pdnsutil

Synopsis

pdnsutil [OPTION]… COMMAND

Description

pdnsutil (formerly pdnssec) is a powerful command that is the operator-friendly gateway into DNSSEC and zone management for PowerDNS. Behind the scenes, pdnsutil manipulates a PowerDNS backend database, which also means that for many databases, pdnsutil can be run remotely, and can configure key material on different servers.

Options

-h, --help	Show summary of options
-v, --verbose	Be more verbose.
--force	Force an action
--config-name <NAME>
	Virtual configuration name
--config-dir <DIR>
	Location of pdns.conf. Default is /etc/powerdns.

COMMANDS

There are many available commands, this section splits them up into their respective uses

DNSSEC RELATED COMMANDS

Several commands manipulate the DNSSEC keys and options for zones. Some of these commands require an ALGORITHM to be set. The following algorithms are supported:

• rsasha1
• rsasha256
• rsasha512
• ecdsa256
• ecdsa384
• ed25519
• ed448

activate-zone-key ZONE KEY-ID

Activate a key with id KEY-ID within a zone called ZONE.

add-zone-key ZONE {KSK,ZSK} [active,inactive] KEYBITS ALGORITHM

Create a new key for zone ZONE, and make it a KSK or a ZSK, with the specified algorithm. The key is inactive by default, set it to active to immediately use it to sign ZONE. Prints the id of the added key.

create-bind-db FILE

Create DNSSEC database (sqlite3) at FILE for the BIND backend. Remember to set bind-dnssec-db=*FILE* in your pdns.conf.

deactivate-zone-key ZONE KEY-ID

Deactivate a key with id KEY-ID within a zone called ZONE.

disable-dnssec ZONE

Deactivate all keys and unset PRESIGNED in ZONE.

export-zone-dnskey ZONE KEY-ID

Export to standard output DNSKEY and DS of key with key id KEY-ID within zone called ZONE.

export-zone-key ZONE KEY-ID

Export to standard output full (private) key with key id KEY-ID within zone called ZONE. The format used is compatible with BIND and NSD/LDNS.

generate-zone-key {KSK,ZSK} [ALGORITHM] [KEYBITS]

Generate a ZSK or KSK to stdout with specified algorithm and bits and print it on STDOUT. If ALGORITHM is not set, ECDSA256 is used. If KEYBITS is not set, an appropriate keysize is selected for ALGORITHM. Each ECC-based algorithm supports only one valid KEYBITS value: For ECDSA256 and ED25519, it is 256; for ECDSA384, it is 384; and for ED448, it is 456.

import-zone-key ZONE FILE {KSK,ZSK}

Import from FILE a full (private) key for zone called ZONE. The format used is compatible with BIND and NSD/LDNS. KSK or ZSK specifies the flags this key should have on import. Prints the id of the added key.

remove-zone-key ZONE KEY-ID

Remove a key with id KEY-ID from a zone called ZONE.

set-nsec3 ZONE ‘HASH-ALGORITHM FLAGS ITERATIONS SALT’ [narrow]

Sets NSEC3 parameters for this zone. The quoted parameters are 4 values that are used for the the NSEC3PARAM record and decide how NSEC3 records are created. The NSEC3 parameters must be quoted on the command line. HASH-ALGORITHM must be 1 (SHA-1). Setting FLAGS to 1 enables NSEC3 opt-out operation. Only do this if you know you need it. For ITERATIONS, please consult RFC 5155, section 10.3. And be aware that a high number might overload validating resolvers. The SALT is a hexadecimal string encoding the bits for the salt, or - to use no salt. Setting narrow will make PowerDNS send out “white lies” about the next secure record. Instead of looking it up in the database, it will send out the hash + 1 as the next secure record. A sample commandline is: “pdnsutil set-nsec3 powerdnssec.org ‘1 1 1 ab’ narrow”. WARNING: If running in RSASHA1 mode (algorithm 5 or 7), switching from NSEC to NSEC3 will require a DS update in the parent zone.

unset-nsec3 ZONE

Converts ZONE to NSEC operations. WARNING: If running in RSASHA1 mode (algorithm 5 or 7), switching from NSEC to NSEC3 will require a DS update at the parent zone!

set-publish-cds ZONE [DIGESTALGOS]

Set ZONE to respond to queries for its CDS records. the optional argument DIGESTALGOS should be a comma-separated list of DS algorithms to use. By default, this is 1,2 (SHA1 and SHA2-256).

set-publish-cdnskey ZONE

Set ZONE to publish CDNSKEY records.

unset-publish-cds ZONE

Set ZONE to stop responding to queries for its CDS records.

unset-publish-cdnskey ZONE

Set ZONE to stop publishing CDNSKEY records.

