---
title: Bind configuration
slug: legacy/bind-configuration
description: Learn how to configure Bind as a DNS server that efficiently forwards requests while providing malware protection and content filtering.
docTags:
createdAt: 2024-01-25T08:19:10.431Z
---
If you are using **Bind** as your DNS server and want to **forward** all incoming requests to our DNS server you can use the *malware protection and content filtering features*,
please follow the steps below. For more information on how Bind works you can visit the
**IMPORTANT NOTE**: Before proceeding with this guide, you must register y*our public IP address*.
*Only registered IP addresses can use the malware protection and content filtering features on their network*.
You can do this by going and then accessing the *Networks section*.
Move to the folder that **contains the Bind configuration files**.
By default, the folder should be */etc/bind*.
The file we need to change is the "*named.conf.options*" file, so open it in a text editor with **sudo privileges**.
Once opened, the file should look something like this:
\>*options \{
*
* "/var/cache/bind" directory;
*
* dnssec-validation auto;
*
* auth-nxdomain no; # conform to RFC1035
*
* listen-on-v6 \{ any; };
*
* };*
Within the options \{} block we need to create another block called forwarders that will contain the **IP addresses of the DNS servers** to which **we want to forward requests**.
In this case the IP addresses to be entered are as follows:
\>*...*
*options \{
*
* directory "/var/cache/bind";
*
* forwarders \{
*
* 185.236.104.104;
*
* 185.236.105.105;
*
* };*
Now we need to set the forward directive to "**only**," since our server should automatically forward all requests and not attempt to resolve them on its own.
The configuration file should look like this when finished:
\>...
*options \{
*
* directory "/var/cache/bind";
*
* forwarders \{
*
* 185.236.104.104;
*
* 185.236.105.105;
*
* };
*
*
forward only;*
**Save and close** the file once you are done.
To check if you have done everything correctly, we can use the **tools provided by Bind** to check the *syntax of the configuration files*.
To do this, simply type the following command:
\>*sudo named-checkconf*
If there are no syntax errors in the configuration, *the shell prompt will terminate immediately without displaying any output*.
Finally, you need to **restart the Bind daemon** to *implement the changes*.
You can do this with the following command (the command below uses Bind 9: replace it with the version you are currently using):
\>*sudo service bind9-restart*
We're done, and you should now have your **Bind server properly configured to start filtering content and protecting your network from malware**.
**Other ways to ask**:
- How to configure Bind for Internet DNS filtering.
- Configuring Bind for Internet DNS Filtering. How to.