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TinyDNS Backend

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Remote Backend

  • Native: Yes
  • Master: Yes*
  • Slave: Yes*
  • Superslave: Yes*
  • DNSSEC: Yes*
  • Zone caching: Yes*
  • Multiple instances: Yes

* If provided by the responder (your script).

This backend provides Unix socket, Pipe, HTTP and ZeroMQ remoting for powerdns. You should think this as normal RPC thin client, which converts native C++ calls into JSON/RPC and passes them to you via connector.

Important notices

There is a breaking change on v4.0 and later. Before version 4.0, the DNS names passed in queries were without trailing dot, after version 4.0 the DNS names are sent with trailing dot. F.ex. example.org is now sent as example.org.

In some (broken) network setups, the IP addresses provided in the request (when this is an IPv6 address) may be suffixed with a % and the name of the network interface (e.g. %eth1). Keep this in mind when checking the IP addresses.

Compiling

To compile this backend, you need to configure --with-modules="remote".

For versions prior to 3.4.0, if you want to use http connector, you need libcurl and use --enable-remotebackend-http.

If you want to use ZeroMQ connector, you need libzmq-dev or libzmq3-dev and use --enable-remotebackend-zeromq.

Usage

The only configuration options for backend are remote-connection-string and remote-dnssec.

remote-connection-string=<type>:<param>=<value>,<param>=<value>...

You can pass as many parameters as you want. For unix and pipe connectors, these are passed along to the remote end as initialization. See API. Initialize is not called for http connector.

Unix connector

parameters: path, timeout (default 2000ms)

remote-connection-string=unix:path=/path/to/socket

Pipe connector

parameters: command,timeout (default 2000ms)

remote-connection-string=pipe:command=/path/to/executable,timeout=2000

HTTP connector

parameters: url, url-suffix, post, post_json, timeout (default 2000ms)

remote-connection-string=http:url=http://localhost:63636/dns,url-suffix=.php

HTTP connector tries to do RESTful requests to your server. See examples. You can also use post to change behaviour so that it will send POST request to url/method + url_suffix with parameters=json-formatted-parameters. If you use post and post_json, it will POST url with text/javascript containing JSON formatted RPC request, just like for pipe and unix. You can use ‘1’, ‘yes’, ‘on’ or ‘true’ to turn these features on.

URL should not end with /, and url-suffix is optional, but if you define it, it’s up to you to write the “.php” or “.json”. Lack of dot causes lack of dot in URL. Timeout is divided by 1000 because libcurl only supports seconds, but this is given in milliseconds for consistency with other connectors.

HTTPS is not supported, stunnel is the suggested workaround. HTTP Authentication is not supported.

ZeroMQ connector

parameters: endpoint, timeout (default 2000ms)

remote-connection-string=zeromq:endpoint=ipc:///tmp/tmp.sock

0MQ connector implements a REQ/REP RPC model. Please see http://zeromq.org/ for more information.

API

Queries

Unix, Pipe and ZeroMQ connectors send JSON formatted strings to the remote end. Each JSON query has two sections, ‘method’ and ‘parameters’.

HTTP connector calls methods based on URL and has parameters in the query string. Most calls are GET; see the methods listing for details. You can change this with post and post_json attributes.

Replies

You must always reply with JSON hash with at least one key, ‘result’. This must be boolean false if the query failed. Otherwise it must conform to the expected result. For HTTP connector, to signal bare success, you can just reply with HTTP 200 OK, and omit any output. This will result in same outcome as sending {“result”:true}.

You can optionally add an array of strings to the ‘log’ array; each line in this array will be logged in PowerDNS at loglevel info (6).

Methods

Methods required for different features

Always required:
 initialize, lookup
Master operation:
 list, getUpdatedMasters, setNotified
Slave operation:
 getUnfreshSlaveInfos, startTransaction, commitTransaction, abortTransaction, feedRecord, setFresh
DNSSEC operation (live-signing):
 getDomainKeys, getBeforeAndAfterNamesAbsolute
Filling the Zone Cache:
 getAllDomains

initialize

Called to initialize the backend. This is not called for HTTP connector. You should do your initializations here.

