Migrating From BIND 8 to BIND 9

BIND 9 is upwards compatible with most BIND 8 features. However, there are still a number of caveats you should be aware of when upgrading an existing BIND 8 installation to use BIND 9. Be sure to read the entire Migration Notes document before installing and using BIND 9. The Migration Notes are available at /usr/share/doc/bind/migration.txt. Also, the BIND package names have changed to SUNWbind and SUNWbindr. The SUNWbindr package contains the DNS server manifest.

The following list presents a brief overview of the differences between BIND 8 and BIND 9. Details are available in the Migration Notes.

• Configuration File Compatibility

  • Unimplemented options warning message

  • transfer-format option changes

  • Configuration file errors

  • Logging categories have changed

  • Notify message and refresh query changes

  • Multiple classes change

• Zone File Compatibility

  • Stricter rules for TTLs in zone file

  • SOA serial number changes

  • Unbalanced quotes cause errors

  • Line breaks, syntax change

  • Use \$ instead of $$ in domain names

• Interoperability Impact of New Protocol Features

  • EDNS0 new in BIND 9

  • Zone transfers default change

• Unrestricted Character Set

  • No restrictions on character set

  • Security issue, improper naming

• Server Administration Tools

  • The rndc program replaces ndc

  • nsupdate: changes in multiple updates

• No Information Leakage Between Zones

  • Glue NS records handled differently

• Umask Not Modified

  • Possible umask permissions issues