuff.
Like, AT ALL.
So go read it. Now.

"Leaving Reality Behind.." is a myopic and biased account of a subject that just isn't that interesting. Unless you were one of the eToys.com employees or one of the 'cutting-edge European artists' of etoy, the 'Toywar' was quite simply a non-event for the rest of the planet. In essence, the authors (who clearly are sided and likely involved with the etoy camp) are trying to dress up a relatively trivial legal dispute over a domain name that is now about three years old. Why is this interesting?? Throw another 'yet-another-dotcom-story' on the pile.

There was a time when people were just starting e-mail and the World Wide Web, and had no real idea what sort of life the internet was going to bring forth. In the early 1990s, there weren't many rules, and commercial use of the Web had not taken it over. In 1995, an anarchic group of seven Swiss artists started the site www.etoy.com. In 1997, a billion-dollar firm to sell toys via the internet started up, registering as www.etoys.com. Two years later, eToys sued etoy for damaging the eToys trademark. The resulting fracas is told in an entertaining story that is not just a dot-com bust parable, _Leaving Reality Behind: etoy vs eToys.com & Other Battles to Control Cyberspace_ (Ecco) by Adam Wishart and Regula Bochsler. The earnestness and foolishness and greed herein described are universal; the contemporary surroundings of this tale, however, have much to tell us about the founding philosophy of the internet and its commercial future.

The artists involved in etoy had worked on collaborative digital art projects, and developed their site as a parody of internet business. They issued shares, and strangely, the share certificates were art works on their own; etoy did not manufacture toys or anything, but it did sell shares, and the shares (or art) did sell. They mocked executive appearances, adopting orange flight jackets, black pants, and shaved heads as uniforms. They intended to be "the First Street Gang of the Information Super Data Highway." Official company communications were signed, "etoy, leaving reality behind." Of course, commercial dot-coms were leaving reality behind in their own fashion. The story of eToys is told just as fully in this book as that of etoy, and it is just as strange. eToys was one of the first companies that emerged from idealab!, a business that was going to produce businesses just like McDonald produced hamburgers. eToys was supposed to beat Toys-R-Us by making it easy to shop without the brats. In 1999, the all important Initial Public Offering of eToys stock was made, amid furious excitement built up over the previous months, but eToys was in big trouble. That didn't stop it from trying to crush the annoying etoy gang. Even after a judge granted an injunction to shut down etoy, etoy wasn't weren't going to give in, and netizens all over began a "Toywar" to "Save etoy now!" A year after doing all the bullying, eToys was bankrupt.

Wishart and Bochsler not only have written a fun and rather exciting tale full of interesting characters, but they have also given a capsule history of the internet. There are detours here to explain the origins of the Web itself, and how different coding standards were developed to tie all our computers together. The first search engines are here, and the mechanics of the organizations who are supposed to control web names. This is an amusing story, and the book will be an excellent reference for those in the future who want to understand what the beginning internet was like and what the dot-com boom-and-bust was all about.

In years to come when they're teaching the history of the internet in all its aspects at colleges this book will be one of a hand-full of books that will be essential reading.

There have been lots of "I was there" internet books - some early ones like "Burn Rate" were truly excellent accounts of life at the coal face but more recent titles such as "Dot.bomb" were dull reads that neither entertained nor informed. "Leaving Reality Behind" is different in that neither of the authors are telling their own story but rather reporting back on the events that helped define and shape the evolution of this internet thing. Both funny and intelligent this book stands out for the thoroughness of its research (in the rush to get them out many internet books have suffered from sloppy editing and factual inaccuracies) as is witnessed by its excellent bibliography - probably worth the cover price alone for anyone serious about understanding recent digital history.

Finally, in bringing together the European and American sides of the story there are deep insites offered in the differences and similarities that bind the two continents together - particularly pertinent at the moment.

As an MBA student and a former internet person, I can say with great authority that most business books are the driest, most soul-destroying texts on earth. This book, however, defies the odds and is truly compelling -- so much so that you can forget you're reading about a corporate legal battle and instead feel like you're following an Epic Drama of Good versus Evil.

Actually, that's not quite true. This book reads more like a comedy than anything (laugh-out-loud funny), yet it also intelligently examines the more serious issues behind this bizarre tussle between art and (e-)commerce in a way that has yet to be topped. It actually attempts to avoid taking sides as well, though you cannot help rooting for the artists in the end because they are just more charming.

A great and interesting read, and a must-read for anyone who had a pulse during the internet boom years.

The humor in the book comes in large part to the insane antics of the etoy crew, crazy Swiss conceptual techo performance artists who provide ample fodder for laughs throughout the book. Orange jumpsuits? Check. Mirrored sunglasses? Check. Shaved heads? Check? Earnest 'etoy offsite meetings' in random Eastern European motels? Check. Contrast them with the comparatively dopey Lenk and his team's inability to ship toys in time for Christmas, and the struggle comes to life. The best part is it's all true, and that you begin to understand that the etoy group were more than a bunch of merry pranksters; they were truly insane and ambitious, as most great artists tend to be. (And what they did was certainly a type of greatness in our current age; once set upon as innocents, they turned round and fought back!)

This book flows like a movie, a old-fashioned us-versus-them picture. Yet underneath the histrionics lie very serious issues which the authors explore with great diligence. The domain name system. The internet bubble. The arrogance of corporate America. The legal blow by blows. The spirit of hackerish subversion that governs the heart of the internet in almost pioneer fashion. There's a lot of very enlightening background information in this story, and it's treated with rigor.

So there you have it. Highly recommended. Although it's definitely worth reading for fun, they should also make this book mandatory reading in business schools, as a warning to arrogant hot-shot would-be entrepreneurs and to provide thoughtful, diligent insight into the genesis of the New Economy.