bind9/doc/arm/advanced.inc.rst

.. Copyright (C) Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
..
.. SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
..
.. This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
.. License, v. 2.0.  If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
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.. See the COPYRIGHT file distributed with this work for additional
.. information regarding copyright ownership.

.. _advanced:

Advanced Configurations
=======================

.. _dynamic_update:

Dynamic Update
--------------

Dynamic update is a method for adding, replacing, or deleting records in
a primary server by sending it a special form of DNS messages. The format
and meaning of these messages is specified in :rfc:`2136`.

Dynamic update is enabled by including an :any:`allow-update` or an
:any:`update-policy` clause in the :any:`zone` statement.

If the zone's :any:`update-policy` is set to ``local``, updates to the zone
are permitted for the key ``local-ddns``, which is generated by
:iscman:`named` at startup. See :ref:`dynamic_update_policies` for more details.

Dynamic updates using Kerberos-signed requests can be made using the
TKEY/GSS protocol, either by setting the :any:`tkey-gssapi-keytab` option
or by setting both the :any:`tkey-gssapi-credential` and
:any:`tkey-domain` options. Once enabled, Kerberos-signed requests are
matched against the update policies for the zone, using the Kerberos
principal as the signer for the request.

Updating of secure zones (zones using DNSSEC) follows :rfc:`3007`: RRSIG,
NSEC, and NSEC3 records affected by updates are automatically regenerated
by the server using an online zone key. Update authorization is based on
transaction signatures and an explicit server policy.

.. _journal:

The Journal File
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All changes made to a zone using dynamic update are stored in the zone's
journal file. This file is automatically created by the server when the
first dynamic update takes place. The name of the journal file is formed
by appending the extension ``.jnl`` to the name of the corresponding
zone file unless specifically overridden. The journal file is in a
binary format and should not be edited manually.

The server also occasionally writes ("dumps") the complete contents
of the updated zone to its zone file. This is not done immediately after
each dynamic update because that would be too slow when a large zone is
updated frequently. Instead, the dump is delayed by up to 15 minutes,
allowing additional updates to take place. During the dump process,
transient files are created with the extensions ``.jnw`` and
``.jbk``; under ordinary circumstances, these are removed when the
dump is complete, and can be safely ignored.

When a server is restarted after a shutdown or crash, it replays the
journal file to incorporate into the zone any updates that took place
after the last zone dump.

Changes that result from incoming incremental zone transfers are also
journaled in a similar way.

The zone files of dynamic zones cannot normally be edited by hand
because they are not guaranteed to contain the most recent dynamic
changes; those are only in the journal file. The only way to ensure
that the zone file of a dynamic zone is up-to-date is to run
:option:`rndc stop`.

To make changes to a dynamic zone manually, follow these steps:
first, disable dynamic updates to the zone using
:option:`rndc freeze zone <rndc freeze>`. This updates the zone file with the
changes stored in its ``.jnl`` file. Then, edit the zone file. Finally, run
:option:`rndc thaw zone <rndc thaw>` to reload the changed zone and re-enable dynamic
updates.

:option:`rndc sync zone <rndc sync>` updates the zone file with changes from the
journal file without stopping dynamic updates; this may be useful for
viewing the current zone state. To remove the ``.jnl`` file after
updating the zone file, use :option:`rndc sync -clean <rndc sync>`.

.. _notify:

NOTIFY
------

DNS NOTIFY is a mechanism that allows primary servers to notify their
secondary servers of changes to a zone's data. In response to a NOTIFY message
from a primary server, the secondary checks to see that its version of
the zone is the current version and, if not, initiates a zone transfer.

For more information about DNS NOTIFY, see the description of the
:namedconf:ref:`notify` and :namedconf:ref:`also-notify` statements.
The NOTIFY protocol is specified in :rfc:`1996`.

.. note::

   As a secondary zone can also be a primary to other secondaries, :iscman:`named`, by
   default, sends NOTIFY messages for every zone it loads.

.. _incremental_zone_transfers:

Incremental Zone Transfers (IXFR)
---------------------------------

The incremental zone transfer (IXFR) protocol is a way for secondary servers
to transfer only changed data, instead of having to transfer an entire
zone. The IXFR protocol is specified in :rfc:`1995`.

When acting as a primary server, BIND 9 supports IXFR for those zones where the
necessary change history information is available. These include primary
zones maintained by dynamic update and secondary zones whose data was
obtained by IXFR. For manually maintained primary zones, and for secondary
zones obtained by performing a full zone transfer (AXFR), IXFR is
supported only if the option :any:`ixfr-from-differences` is set to
``yes``.