  • Mandatory: Yes (except HTTP connector)
  • Parameters: all parameters in connection string
  • Reply: true on success / false on failure

Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"initialize", "parameters":{"command":"/path/to/something", "timeout":"2000", "something":"else"}}

Response:

{"result":true}

lookup

This method is used to do the basic query. You can omit auth, but if you are using DNSSEC this can lead into trouble.

  • Mandatory: Yes
  • Parameters: qtype, qname, zone_id
  • Optional parameters: remote, local, real-remote
  • Reply: array of qtype,qname,content,ttl,domain_id,scopeMask,auth
  • Optional values: domain_id, scopeMask and auth
  • Note: priority field is required before 4.0, after 4.0 priority is added to content. This applies to any resource record which uses priority, for example SRV or MX.
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"lookup", "parameters":{"qtype":"ANY", "qname":"www.example.com.", "remote":"192.0.2.24", "local":"192.0.2.1", "real-remote":"192.0.2.24", "zone-id":-1}}

Response:

{"result":[{"qtype":"A", "qname":"www.example.com", "content":"203.0.113.2", "ttl": 60}]}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/lookup/www.example.com./ANY HTTP/1.1
X-RemoteBackend-remote: 192.0.2.24
X-RemoteBackend-local: 192.0.2.1
X-RemoteBackend-real-remote: 192.0.2.24
X-RemoteBackend-zone-id: -1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":[{"qtype":"A", "qname":"www.example.com", "content":"203.0.113.2", "ttl": 60}]}

list

Lists all records for the zonename. If you are running dnssec, you should take care of setting auth to appropriate value, otherwise things can go wrong.

  • Mandatory: No (Gives AXFR support)
  • Parameters: zonename, domain_id
  • Optional parameters: domain_id
  • Reply: array of qtype,qname,content,ttl,domain_id,scopeMask,auth
  • Optional values: domain_id, scopeMask and auth
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"list", "parameters":{"zonename":"example.com.","domain_id":-1}}

Response (split into lines for ease of reading)

{"result":[
  {"qtype":"SOA", "qname":"example.com", "content":"dns1.icann.org. hostmaster.icann.org. 2012081600 7200 3600 1209600 3600", "ttl": 3600},
  {"qtype":"NS", "qname":"example.com", "content":"ns1.example.com", "ttl": 60},
  {"qtype":"MX", "qname":"example.com", "content":"10 mx1.example.com.", "ttl": 60},
  {"qtype":"A", "qname":"www.example.com", "content":"203.0.113.2", "ttl": 60},
  {"qtype":"A", "qname":"ns1.example.com", "content":"192.0.2.2", "ttl": 60},
  {"qtype":"A", "qname":"mx1.example.com", "content":"192.0.2.3", "ttl": 60}
]}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/list/-1/example.com HTTP/1.1
X-RemoteBackend-domain-id: -1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":[{"qtype":"SOA", "qname":"example.com", "content":"dns1.icann.org. hostmaster.icann.org. 2012081600 7200 3600 1209600 3600", "ttl": 3600},{"qtype":"NS", "qname":"example.com", "content":"ns1.example.com", "ttl": 60},{"qtype":"MX", "qname":"example.com", "content":"10 mx1.example.com.", "ttl": 60},{"qtype":"A", "qname":"www.example.com", "content":"203.0.113.2", "ttl": 60},{"qtype":"A", "qname":"ns1.example.com", "content":"192.0.2.2", "ttl": 60},{"qtype":"A", "qname":"mx1.example.com", "content":"192.0.2.3", "ttl": 60}]}

getBeforeAndAfterNamesAbsolute

Asks the names before and after qname. qname is given without domain part. Care must be taken to handle wrap-around when qname is first or last in the ordered list. Do not return nil or an empty string for before and after. When using NSEC, unhashed can be an empty string (but MUST be present in the response). The qname will be hashed when using NSEC3 and in the response, unhashed should be the records’ real name without the domain part, and before and after should be the hashes.

