DNS Request...

Would you consider switching from multi line zone file references in /etc/named.conf to single-line references?

It would make automatic scripting of slave DNS quite a bit easier; with single-line references we can use a simple one-liner to create a slave reference from a master reference.

Thanks.

Jeff

So you want:

zone "test.com" {
   type master;
   file "/var/named/test.com.db";
};

to become:


zone "test.com" { type master; file "/var/named/test.com.db"; };

?

John

Absolutely .

I was discussing this issue a few days ago on either the isp-dns list or the bind list run by the authors of bind (and on which Cricket Liu, co-author of the O'Reilly "DNS and Bind" book is a frequent contributor).

We've all agreed that whereas multi-line zone references are easier for humans to read, most of us would rather have a line that we can parse electronically .

Actually I'd also like an option to add allow transfer (below should appear on one line but may not depending on your browser width):

zone "test.com" { type master; file "/var/named/test.com.db"; allow-transfer { 12.34.56.78 ; }; };

as an option; some of us would like to be able to do that so we can use vanity nameservers at different IP#s.

Jeff

Hello,

I'll look into changing it to single line.

I'll see about the allow-transfer feature... would a template file be ok where you just set it once, and all new accounts have the same allow-transfer ip? This way you can set the default to whatever you wish.

John

The templated method of setting up a master allowed transfer for all domains would be great for us, and probably for just about everyone... although there's a reason why it's available on a domain-by-domain basis, I'm sure .

but there should also be the ability to not have it at all; many people will never need it (because they run master and slave on the same server) and having it in there without a valid IP might cause a problem. Perhaps using 127.0.0.1 as the default IP# in the template would work; I'll be happy to test it for you if you're going to do it.

Some of us would probably like to be able to put in more than one IP# (because we use more than one slave server); hopefully we'll be able to change the template to put in as many as we want.

Jeff

What I'm think at the momment, is to just add a template with:

zone "test.com" { type master; file "/var/named/test.com.db"; };

Then you can copy it to your custom templates directory and change it however you wish.

John

Looks perfect, John.

Jeff

Guys,

Has this been done yet? I looked in the "templates" directory and I see a named.db, but nothing for the named.conf file....

-Robert

Not quite. The privious parser was very lazy to only read our format, so it has to be re-written before it can handle "any" format of zone. I'll have another look at it now.

John

Thanks John, we appreciate your help!

-Robert

All done
Should be included with the next release. The template file is called "zone.conf", and it's contents will look like: Where DOMAIN and PATH are tokens that will be filled in automatically. The parser should also be able to handle embedded brackets, example: for slave zones that might have "masters { 1.2.4.5; }; in them. If you have very fancy zone settings, check your directadmin error logs, and maybe send your config's so I can make it handle them, if the parser is unable to figure them out.

John

You are the man!

-Robert