When acting as a secondary server, BIND 9 attempts to use IXFR unless it is
explicitly disabled. For more information about disabling IXFR, see the
description of the :any:`request-ixfr` clause of the :namedconf:ref:`server` statement.

When a secondary server receives a zone via AXFR, it creates a new copy of the
zone database and then swaps it into place; during the loading process, queries
continue to be served from the old database with no interference. When receiving
a zone via IXFR, however, changes are applied to the running zone, which may
degrade query performance during the transfer. If a server receiving an IXFR
request determines that the response size would be similar in size to an AXFR
response, it may wish to send AXFR instead. The threshold at which this
determination is made can be configured using the
:any:`max-ixfr-ratio` option.

.. _split_dns:

Split DNS
---------

Setting up different views of the DNS space to internal
and external resolvers is usually referred to as a *split DNS* setup.
There are several reasons an organization might want to set up its DNS
this way.

One common reason to use split DNS is to hide
"internal" DNS information from "external" clients on the Internet.
There is some debate as to whether this is actually useful.
Internal DNS information leaks out in many ways (via email headers, for
example) and most savvy "attackers" can find the information they need
using other means. However, since listing addresses of internal servers
that external clients cannot possibly reach can result in connection
delays and other annoyances, an organization may choose to use split
DNS to present a consistent view of itself to the outside world.

Another common reason for setting up a split DNS system is to allow
internal networks that are behind filters or in :rfc:`1918` space (reserved
IP space, as documented in :rfc:`1918`) to resolve DNS on the Internet.
Split DNS can also be used to allow mail from outside back into the
internal network.

.. _split_dns_sample:

Example Split DNS Setup
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let's say a company named *Example, Inc.* (``example.com``) has several
corporate sites that have an internal network with reserved Internet
Protocol (IP) space and an external demilitarized zone (DMZ), or
"outside" section of a network, that is available to the public.

Example, Inc. wants its internal clients to be able to resolve
external hostnames and to exchange mail with people on the outside. The
company also wants its internal resolvers to have access to certain
internal-only zones that are not available at all outside of the
internal network.

To accomplish this, the company sets up two sets of name
servers. One set is on the inside network (in the reserved IP
space) and the other set is on bastion hosts, which are "proxy"
hosts in the DMZ that can talk to both sides of its network.

The internal servers are configured to forward all queries, except
queries for ``site1.internal``, ``site2.internal``,
``site1.example.com``, and ``site2.example.com``, to the servers in the
DMZ. These internal servers have complete sets of information for
``site1.example.com``, ``site2.example.com``, ``site1.internal``, and
``site2.internal``.

To protect the ``site1.internal`` and ``site2.internal`` domains, the
internal name servers must be configured to disallow all queries to
these domains from any external hosts, including the bastion hosts.

The external servers, which are on the bastion hosts, are configured
to serve the "public" version of the ``site1.example.com`` and ``site2.example.com``
zones. This could include things such as the host records for public
servers (``www.example.com`` and ``ftp.example.com``) and mail exchange
(MX) records (``a.mx.example.com`` and ``b.mx.example.com``).

In addition, the public ``site1.example.com`` and ``site2.example.com`` zones should
have special MX records that contain wildcard (``*``) records pointing to
the bastion hosts. This is needed because external mail servers
have no other way of determining how to deliver mail to those internal
hosts. With the wildcard records, the mail is delivered to the
bastion host, which can then forward it on to internal hosts.

Here's an example of a wildcard MX record:

::

   *   IN MX 10 external1.example.com.

Now that they accept mail on behalf of anything in the internal network,
the bastion hosts need to know how to deliver mail to internal
hosts. The resolvers on the bastion
hosts need to be configured to point to the internal name servers
for DNS resolution.

Queries for internal hostnames are answered by the internal servers,
and queries for external hostnames are forwarded back out to the DNS
servers on the bastion hosts.

For all of this to work properly, internal clients need to be
configured to query *only* the internal name servers for DNS queries.
This could also be enforced via selective filtering on the network.

If everything has been set properly, Example, Inc.'s internal clients
are now able to:

-  Look up any hostnames in the ``site1.example.com`` and ``site2.example.com``
   zones.

-  Look up any hostnames in the ``site1.internal`` and
   ``site2.internal`` domains.

-  Look up any hostnames on the Internet.

-  Exchange mail with both internal and external users.

Hosts on the Internet are able to:

-  Look up any hostnames in the ``site1.example.com`` and ``site2.example.com``
   zones.

