Table of contents

Introduction

The application DNS REST BIND forms a bridge between AutoDNS and a BIND name server, allowing the zones in AutoDNS to be managed. The actions required for this in AutoDNS are passed to the BIND server with the help of DNS REST BIND. The REST protocol based on HTTP is used to do this. In order to ensure a secure connection, we suggest that you start the server in SSL mode. You can either integrate your own certificates or use the certificate already in place in the application.

The AutoDNS actions are processed in two steps:

The order data is checked and saved in the relevant queue. The corresponding BIND zone data is also generated and saved.
All open orders are carried out and the AutoDNS configuration file is rewritten. After this is done, the BIND server is restarted. This step is asynchronous, but the interval can be adjusted.

System requirements

The application requires a Java Virtual Machine (JDK). It is also dependent on the javad-util package, included in delivery. Although there are no special hardware requirements, we nevertheless recommend an x86 system with at least 128 MB storage.

Recommendation

We use the OpenJDK Amazon Corretto-8 to develop our software, therefore we recommend the usage of Amazon Corretto-8. Amazon Corretto is a free, cross-platform and production-ready distribution of the Open Java Development Kit (OpenJDK). Corretto provides long-term support that includes performance enhancements and security fixes. It can be installed easily using the following commands:

First import the repository

rpm --import https://yum.corretto.aws/corretto.key curl -L -o /etc/yum.repos.d/corretto.repo https://yum.corretto.aws/corretto.repo

Finally install the JDK:

yum install java-1.8.0-amazon-corretto-devel

First installation

Installation using package manager yum

DNS REST BIND was designed for use with systems based on RPM and is available as an RPM package. As soon as the InterNetX repositories are available, DNS REST BIND can be installed easily using the following command:

yum install dns-rest-bind.rpm

The package manager resolves the requirements and enables the installation of missing programs.

Configuration

Predefined variables

Variable	Description	Default Path
CONFIGDIR	Configuration Files	`/etc/javad/dns-rest-bind`
HOME	Home Directory	`/var/lib/javad/dns-rest-bind`
APPDIR	Program Files	`/usr/share/java/dns-rest-bind`

Password configuration

The server uses HTTP BASIC Auth to authorize the user. You can define the users and corresponding passwords in the file passwd in the configuration index.

The file uses the following format:

User: Password,rest-user

Example: user.one: pwsecret,rest-user

Rest-user cannot be changed and must follow the password – it defines the user group specified in the server.

Logging configuration

The file log4j.xml is saved in the configuration index at installation.

The file defines the logging behavior. This is based on "Log4j-Logger". It writes the log data to /var/log/javad/dns-rest-bind.info.log file. Logging is set so that a maximum of 1 GB hard drive space can be used, i.e. 10 files of 100 MB each.

If you would like to perform the logging via e.g. syslog, please refer to the "Log4j" configuration.

Configuration of the BIND connection

The following parameters are defined in the configuration folder under bind.properties:

Name	Format	Description
jobXmlDao.directory	String	The path to the job spool directory. Default: `/var/spool/javad/dns-rest-bind/job-data`
bind.zoneDirectory	String	The path to the zone files directory, must be also defined within the bind conf. Default`: /var/named/data`
bind.rndc	String	The path to the RNDC command. Default: `/usr/sbin/rndc`
bind.config	String	The path to the specific AutoDNS BIND definition file. The file will be generated by the application. Default: `/var/named/autodns.conf`
bind.reloadDelay	Integer	Reload every minute in milli seconds, after the time of seconds the bind server is reloaded, using the RNDC command. Default: `60000`
bind.chgrp	String	The path to the `chgrp` command. Default: `/bin/chgrp`
bind.chmod	String	The path to the `chmod` command.Default: `/bin/chmod`
bind.group	String	The bind user group.Default: `named`
bind.named-checkconf	String	The path to the named-checkconf command.Default: `named-checkconf`
bind.named-checkzone	String	The path to the name-checkzone command.Default: `named-checkzone`
bind.axfrTimeout	Integer	The AXFR timeout in seconds.Default: `60`
bind.localAxfr	IP	The local address to bind.Default: `0.0.0.0`

Server start parameters

The server starting parameters are defined in the tables.

These can be modified under /etc/sysconfig/javad/dns-rest-bind under the item PARAM.

Name	Required	Type	Description
Port, -p	yes	integer	Server port that waits for requests. Default: `9090`
ssl	no	boolean	Is HTTPS used instead of HTTP? For SSL further parameters are required. Default: `false`
keystore	no	path	SSL keystore
keystore-password	no	string	Password for the SSL keystore. The password is stored AES encrypted.
cert-password	no	string	Password for the certificate. The password is stored AES encrypted.
passwd	yes	string	Path to the user file. Default: `/etc/javad/dns-rest-bind/passwd`
hostname	no	ip	IP Address the server should bind to. Default: `0.0.0.0`
config	yes	path	Path to the multiserver configuration. Default file: `$CONFIGDIR/multiserver.conf`

General parameters

Name	Required	Type	Description
USER	yes	string	The user the server is started with. Default: `autodns`
VMOPTS	yes	string	Defines JDK specific parameters like memory usage. Default: `-Dconf-dir=file:$CONFIGDIR`
PARAMS	yes	string	Start parameter for the server. See: Configuration of the Server Start Parameters. Default: see server parameters
JMX	no	boolean	Starts the VM with JMX. Default: `false`
JMXPORT	no	integer	The JMX port. Default: `10120`
DEBUG	no	boolean	Starts the VM in the remote debug mode. Default: `false`
DEBUGPORT	no	integer	Default: `10220`

DNS REST BIND installation guide (Linux)