BIND9 DNS forwarding with split horizion

Question

I am trying to figure out what to do about my Zimbra server's DNS.

According the Zimrba wiki they recommend that I install a copy of something like BIND on the server itself so Zimbra can handle the internal queries made by postfix.

So I went and install BIND9 and got my zone running, the zone is solignis.com. Now here is where it get confusing.

I already have a BIND9 server running on my network that is responsible for the same domain solignis.com. But that server is the "network" DNS the other one on Zimbra is for Zimbra ONLY.

But when I go the Zimbra host and try to ping the other server (NS01) it says its an unknown host. even though I have forwarding enabled to the main DNS server. Follow me?

So I have a multi part question.

1. Is the best way to setup DNS for my needs (as per Zimbra)?
2. Assuming #1 is true, is there a way to force BIND to forward queries for a domain its responsible for to another server?

Answer 1

You don't need a dedicated DNS Server for zimbra, you can user your existing network DNS, add zimbra entries there and make your zimbra server use that DNS server. As a workaround to that DNS issue, it happens to me also, when no DNS server is available, to use /etc/hosts file to resolve zimbra servers hostnames internally.

Answer 2

If you really want to use the Zimbra box as a nameserver for itself you should use it as a secondary DNS to your existing server.