  • Mandatory: for NSEC/NSEC3 non-narrow
  • Parameters: id (domain ID), qname
  • Reply: before, after, unhashed
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"getBeforeAndAfterNamesAbsolute", "params":{"id":0,"qname":"www."}}

Response:

{"result":{"before":"ns1","after":""}}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

/dnsapi/getbeforeandafternamesabsolute/0/www.example.com

Response:

{"result":{"before":"ns1","after":""}}

getAllDomainMetadata

Returns the value(s) for variable kind for zone name. You must always return something, if there are no values, you shall return empty set.

  • Mandatory: yes
  • Parameters: name
  • Reply: hash of key to array of strings
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"getalldomainmetadata", "parameters":{"name":"example.com"}}

Response:

{"result":{"PRESIGNED":["0"]}}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/getalldomainmetadata/example.com HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":{"PRESIGNED":["0"]}}

getDomainMetadata

Returns the value(s) for variable kind for zone name. Most commonly it’s one of NSEC3PARAM, PRESIGNED, SOA-EDIT. Can be others, too. You must always return something, if there are no values, you shall return empty array.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: name, kind
  • Reply: array of strings
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"getdomainmetadata", "parameters":{"name":"example.com.","kind":"PRESIGNED"}}

Response:

{"result":["0"]}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/getdomainmetadata/example.com./PRESIGNED HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":["0"]}

setDomainMetadata

Replaces the value(s) on domain name for variable kind to string(s) on array value. The old value is discarded. Value can be an empty array, which can be interpreted as deletion request.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: name, kind, value
  • Reply: true on success, false on failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"setdomainmetadata","parameters":{"name":"example.com","kind":"PRESIGNED","value":["YES"]}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

PATCH /dnsapi/setdomainmetadata/example.com/PRESIGNED HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 12

value[]=YES&

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

getDomainKeys

Retrieves any keys of kind. The id, flags are unsigned integers, and active and published are boolean. Content must be valid key record in format that PowerDNS understands. You are encouraged to implement the section called “addDomainKey”, as you can use pdnsutil to provision keys.

  • Mandatory: for DNSSEC
  • Parameters: name, kind
  • Reply: array of id, flags, active, published, content
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"getDomainKeys","parameters":{"name":"example.com."}}

Response:

