BIND9 (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) is the most widely deployed DNS server software. It handles both authoritative DNS (serving zone records for your domains) and recursive DNS (resolving queries for clients). This guide installs BIND9 on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS as a caching/forwarding resolver.

Tested and valid on:

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

Prerequisites

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS
A user with sudo privileges
Port 53 available (TCP and UDP)

Step 1 – Install BIND9

sudo apt update
sudo apt install bind9 bind9utils bind9-doc -y
named --version

Step 2 – Configure as a Caching/Forwarding Resolver

sudo nano /etc/bind/named.conf.options

Set:

options {
    directory "/var/cache/bind";
    forwarders {
        8.8.8.8;
        1.1.1.1;
    };
    forward only;
    dnssec-validation auto;
    listen-on { any; };
    allow-query { localhost; 192.168.1.0/24; };
};

Step 3 – Test the Configuration

sudo named-checkconf
sudo systemctl restart bind9
sudo systemctl status bind9

Step 4 – Test DNS Resolution

dig @localhost google.com
dig @localhost example.com A

Step 5 – Configure an Authoritative Zone

sudo nano /etc/bind/named.conf.local

Add:

zone 'example.com' {
    type master;
    file '/etc/bind/db.example.com';
};

sudo cp /etc/bind/db.local /etc/bind/db.example.com
sudo nano /etc/bind/db.example.com

Edit with your records:

$ORIGIN example.com.
$TTL 86400
@    IN SOA ns1.example.com. admin.example.com. (
          2026051601 3600 900 604800 86400 )
@    IN NS ns1.example.com.
ns1  IN A 192.168.1.100
www  IN A 192.168.1.100

sudo named-checkzone example.com /etc/bind/db.example.com
sudo systemctl reload bind9

Step 6 – Configure Logging

sudo nano /etc/bind/named.conf.logging

Add:

logging {
    channel default_log {
        file '/var/log/named/named.log' versions 3 size 5m;
        severity dynamic;
        print-time yes;
    };
    category default { default_log; };
};

Step 7 – Allow in UFW

sudo ufw allow 53/tcp
sudo ufw allow 53/udp

Conclusion

BIND9 is running as a DNS server on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. Use it as an internal DNS resolver for your network, or configure authoritative zones for your domains. Always keep BIND updated to patch security vulnerabilities.

How to Set Up a DNS Server with Bind9 on Ubuntu 26.04