TSIG RELATED COMMANDS

These commands manipulate TSIG key information in the database. Some commands require an ALGORITHM, the following are available:

• hmac-md5
• hmac-sha1
• hmac-sha224
• hmac-sha256
• hmac-sha384
• hmac-sha512

activate-tsig-key ZONE NAME {master,slave}

Enable TSIG authenticated AXFR using the key NAME for zone ZONE. This sets the TSIG-ALLOW-AXFR (master) or AXFR-MASTER-TSIG (slave) zone metadata.

deactivate-tsig-key ZONE NAME {master,slave}

Disable TSIG authenticated AXFR using the key NAME for zone ZONE.

delete-tsig-key NAME

Delete the TSIG key NAME. Warning, this does not deactivate said key.

generate-tsig-key NAME ALGORITHM

Generate new TSIG key with name NAME and the specified algorithm.

import-tsig-key NAME ALGORITHM KEY

Import KEY of the specified algorithm as NAME.

list-tsig-keys

Show a list of all configured TSIG keys.

ZONE MANIPULATION COMMANDS

add-record ZONE NAME TYPE [TTL] CONTENT

Add one or more records of NAME and TYPE to ZONE with CONTENT and optional TTL. If TTL is not set, default will be used.

create-zone ZONE

Create an empty zone named ZONE.

create-slave-zone ZONE MASTER [MASTER]..

Create a new slave zone ZONE with masters MASTER. All MASTERs need to to be space-separated IP addresses with an optional port.

change-slave-zone-master ZONE MASTER [MASTER]..

Change the masters for slave zone ZONE to new masters MASTER. All MASTERs need to to be space-separated IP addresses with an optional port.

check-all-zones

Check all zones for correctness.

check-zone ZONE

Check zone ZONE for correctness.

clear-zone ZONE

Clear the records in zone ZONE, but leave actual domain and settings unchanged

delete-zone ZONE:

Delete the zone named ZONE.

edit-zone ZONE

Opens ZONE in zonefile format (regardless of backend it was loaded from) in the editor set in the environment variable EDITOR. if EDITOR is empty, pdnsutil falls back to using editor.

get-meta ZONE [ATTRIBUTE]…

Get zone metadata. If no ATTRIBUTE given, lists all known.

hash-zone-record ZONE RNAME

This convenience command hashes the name RNAME according to the NSEC3 settings of ZONE. Refuses to hash for zones with no NSEC3 settings.

list-keys [ZONE]

List DNSSEC information for all keys or for ZONE.

list-all-zones:

List all zone names.

list-zone ZONE

Show all records for ZONE.

load-zone ZONE FILE

Load records for ZONE from FILE. If ZONE already exists, all records are overwritten, this operation is atomic. If ZONE doesn’t exist, it is created.

rectify-zone ZONE

Calculates the ‘ordername’ and ‘auth’ fields for a zone called ZONE so they comply with DNSSEC settings. Can be used to fix up migrated data. Can always safely be run, it does no harm.

rectify-all-zones

Calculates the ‘ordername’ and ‘auth’ fields for all zones so they comply with DNSSEC settings. Can be used to fix up migrated data. Can always safely be run, it does no harm.

secure-zone ZONE

Configures a zone called ZONE with reasonable DNSSEC settings. You should manually run ‘pdnsutil rectify-zone’ afterwards.

secure-all-zones [increase-serial]

Configures all zones that are not currently signed with reasonable DNSSEC settings. Setting increase-serial will increase the serial of those zones too. You should manually run ‘pdnsutil rectify-all-zones’ afterwards.

set-kind ZONE KIND

Change the kind of ZONE to KIND (master, slave, native).

set-account ZONE ACCOUNT

Change the account (owner) of ZONE to ACCOUNT.

add-meta ZONE ATTRIBUTE VALUE [VALUE]…

Append VALUE to the existing ATTRIBUTE metadata for ZONE. Will return an error if ATTRIBUTE does not support multiple values, use set-meta for these values.

set-meta ZONE ATTRIBUTE [VALUE]…

Set domainmetadata ATTRIBUTE for ZONE to VALUE. An empty value clears it.

set-presigned ZONE

Switches ZONE to presigned operation, utilizing in-zone RRSIGs.

show-zone ZONE

Shows all DNSSEC related settings of a zone called ZONE.

test-schema ZONE

Test database schema, this creates the zone ZONE

unset-presigned ZONE

Disables presigned operation for ZONE.

DEBUGGING TOOLS

backend-cmd BACKEND CMD [CMD..]

Send a text command to a backend for execution. GSQL backends will take SQL commands, other backends may take different things. Be careful!

bench-db [FILE]

Perform a benchmark of the backend-database. FILE can be a file with a list, one per line, of domain names to use for this. If FILE is not specified, powerdns.com is used.

See also

pdns_server (1), pdns_control (1)