{"result":[{"id":1,"flags":256,"active":true,"published":true,"content":"Private-key-format: v1.2
Algorithm: 8 (RSASHA256)
Modulus: r+vmQll38ndQqNSCx9eqRBUbSOLcH4PZFX824sGhY2NSQChqt1G4ZfndzRwgjXMUwiE7GkkqU2Vbt/g4iP67V/+MYecMV9YHkCRnEzb47nBXvs9JCf8AHMCnma567GQjPECh4HevPE9wmcOfpy/u7UN1oHKSKRWuZJadUwcjbp8=
PublicExponent: AQAB
PrivateExponent: CYC93UtVnOM6wrFJZ+qA9+Yx+p5yk0CSi0Q7c+/6EVMuABQ5gNyTuu0j65lU3X81bwUk2wHPx6smfgoVDRAW5jjO4jgIFV6nE4inzk5YQKycQSL8YG3Nm9GciLFya1KUXs81sHsQpkvK7MNaSbvkaHZQ6iv16bZ4t73Wascwa/E=
Prime1: 6a165cIC0nNsGlTW/s2jRu7idq5+U203iE1HzSIddmWgx5KIKE/s3I+pwfmXYRUmq+4H9ASd/Yot1lSYW98szw==
Prime2: wLoCPKxxnuxDx6/9IKOYz8t9ZNLY74iCeQ85koqvTctkFmB9jpOUHTU9BhecaFY2euP9CuHV7z3PLtCoO8s1MQ==
Exponent1: CuzJaiR/7UboLvL4ekEy+QYCIHpX/Z6FkiHK0ZRevEJUGgCHzRqvgEBXN3Jr2WYbwL4IMShmGoxzSCn8VY9BkQ==
Exponent2: LDR9/tyu0vzuLwc20B22FzNdd5rFF2wAQTQ0yF/3Baj5NAi9w84l0u07KgKQZX4g0N8qUyypnU5YDyzc6ZoagQ==
Coefficient: 6S0vhIQITWzqfQSLj+wwRzs6qCvJckHb1+SD1XpwYjSgMTEUlZhf96m8WiaE1/fIt4Zl2PC3fF7YIBoFLln22w=="}]}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/getdomainkeys/example.com/0 HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":[{"id":1,"flags":256,"active":true,"published":true,"content":"Private-key-format: v1.2
Algorithm: 8 (RSASHA256)
Modulus: r+vmQll38ndQqNSCx9eqRBUbSOLcH4PZFX824sGhY2NSQChqt1G4ZfndzRwgjXMUwiE7GkkqU2Vbt/g4iP67V/+MYecMV9YHkCRnEzb47nBXvs9JCf8AHMCnma567GQjPECh4HevPE9wmcOfpy/u7UN1oHKSKRWuZJadUwcjbp8=
PublicExponent: AQAB
PrivateExponent: CYC93UtVnOM6wrFJZ+qA9+Yx+p5yk0CSi0Q7c+/6EVMuABQ5gNyTuu0j65lU3X81bwUk2wHPx6smfgoVDRAW5jjO4jgIFV6nE4inzk5YQKycQSL8YG3Nm9GciLFya1KUXs81sHsQpkvK7MNaSbvkaHZQ6iv16bZ4t73Wascwa/E=
Prime1: 6a165cIC0nNsGlTW/s2jRu7idq5+U203iE1HzSIddmWgx5KIKE/s3I+pwfmXYRUmq+4H9ASd/Yot1lSYW98szw==
Prime2: wLoCPKxxnuxDx6/9IKOYz8t9ZNLY74iCeQ85koqvTctkFmB9jpOUHTU9BhecaFY2euP9CuHV7z3PLtCoO8s1MQ==
Exponent1: CuzJaiR/7UboLvL4ekEy+QYCIHpX/Z6FkiHK0ZRevEJUGgCHzRqvgEBXN3Jr2WYbwL4IMShmGoxzSCn8VY9BkQ==
Exponent2: LDR9/tyu0vzuLwc20B22FzNdd5rFF2wAQTQ0yF/3Baj5NAi9w84l0u07KgKQZX4g0N8qUyypnU5YDyzc6ZoagQ==
Coefficient: 6S0vhIQITWzqfQSLj+wwRzs6qCvJckHb1+SD1XpwYjSgMTEUlZhf96m8WiaE1/fIt4Zl2PC3fF7YIBoFLln22w=="}]}

addDomainKey

Adds key into local storage. See getDomainKeys for more information.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: name, key=<flags,active,published,content>, id
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"adddomainkey", "parameters":{"key":{"id":1,"flags":256,"active":true,"published":true,"content":"Private-key-format: v1.2
Algorithm: 8 (RSASHA256)
Modulus: r+vmQll38ndQqNSCx9eqRBUbSOLcH4PZFX824sGhY2NSQChqt1G4ZfndzRwgjXMUwiE7GkkqU2Vbt/g4iP67V/+MYecMV9YHkCRnEzb47nBXvs9JCf8AHMCnma567GQjPECh4HevPE9wmcOfpy/u7UN1oHKSKRWuZJadUwcjbp8=
PublicExponent: AQAB
PrivateExponent: CYC93UtVnOM6wrFJZ+qA9+Yx+p5yk0CSi0Q7c+/6EVMuABQ5gNyTuu0j65lU3X81bwUk2wHPx6smfgoVDRAW5jjO4jgIFV6nE4inzk5YQKycQSL8YG3Nm9GciLFya1KUXs81sHsQpkvK7MNaSbvkaHZQ6iv16bZ4t73Wascwa/E=
Prime1: 6a165cIC0nNsGlTW/s2jRu7idq5+U203iE1HzSIddmWgx5KIKE/s3I+pwfmXYRUmq+4H9ASd/Yot1lSYW98szw==
Prime2: wLoCPKxxnuxDx6/9IKOYz8t9ZNLY74iCeQ85koqvTctkFmB9jpOUHTU9BhecaFY2euP9CuHV7z3PLtCoO8s1MQ==
Exponent1: CuzJaiR/7UboLvL4ekEy+QYCIHpX/Z6FkiHK0ZRevEJUGgCHzRqvgEBXN3Jr2WYbwL4IMShmGoxzSCn8VY9BkQ==
Exponent2: LDR9/tyu0vzuLwc20B22FzNdd5rFF2wAQTQ0yF/3Baj5NAi9w84l0u07KgKQZX4g0N8qUyypnU5YDyzc6ZoagQ==
Coefficient: 6S0vhIQITWzqfQSLj+wwRzs6qCvJckHb1+SD1XpwYjSgMTEUlZhf96m8WiaE1/fIt4Zl2PC3fF7YIBoFLln22w=="}}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