-  Exchange mail with anyone in the ``site1.example.com`` and ``site2.example.com``
   zones.

Here is an example configuration for the setup just described above.
Note that this is only configuration information; for information on how
to configure the zone files, see :ref:`sample_configuration`.

Internal DNS server config:

::


   acl internals { 172.16.72.0/24; 192.168.1.0/24; };

   acl externals { bastion-ips-go-here; };

   options {
       ...
       ...
       forward only;
       // forward to external servers
       forwarders {
       bastion-ips-go-here;
       };
       // sample allow-transfer (no one)
       allow-transfer { none; };
       // restrict query access
       allow-query { internals; externals; };
       // restrict recursion
       allow-recursion { internals; };
       ...
       ...
   };

   // sample primary zone
   zone "site1.example.com" {
     type primary;
     file "m/site1.example.com";
     // do normal iterative resolution (do not forward)
     forwarders { };
     allow-query { internals; externals; };
     allow-transfer { internals; };
   };

   // sample secondary zone
   zone "site2.example.com" {
     type secondary;
     file "s/site2.example.com";
     primaries { 172.16.72.3; };
     forwarders { };
     allow-query { internals; externals; };
     allow-transfer { internals; };
   };

   zone "site1.internal" {
     type primary;
     file "m/site1.internal";
     forwarders { };
     allow-query { internals; };
     allow-transfer { internals; }
   };

   zone "site2.internal" {
     type secondary;
     file "s/site2.internal";
     primaries { 172.16.72.3; };
     forwarders { };
     allow-query { internals };
     allow-transfer { internals; }
   };

External (bastion host) DNS server configuration:

::

   acl internals { 172.16.72.0/24; 192.168.1.0/24; };

   acl externals { bastion-ips-go-here; };

   options {
     ...
     ...
     // sample allow-transfer (no one)
     allow-transfer { none; };
     // default query access
     allow-query { any; };
     // restrict cache access
     allow-query-cache { internals; externals; };
     // restrict recursion
     allow-recursion { internals; externals; };
     ...
     ...
   };

   // sample secondary zone
   zone "site1.example.com" {
     type primary;
     file "m/site1.foo.com";
     allow-transfer { internals; externals; };
   };

   zone "site2.example.com" {
     type secondary;
     file "s/site2.foo.com";
     primaries { another_bastion_host_maybe; };
     allow-transfer { internals; externals; }
   };

In the ``resolv.conf`` (or equivalent) on the bastion host(s):

::

   search ...
   nameserver 172.16.72.2
   nameserver 172.16.72.3
   nameserver 172.16.72.4

.. _ipv6:

IPv6 Support in BIND 9
----------------------

BIND 9 fully supports all currently defined forms of IPv6 name-to-address
and address-to-name lookups. It also uses IPv6 addresses to
make queries when running on an IPv6-capable system.

For forward lookups, BIND 9 supports only AAAA records. :rfc:`3363`
deprecated the use of A6 records, and client-side support for A6 records
was accordingly removed from BIND 9. However, authoritative BIND 9 name
servers still load zone files containing A6 records correctly, answer
queries for A6 records, and accept zone transfer for a zone containing
A6 records.

For IPv6 reverse lookups, BIND 9 supports the traditional "nibble"
format used in the ``ip6.arpa`` domain, as well as the older, deprecated
``ip6.int`` domain. Older versions of BIND 9 supported the "binary label"
(also known as "bitstring") format, but support of binary labels has
been completely removed per :rfc:`3363`. Many applications in BIND 9 do not
understand the binary label format at all anymore, and return an
error if one is given. In particular, an authoritative BIND 9 name server will
not load a zone file containing binary labels.

Address Lookups Using AAAA Records
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The IPv6 AAAA record is a parallel to the IPv4 A record, and, unlike the
deprecated A6 record, specifies the entire IPv6 address in a single
record. For example:

::

   $ORIGIN example.com.
   host            3600    IN      AAAA    2001:db8::1

Use of IPv4-in-IPv6 mapped addresses is not recommended. If a host has
an IPv4 address, use an A record, not a AAAA, with
``::ffff:192.168.42.1`` as the address.

Address-to-Name Lookups Using Nibble Format
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When looking up an address in nibble format, the address components are
simply reversed, just as in IPv4, and ``ip6.arpa.`` is appended to the
resulting name. For example, the following commands produce a reverse name
lookup for a host with address ``2001:db8::1``:

::

   $ORIGIN 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.8.b.d.0.1.0.0.2.ip6.arpa.
   1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0  14400   IN    PTR    (
                       host.example.com. )