How to configure a caching only bind DNS server in Red Hat Linux

caching-only nameserver won't allow references to internal clients by hostname, but it does allow clients to take advantage of frequently requested domains that are cached.

Pre-requisites

Make sure all the below packages are installed

bind (includes DNS server, named)
bind-utils (utilities for querying DNS servers about host information)
bind-libs (libraries used by the bind server and utils package)
bind-chroot (tree of files which can be used as a chroot jail for bind)

# rpm -qa | grep bind
bind-chroot-9.8.2-0.23.rc1.el6_5.1.i686
bind-9.8.2-0.23.rc1.el6_5.1.i686
bind-utils-9.8.2-0.23.rc1.el6_5.1.i686
bind-libs-9.8.2-0.23.rc1.el6_5.1.i686
Now follow the below steps

Add a new entry in named.conf as shown in blue below
# vi /etc/named.conf
options {
listen-on port 53 { 127.0.0.1; };
listen-on-v6 port 53 { ::1; };
directory "/var/named";
dump-file "/var/named/data/cache_dump.db";
statistics-file "/var/named/data/named_stats.txt";
memstatistics-file "/var/named/data/named_mem_stats.txt";
allow-query { localhost; };
recursion yes;
forwarders { 192.168.1.10; };
forward only;
dnssec-enable yes;
dnssec-validation yes;
dnssec-lookaside auto;

/* Path to ISC DLV key */
bindkeys-file "/etc/named.iscdlv.key";

managed-keys-directory "/var/named/dynamic";
};

logging {
channel default_debug {
file "data/named.run";
severity dynamic;
};
};

zone "." IN {
type hint;
file "named.ca";
};

include "/etc/named.rfc1912.zones";
include "/etc/named.root.key";

The block above will cause the caching name server to forward DNS requests it can't resolve to your DNS server. Here 192.168.1.10 is my DNS server.

Check the permissions on named.conf
-rw-r----- 1 root named 1056 Mar 13 09:32 named.conf
Verify the named.conf file for any syntax errors
# named-checkconf /etc/named.conf

# echo $?
0 So it seems our named.conf is good to go.

Edit your resolv.conf file and add the below entry
# vi /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 127.0.0.1
# service named restart
Stopping named: . [ OK ]
Starting named: [ OK ]
Make the service auto start after reboot
# chkconfig named on
Verify your caching-nameserver
# ping google.com
PING google.com (74.125.236.64) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from maa03s05-in-f0.1e100.net (74.125.236.64): icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=85.4 ms
64 bytes from maa03s05-in-f0.1e100.net (74.125.236.64): icmp_seq=2 ttl=56 time=29.2 ms
^C
--- google.com ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1281ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 29.298/57.350/85.402/28.052 ms
# dig golinuxhub.com

; <<>> DiG 9.8.2rc1-RedHat-9.8.2-0.23.rc1.el6_5.1 <<>> golinuxhub.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 59633
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;golinuxhub.com. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
golinuxhub.com. 3102 IN A 50.63.202.15

;; Query time: 26 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Thu Mar 13 09:45:38 2014
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 48
Retry to query golinuxhub.com
# dig golinuxhub.com

; <<>> DiG 9.8.2rc1-RedHat-9.8.2-0.23.rc1.el6_5.1 <<>> golinuxhub.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 52632
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;golinuxhub.com. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
golinuxhub.com. 3068 IN A 50.63.202.15

;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Thu Mar 13 09:46:12 2014
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 48
As you see our query time reduced from 26 msec to 0msec

So everything is working as expected.