PUT /dnsapi/adddomainkey/example.com HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 965

flags=256&active=1&published=1&content=Private-key-format: v1.2
Algorithm: 8 (RSASHA256)
Modulus: r+vmQll38ndQqNSCx9eqRBUbSOLcH4PZFX824sGhY2NSQChqt1G4ZfndzRwgjXMUwiE7GkkqU2Vbt/g4iP67V/+MYecMV9YHkCRnEzb47nBXvs9JCf8AHMCnma567GQjPECh4HevPE9wmcOfpy/u7UN1oHKSKRWuZJadUwcjbp8=
PublicExponent: AQAB
PrivateExponent: CYC93UtVnOM6wrFJZ+qA9+Yx+p5yk0CSi0Q7c+/6EVMuABQ5gNyTuu0j65lU3X81bwUk2wHPx6smfgoVDRAW5jjO4jgIFV6nE4inzk5YQKycQSL8YG3Nm9GciLFya1KUXs81sHsQpkvK7MNaSbvkaHZQ6iv16bZ4t73Wascwa/E=
Prime1: 6a165cIC0nNsGlTW/s2jRu7idq5+U203iE1HzSIddmWgx5KIKE/s3I+pwfmXYRUmq+4H9ASd/Yot1lSYW98szw==
Prime2: wLoCPKxxnuxDx6/9IKOYz8t9ZNLY74iCeQ85koqvTctkFmB9jpOUHTU9BhecaFY2euP9CuHV7z3PLtCoO8s1MQ==
Exponent1: CuzJaiR/7UboLvL4ekEy+QYCIHpX/Z6FkiHK0ZRevEJUGgCHzRqvgEBXN3Jr2WYbwL4IMShmGoxzSCn8VY9BkQ==
Exponent2: LDR9/tyu0vzuLwc20B22FzNdd5rFF2wAQTQ0yF/3Baj5NAi9w84l0u07KgKQZX4g0N8qUyypnU5YDyzc6ZoagQ==
Coefficient: 6S0vhIQITWzqfQSLj+wwRzs6qCvJckHb1+SD1XpwYjSgMTEUlZhf96m8WiaE1/fIt4Zl2PC3fF7YIBoFLln22w==

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

removeDomainKey

Removes key id from domain name.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: name, id
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"removedomainkey","parameters":{"name":"example.com","id":1}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

DELETE /dnsapi/removedomainkey/example.com/1 HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

activateDomainKey

Activates key id for domain name.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: name, id
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"activatedomainkey","parameters":{"name":"example.com","id":1}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

POST /dnsapi/activatedomainkey/example.com/1 HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; utf-8

{"result": true}

deactivateDomainKey

Deactivates key id for domain name.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: name, id
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"deactivatedomainkey","parameters":{"name":"example.com","id":1}}

Response:

{"result": true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

POST /dnsapi/deactivatedomainkey/example.com/1 HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; utf-8

{"result": true}

publishDomainKey

Publish key id for domain name.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: name, id
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"publishdomainkey","parameters":{"name":"example.com","id":1}}

Response:

{"result": true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

POST /dnsapi/publishdomainkey/example.com/1 HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; utf-8

