1 % Namecoin pipe backend for PowerDNS
3 There exists a project named
4 [nmcontrol](https://github.com/namecoin/nmcontrol) to create an
5 all-in-one tool that can, among other things, act as a DNS server
6 for the `.bit` zone. There is also a tool,
7 [NamecoinToBind](https://github.com/namecoin/NamecoinToBind),
8 for offline conversion of namecoin data into BIND zone file.
10 Unlike those, this project is a single-purpose tool acting as a (real
11 time) bridge between [Namecoin](http://namecoin.info/) and DNS.
12 [PowerDNS](https://www.powerdns.com/) provides a stable DNS frontend,
13 with an easy to implement backend interface. The latter is used in
18 The program is built as a single executable to be run by PowerDns's
19 pipe backend. It is written in [Haskell](http://www.haskell.org/).
20 There is no `cabal` configuration at the moment, so to build it,
24 ghc --make pdns-pipe-nmc
27 and install any missing packages it complains about.
31 In the powerdns configuration, you want to specify `master=yes`.
32 Enable `pipe` backend by setting `launch=pipe`.
33 Wherever your pdns package keeps the backend configurations, set
34 this for the pipe backend:
37 pipe-command=/path/to/pdns-pipe-nmc
40 pipebackend-abi-version=1 ## all versions supported, but extra data ignored
43 Copy `pdns-pipe-nmc` to the place that you've set up as `pipe-command`.
44 Copy your namecoin cofig file to `/etc/namecoin.conf` and make sure it
45 is readable by the userid specified in the powerdns config. Entries
46 recognized in the `/etc/namecoin.conf` file (with default values) are:
55 They are the parameters needed to contact the `namecoind` server over
56 its JsonRPC interface. With default installation on `localhost`, you
57 will only need to specify `password`.
59 ## Security Considerations
61 Namecoin per se has excellent non-repudiation characteristics. But
62 once you've converted the data into (non-DNSSEC-protected) DNS
63 format, all bets are off. If you intend to query your powerdns
64 instance over public Internet, remember that nothing prevents evil
65 hackers or ruthless governments from tampering with your queries
66 and powerdns responses. There are two possible approaches to
67 mitigation of this problem:
69 * Run `namecoind` and the bridge as close to the consumer as
70 possible: on the same host, or at least on the same network, and
72 * I did not try it, but it should be possible to use PowerDNS
73 [Front-signing](http://doc.powerdns.com/html/dnssec-modes.html#dnssec-frontserver),
74 so the communication will happen over DNSSEC protocol without the
75 need to keep the signatures in the zone data itself. You probably
76 would need to create signing key for the PowerDNS instance, and add
77 the corresponding public key as "trused" into the configuration of
82 Alpha. It does not handle `SRV` records at all, does not support
83 `delegate` (not to mention `import`), provides bogus version in the
84 `SOA` record, and is largely untested. Try at your risk.
88 Check the [project homepage](http://www.average.org/pdns-pipe-nmc/).
90 Git [clone](git://git.average.org/git/pdns-pipe-nmc.git) or
91 [browse](http://www.average.org/gitweb/?p=pdns-pipe-nmc.git;a=summary),
92 or use [github mirrir](https://github.com/crosser/pdns-pipe-nmc).
96 Eugene Crosser \<crosser at average dot org\>
97 <http://www.average.org/~crosser/>