---
title: "Isn't \"make install\" supposed to generate a default named.conf?"
slug: "aa-00290"
description: "There's no single default configuration of named that will suit every need, so the configuration needs to be customized for your installation."
updated: 2018-10-05T21:19:39Z
published: 2018-10-05T21:19:39Z
canonical: "kb.isc.org/aa-00290"
stale: true
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.isc.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Isn't "make install" supposed to generate a default named.conf?

Short Answer: No.

Long Answer: There really isn't a default configuration which fits any site perfectly. There are lots of decisions that need to be made and there is no consensus on what the defaults should be. For example:

- FreeBSD uses **/etc/namedb** as the location where the configuration files for **named** are stored; others use **/var/named**.
- What addresses should you listen on? For a laptop on the move a lot, you may only want to listen on the loop back interfaces.
- Who do you offer recursive service to?
- Is there a firewall to consider? If so, is it stateless or stateful?
- Are you directly on the Internet? Are you on a private network? Are you on a NAT'd network?

The answers to all these questions change how you configure even a caching name server.