{"result": true}

unpublishDomainKey

Unpublish key id for domain name.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: name, id
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"unpublishdomainkey","parameters":{"name":"example.com","id":1}}

Response:

{"result": true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

POST /dnsapi/unpublishdomainkey/example.com/1 HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; utf-8

{"result": true}

getTSIGKey

Retrieves the key needed to sign AXFR.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: name
  • Reply: algorithm, content
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"gettsigkey","parameters":{"name":"example.com."}}

Response:

{"result":{"algorithm":"hmac-md5","content":"kp4/24gyYsEzbuTVJRUMoqGFmN3LYgVDzJ/3oRSP7ys="}}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/gettsigkey/example.com. HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":{"algorithm":"hmac-md5","content":"kp4/24gyYsEzbuTVJRUMoqGFmN3LYgVDzJ/3oRSP7ys="}}

getDomainInfo

Retrieves information about given domain from the backend. If your return value has no zone attribute, the backend will signal error. Everything else will default to something. Default values: serial:0, kind:NATIVE, id:-1, notified_serial:-1, last_check:0, masters: []. Masters, if present, must be array of strings.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: name
  • Reply: zone
  • Optional values: serial, kind, id, notified_serial, last_check, masters
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"getdomaininfo","parameters":{"name":"example.com"}}

Response:

{"result":{"id":1,"zone":"example.com","kind":"NATIVE","serial":2002010100}}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/getdomaininfo/example.com HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-Type: text/javascript: charset=utf-8

{"result":{id:1,"zone":"example.com","kind":"NATIVE","serial":2002010100}}

setNotified

Updates last notified serial for the domain id. Any errors are ignored.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: id, serial
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"setnotified","parameters":{"id":1,"serial":2002010100}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

PATCH /dnsapi/setnotified/1 HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 17

serial=2002010100

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

isMaster

Determines whether given IP is master for given domain name.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: name,ip
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure.
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"isMaster","parameters":{"name":"example.com","ip":"198.51.100.0.1"}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/isMaster/example.com/198.51.100.0.1 HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

superMasterBackend

Creates new domain with given record(s) as master servers. IP address is the address where notify is received from. nsset is array of NS resource records.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: ip,domain,nsset,account
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure. can also return account=>name of account< and nameserver.
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"superMasterBackend","parameters":{"ip":"198.51.100.0.1","domain":"example.com","nsset":[{"qtype":"NS","qname":"example.com","qclass":1,"content":"ns1.example.com","ttl":300,"auth":true},{"qtype":"NS","qname":"example.com","qclass":1,"content":"ns2.example.com","ttl":300,"auth":true}]}}

Response:

{"result":true}

Alternative response:

{"result":{"account":"my account","nameserver":"ns2.example.com"}}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

POST /dnsapi/supermasterbackend/198.51.100.0.1/example.com HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 317

nsset[1][qtype]=NS&nsset[1][qname]=example.com&nsset[1][qclass]=1&nsset[1][content]=ns1.example.com&nsset[1][ttl]=300&nsset[1][auth]=true&nsset[2][qtype]=NS&nsset[2][qname]=example.com&nsset[2][qclass]=1&nsset[2][content]=ns2.example.com&nsset[2][ttl]=300&nsset[2][auth]=true

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

Alternative response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":{"account":"my account"}}

createSlaveDomain

Creates new domain. This method is called when NOTIFY is received and you are superslaving.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: ip, domain
  • Optional parameters: nameserver, account
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"createSlaveDomain","parameters":{"ip":"198.51.100.0.1","domain":"pirate.example.net"}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

POST /dnsapi/createslavedomain/198.51.100.0.1/pirate.example.net HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 0

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

replaceRRSet

This method replaces a given resource record with new set. The new qtype can be different from the old.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: domain_id, qname, qtype, rrset
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"replaceRRSet","parameters":{"domain_id":2,"qname":"replace.example.com","qtype":"A","trxid":1370416133,"rrset":[{"qtype":"A","qname":"replace.example.com","qclass":1,"content":"1.1.1.1","ttl":300,"auth":true}]}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

