Bind9 configuration syntax
11:29 20 Jun 2026

I'm currently learning how to set up a bind9 server, specifically setting up a system logs file in var. I read the Bind9 instruction manual for version BIND 9.20.23-1-Debian. on how to configure a named.conf file, but then I keep hitting an error saying

─$ named-checkconf /etc/bind/named.conf

/etc/bind/named.conf:5: unknown option 'logging'

/etc/bind/named.conf:15: '}' expected near end of file

This is the configuration of my named.conf file.

ptions {
          directory "/var";

          version "not currently available";
logging {
    channel general_loggings {
          file "cache/logs/named" versions 3 size 250k;
          severity warning;
};
category default {
    general_loggings;
 };
};

I also create the follwing files and directories to store my logs

inside /var/cache

kali> M=mkdir bind

inside this directory i created

kali >mkdir cache

inside this directory i created

kali> mkdir logs

inside this directory I created

kali> cat > named.conf

What did I do wrong and how can I fix it?

linux server bind system-administration bind9