12.3. Creating the /etc/resolv.conf File

12.3.1. Creating the /etc/resolv.conf File

If the system is going to be connected to the Internet, it will need some means of Domain Name Service (DNS) name resolution to resolve Internet domain names to IP addresses, and vice versa. This is best achieved by placing the IP address of the DNS server, available from the ISP or network administrator, into /etc/resolv.conf. If at least one of your network interfaces is going to be configured by DHCP then you may not need to create this file. By default DHCPCD will overwrite this file when it gets a new lease from the DHCP server. If you wish to manually configure your network interfaces or manually set your DNS using DHCP then create the file by running the following:

cat > /etc/resolv.conf << "EOF"
# Begin /etc/resolv.conf

domain [Your Domain Name]
nameserver [IP address of your primary nameserver]
nameserver [IP address of your secondary nameserver]

# End /etc/resolv.conf
EOF

The domain statement can be omitted or replaced with a search statement. See the man page for resolv.conf for more details.

Replace [IP address of the nameserver] with the IP address of the DNS most appropriate for the setup. There will often be more than one entry (requirements demand secondary servers for fallback capability). If you only need or want one DNS server, remove the second nameserver line from the file. The IP address may also be a router on the local network.