PATCH /dnsapi/replacerrset/2/replace.example.com/A HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 135

trxid=1370416133&rrset[qtype]=A&rrset[qname]=replace.example.com&rrset[qclass]=1&rrset[content]=1.1.1.1&rrset[auth]=1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

feedRecord

Asks to feed new record into system. If startTransaction was called, trxId identifies a transaction. It is not always called by PowerDNS.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: rr, trxid
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"feedRecord","parameters":{"rr":{"qtype":"A","qname":"replace.example.com","qclass":1,"content":"127.0.0.1","ttl":300,"auth":true},"trxid":1370416133}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

PATCH /dnsapi/feedrecord/1370416133 HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 117

rr[qtype]=A&rr[qname]=replace.example.com&rr[qclass]=1&rr[content]=127.0.0.1&rr[ttl]=300&rr[auth]=true

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

feedEnts

This method is used by pdnsutil rectify-zone to populate missing non-terminals. This is used when you have, say, record like _sip._upd.example.com, but no _udp.example.com. PowerDNS requires that there exists a non-terminal in between, and this instructs you to add one. If startTransaction is called, trxid identifies a transaction.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: nonterm, trxid
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"feedEnts","parameters":{"domain_id":2,"trxid":1370416133,"nonterm":["_sip._udp","_udp"]}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

PATCH /dnsapi/feedents/2 HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 50

trxid=1370416133&nonterm[]=_udp&nonterm[]=_sip.udp

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

feedEnts3

Same as feedEnts, but provides NSEC3 hashing parameters. Note that salt is BYTE value, and can be non-readable text.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: trxid, domain_id, domain, times, salt, narrow, nonterm
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"feedEnts3","parameters":{"domain_id":2,"domain":"example.com","times":1,"salt":"9642","narrow":false,"trxid":1370416356,"nonterm":["_sip._udp","_udp"]}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

PATCH /dnsapi/2/example.com HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 78

trxid=1370416356&times=1&salt=9642&narrow=0&nonterm[]=_sip._udp&nonterm[]=_udp

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

startTransaction

Starts a new transaction. Transaction ID is chosen for you. Used to identify f.ex. AXFR transfer.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: domain_id, domain, trxid
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"startTransaction","parameters":{"trxid":1234,"domain_id":1,"domain":"example.com"}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

POST /dnsapi/starttransaction/1/example.com HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 10

trxid=1234

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

commitTransaction

Signals successful transfer and asks to commit data into permanent storage.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: trxid
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"commitTransaction","parameters":{"trxid":1234}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

POST /dnsapi/committransaction/1234 HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 0

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

abortTransaction

Signals failed transaction, and that you should rollback any changes.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: trxid
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"abortTransaction","parameters":{"trxid":1234}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

POST /dnsapi/aborttransaction/1234 HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 0

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

calculateSOASerial

Asks you to calculate a new serial based on the given data and update the serial.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: domain,sd
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"calculateSOASerial","parameters":{"domain":"unit.test","sd":{"qname":"unit.test","nameserver":"ns.unit.test","hostmaster":"hostmaster.unit.test","ttl":300,"serial":1,"refresh":2,"retry":3,"expire":4,"default_ttl":5,"domain_id":-1,"scopeMask":0}}}

Response:

{"result":2013060501}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

POST /dnsapi/calculatesoaserial/unit.test HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 198

sd[qname]=unit.test&sd[nameserver]=ns.unit.test&sd[hostmaster]=hostmaster.unit.test&sd[ttl]=300&sd[serial]=1&sd[refresh]=2&sd[retry]=3&sd[expire]=4&sd[default_ttl]=5&sd[domain_id]=-1&sd[scopemask]=0

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":2013060501}

directBackendCmd

Can be used to send arbitrary commands to your backend using pdnsutil and DNSSEC.

  • Mandatory: no
  • Parameters: query
  • Reply: anything but boolean false for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"directBackendCmd","parameters":{"query":"PING"}}

Response:

{"result":"PONG"}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

POST /dnsapi/directBackendCmd HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 10

query=PING

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":"PONG"}

getAllDomains

Get DomainInfo records for all domains in your backend.

