Configuring the Server
The default install of Solaris 11 does not come with a DNS server, but this can be added easily through IPS like so:

[paulie@griff ~]$ sudo pkg install service/network/dns/bind

Before enabling this service, the named.conf file needs to be modified to support the DNS structure. Here's what mine looks like:

[paulie@griff ~]$ cat /etc/named.conf
options {
        directory       "/etc/namedb/working";
        pid-file        "/var/run/named/pid";
        dump-file       "/var/dump/named_dump.db";
        statistics-file "/var/stats/named.stats";
        forwarders { 208.67.222.222; 208.67.220.220; };
};

zone "hillvalley" {
        type master;
        file "/etc/namedb/master/hillvalley.db";
};

zone "1.168.192.in-addr.arpa" {
        type master;
        file "/etc/namedb/master/1.168.192.db";
};

My forwarders use the OpenDNS servers, so any request that the local DNS server can't process goes through there. I've also setup two zones: hillvalley.db for my forward zone and 1.168.192.db for my reverse zone. We need both for a proper configuration. We also need to create some directories to support this file:

[paulie@griff ~]$ sudo mkdir /var/dump
[paulie@griff ~]$ sudo mkdir /var/stats
[paulie@griff ~]$ sudo mkdir -p /var/run/namedb
[paulie@griff ~]$ sudo mkdir -p /etc/namedb/master
[paulie@griff ~]$ sudo mkdir -p /etc/namedb/working

Now, let's populate the DNS server with a forward and reverse file.

Forward file

[paulie@griff ~]$ cat /etc/namedb/master/hillvalley.db 
$TTL 3h
@       IN      SOA     griff.hillvalley. paulie.griff.hillvalley. (
        2013022744
        28800
        3600
        604800
        38400
)

hillvalley.     IN      NS      griff.hillvalley.

delorean        IN      A       192.168.1.1   ; Router
biff            IN      A       192.168.1.101 ; NFS Server
griff           IN      A       192.168.1.102 ; DNS Server
buford          IN      A       192.168.1.103 ; LDAP Server
marty           IN      A       192.168.1.104 ; Workstation
doc             IN      A       192.168.1.105 ; Laptop
jennifer        IN      A       192.168.1.106 ; Boxee
lorraine        IN      A       192.168.1.107 ; Boxee

Reverse File

[paulie@griff ~]$ cat /etc/namedb/master/1.168.192.db 
$TTL 3h
@       IN      SOA     griff.hillvalley. paulie.griff.hillvalley. (
        2013022744
        28800
        3600
        604800
        38400
)

        IN      NS      griff.hillvalley.

1       IN      PTR     delorean.hillvalley.    ; Router
101     IN      PTR     biff.hillvalley.        ; NFS Server
102     IN      PTR     griff.hillvalley.       ; DNS Server
103     IN      PTR     buford.hillvalley.      ; LDAP Server
104     IN      PTR     marty.hillvalley.       ; Workstation
105     IN      PTR     doc.hillvalley.         ; Laptop
106     IN      PTR     jennifer.hillvalley.    ; Boxee
107     IN      PTR     lorraine.hillvalley.    ; Boxee

For referencing how these files works:

• paulie is the admin user account name
• griff is the hostname of the DNS server
• hillvalley is the domain name of the network
• I love BTTF

Feel free to tweak this example to match your own network. Finally, enable the DNS service and check that it's online:

[paulie@griff ~]$ sudo svcadm enable dns/server
[paulie@griff ~]$ sudo svcs | grep dns/server
online         22:32:20 svc:/network/dns/server:default

Configuring the Client
We will need the IP address (192.168.1.102), hostname (griff), and domain name (hillvalley) to configure DNS with these commands:

[paulie@buford ~]$ sudo svccfg -s network/dns/client setprop config/nameserver = net_address: 192.168.1.102
[paulie@buford ~]$ sudo svccfg -s network/dns/client setprop config/domain = astring: hillvalley
[paulie@buford ~]$ sudo svccfg -s network/dns/client setprop config/search = astring: hillvalley
[paulie@buford ~]$ sudo svccfg -s name-service/switch setprop config/ipnodes = astring: '"files dns"'
[paulie@buford ~]$ sudo svccfg -s name-service/switch setprop config/host = astring: '"files dns"'

Verify the configuration is correct:

[paulie@buford ~]$ svccfg -s network/dns/client listprop config
config                      application        
config/value_authorization astring     solaris.smf.value.name-service.dns.client
config/nameserver          net_address 192.168.1.102
config/domain              astring     hillvalley
config/search              astring     hillvalley

And enable:

[paulie@buford ~]$ sudo svcadm enable dns/client

Now we need to test that the DNS server is working using both forward and reverse DNS lookups:

[paulie@buford ~]$ nslookup lorraine
Server:         192.168.1.102
Address:        192.168.1.102#53

Name:   lorraine.hillvalley
Address: 192.168.1.107

[paulie@buford ~]$ nslookup 192.168.1.1
Server:         192.168.1.102
Address:        192.168.1.102#53

1.1.168.192.in-addr.arpa        name = delorean.hillvalley.