Setting Up BIND9 on Ubuntu via Portainer

BIND9 (Berkeley Internet Name Domain version 9) is a widely used, open-source DNS server that translates domain names into IP addresses, manages DNS zones, and supports features like forwarding, caching, and zone delegation.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

1. Prepare host directory

sudo mkdir -p /opt/bind9/etc
sudo mkdir -p /opt/bind9/zones
sudo chown -R root:root /opt/bind9
sudo chmod -R 755 /opt/bind9

2. Disable systemd-resolved

sudo systemctl stop systemd-resolved
sudo systemctl disable systemd-resolved

3. Create config files

Create config file /opt/bind9/etc/named.conf.options (forwarding):

options {
  directory "/var/cache/bind";
  recursion yes;
  allow-query { any; };

  forwarders {
    8.8.8.8;
    8.8.4.4;
  };

  dnssec-validation no;
  auth-nxdomain no;
  listen-on { any; };
};

Create zone‑config file /opt/bind9/etc/named.conf.local

zone "example.local" {
  type master;
  file "/etc/bind/zones/db.example.local";
};

Create zone file /opt/bind9/zones/db.example.local

Get Wang Levine’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Remember me for faster sign in
$TTL 604800
@   IN  SOA ns1.example.local. admin.example.local. (
      2       ; Serial
      604800  ; Refresh
      86400   ; Retry
      2419200 ; Expire
      604800 ) ; Negative Cache TTL
;
@     IN  NS   ns1.example.local.
ns1   IN  A    192.168.1.10
www   IN  A    192.168.1.10

Change IPs and names as needed.

4. Deploy BIND9

In Portainer:

• Go to Containers → Add container.
• Name: bind9.
• Image: ubuntu/bind9:latest.
• Ports:
  53 TCP → 53
53 UDP → 53
• Volumes (bind‑mounts):
  Host /opt/bind9/etc/named.conf.options → Container /etc/bind/named.conf.options (read‑only)
  Host /opt/bind9/etc/named.conf.local → Container /etc/bind/named.conf.local (read‑only)
  Host /opt/bind9/zones → Container /etc/bind/zones (read‑only)
• Restart policy: Always.
• Click Deploy the container.

5. Test from host or another machine

dig @YOUR_SERVER_IP google.com
nslookup ns1.example.local YOUR_SERVER_IP
nslookup www.example.local YOUR_SERVER_IP