  • Mandatory: unless the zone cache has been disabled by setting zone-cache-refresh-interval to 0 (not recommended for performance reasons)(since 4.5.0)
  • Parameters: include_disabled
  • Reply: array of DomainInfo
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method": "getAllDomains", "parameters": {"include_disabled": true}}

Response:

{"result":[{"id":1,"zone":"unit.test.","masters":["10.0.0.1"],"notified_serial":2,"serial":2,"last_check":1464693331,"kind":"native"}]}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/getAllDomains?includeDisabled=true HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 135
{"result":[{"id":1,"zone":"unit.test.","masters":["10.0.0.1"],"notified_serial":2,"serial":2,"last_check":1464693331,"kind":"native"}]}

searchRecords

Can be used to search records from the backend. This is used by web api.

  • Mandatory: no
  • Parameters: pattern, maxResults
  • Reply: same as lookup or false to indicate failed search
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"searchRecords","parameters":{"pattern":"www.example*","maxResults":100}}

Response:

{"result":[{"qtype":"A", "qname":"www.example.com", "content":"203.0.113.2", "ttl": 60}]}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/searchRecords?q=www.example*&maxResults=100 HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":[{"qtype":"A", "qname":"www.example.com", "content":"203.0.113.2", "ttl": 60}]}

getUpdatedMasters

Used to find out any updates to master domains. This is used to trigger notifications in master mode.

  • Mandatory: no
  • Parameters: none
  • Reply: array of DomainInfo or at least the id, zone, serial and notified_serial fields
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method": "getUpdatedMasters", "parameters": {}}

Response:

{"result":[{"id":1,"zone":"unit.test.","masters":["10.0.0.1"],"notified_serial":2,"serial":2,"last_check":1464693331,"kind":"master"}]}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/getUpdatedMasters HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 135
{"result":[{"id":1,"zone":"unit.test.","masters":["10.0.0.1"],"notified_serial":2,"serial":2,"last_check":1464693331,"kind":"master"}]}

getUnfreshSlaveInfos

Used to find out if slave zones need checking of the master’s SOA Serial.

  • Mandatory: no
  • Parameters: none
  • Reply: array of DomainInfo or at least the id, zone, serial and last_check fields
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method": "getUnfreshSlaveInfos", "parameters": {}}

Response:

{"result":[{"id":1,"zone":"unit.test.","masters":["10.0.0.1"],"serial":2,"last_check":1464693331,"kind":"slave"}]}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

GET /dnsapi/getUnfreshSlaveInfos HTTP/1.1

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 135
{"result":[{"id":1,"zone":"unit.test.","masters":["10.0.0.1"],"serial":2,"last_check":1464693331,"kind":"slave"}]}

setFresh

Called when a slave freshness check succeeded. This does not indicate the zone was updated on the master.

  • Mandatory: No
  • Parameters: id
  • Reply: true for success, false for failure
Example JSON/RPC

Query:

{"method":"setFresh","parameters":{"id":1}}

Response:

{"result":true}
Example HTTP/RPC

Query:

PATCH /dnsapi/setFresh/1 HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 0

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/javascript; charset=utf-8

{"result":true}

Examples

Scenario: SOA lookup via pipe, unix or zeromq connector

Query:

{
  "method": "lookup",
  "parameters": {
     "qname": "example.com",
     "qtype": "SOA",
     "zone_id": "-1"
  }
}

Reply:

{
  "result":
   [
     { "qtype": "SOA",
       "qname": "example.com",
       "content": "dns1.icann.org. hostmaster.icann.org. 2012080849 7200 3600 1209600 3600",
       "ttl": 3600,
       "domain_id": -1
     }
   ]
}

Scenario: SOA lookup with HTTP connector

Query:

/dns/lookup/example.com/SOA

Reply:

{
  "result":
   [
     { "qtype": "SOA",
       "qname": "example.com",
       "content": "dns1.icann.org. hostmaster.icann.org. 2012080849 7200 3600 1209600 3600",
       "ttl": 3600,
       "domain_id": -1
     }
   ]
}