[ANN] NamecoinToBind v3.0.5 : run a .bit DNS server !

[khal]

NamecoinToBind v3.0.5

From : https://dot-bit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=315

NamecoinToBind is a php script that generates bind zones for .bit domains from the namecoin blockchain

* Improved compatibility with Domain spec V2 (alias and translate)
* Full rewrite of data import
* Uses new namecoin rpc commands (namecoin v3.50 required)
* Reduced RAM usage (5/20 MBs, except on first run to import all domains : 100MB)
* Faster to run (15/20s on first run, 2s else)
* Config file now supports several ip for the authoritative zone (useful with ipv6 for example)

Readme : https://github.com/khalahan/NamecoinToBind/blob/master/README
Download : https://github.com/khalahan/NamecoinToBind/zipball/v3.0.5

[sd]

NamecoinToBind v3.0

From : https://dot-bit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=315

NamecoinToBind is a php script that generates bind zones for .bit domains from the namecoin blockchain

* Improved compatibility with Domain spec V2 (alias and translate)
* Full rewrite of data import
* Uses new namecoin rpc commands (namecoin v3.50 required)
* Reduced RAM usage (5/20 MBs, except on first run to import all domains : 100MB)
* Faster to run (15/20s on first run, 2s else)
* Config file now supports several ip for the authoritative zone (useful with ipv6 for example)

Readme : https://github.com/khalahan/NamecoinToBind/blob/master/README
Download : https://github.com/khalahan/NamecoinToBind/zipball/v3.0.1

Great work!

The main branch isn't at 3.50. I assume this needs the khal ( your? ) branch at:

https://github.com/khalahan/namecoin.git

Is that branch considered stable?


Has anyone tried getting google or opendns to support .bit ? It would rock if getting access to .bit domains was as simple as using google's or opendns's nameservers.

[NothinG]

Has anyone tried getting google or opendns to support .bit ? It would rock if getting access to .bit domains was as simple as using google's or opendns's nameservers.

I would think there would need to be more registrars and registered domains involved before that get into it.

[Sorta-off-topic]: I'm wanting to setup my own DNS server for this, how would I go about doing it? I've read the tutorials on the site, but doesn't get much detail on ports and stuff.

[sd]

[Sorta-off-topic]: I'm wanting to setup my own DNS server for this, how would I go about doing it? I've read the tutorials on the site, but doesn't get much detail on ports and stuff.

That's very much on-topic. You run the php script at the top of this thread and it should generate a zone file you can feed to bind. If you don't know how to configure bind the o'reilly book DNS and Bind comes highly recommended.

[NothinG]

[Sorta-off-topic]: I'm wanting to setup my own DNS server for this, how would I go about doing it? I've read the tutorials on the site, but doesn't get much detail on ports and stuff.

That's very much on-topic. You run the php script at the top of this thread and it should generate a zone file you can feed to bind. If you don't know how to configure bind the o'reilly book DNS and Bind comes highly recommended.

Say I have other projects on that server (and on that IP for this case), would it lock the whole IP up or just use specific ports?
I also heard setting up a DNS server uses a bit of bandwidth which is why I'm thinking about renting a tiny VPS somewhere else just for testing.

[sd]

[Sorta-off-topic]: I'm wanting to setup my own DNS server for this, how would I go about doing it? I've read the tutorials on the site, but doesn't get much detail on ports and stuff.

That's very much on-topic. You run the php script at the top of this thread and it should generate a zone file you can feed to bind. If you don't know how to configure bind the o'reilly book DNS and Bind comes highly recommended.

Say I have other projects on that server (and on that IP for this case), would it lock the whole IP up or just use specific ports?
I also heard setting up a DNS server uses a bit of bandwidth which is why I'm thinking about renting a tiny VPS somewhere else just for testing.

DNS only uses port 53 but it uses both UDP and TCP. DNS uses a tiny amount of bandwidth. You won't even notice it unless you are on dial up.

[sd]

NamecoinToBind v3.0

I can't get this to work. It pulls 2 or 3 domains then quits without giving any errors even though debug is on. It doesn't write any zone files.

It looks about as difficult to fix as it would be to rewrite so I'm giving up. Shame really. This looked like such a useful thing.

[enmaku]

I'd love to set this up at a small business I work with but they're a Microsoft shop and I'll be honest and say I get DNS as a concept but I know little about the implementation - how hard would it be to make this work with a MS DNS server?

[sd]

I'd love to set this up at a small business I work with but they're a Microsoft shop and I'll be honest and say I get DNS as a concept but I know little about the implementation - how hard would it be to make this work with a MS DNS server?

Assuming you can get the php to work it should just be a matter of reformatting the output and importing it, you might need to turn it into some LDIF like format.

Nobody sane uses a MS DNS server, certainly not to serve data to the Internet. It might be better to set this up on a Linux machine outside their network and query that.

[khal]

Great work!

The main branch isn't at 3.50. I assume this needs the khal ( your? ) branch at:

https://github.com/khalahan/namecoin.git

Is that branch considered stable?


Has anyone tried getting google or opendns to support .bit ? It would rock if getting access to .bit domains was as simple as using google's or opendns's nameservers.

The main branch is uptodate : https://github.com/namecoin/namecoin
Last signed tag : nc0.3.50.01
My master repo is also stable.

We are currently in the process of a "peering agreement" with OpenNIC (not OpenDNS :p), so, it is a first step in the direction a being supported by opendns and google :p.

NamecoinToBind v3.0

I can't get this to work. It pulls 2 or 3 domains then quits without giving any errors even though debug is on. It doesn't write any zone files.

It looks about as difficult to fix as it would be to rewrite so I'm giving up. Shame really. This looked like such a useful thing.

I'll make some tests on a clean computer to be sure i've forgotten nothing in the README.

[enmaku]

I'd love to set this up at a small business I work with but they're a Microsoft shop and I'll be honest and say I get DNS as a concept but I know little about the implementation - how hard would it be to make this work with a MS DNS server?

Assuming you can get the php to work it should just be a matter of reformatting the output and importing it, you might need to turn it into some LDIF like format.

Nobody sane uses a MS DNS server, certainly not to serve data to the Internet. It might be better to set this up on a Linux machine outside their network and query that.

Fair enough, there are probably more/better general use instructions for bind anyway 

[khal]

NamecoinToBind v3.0

I can't get this to work. It pulls 2 or 3 domains then quits without giving any errors even though debug is on. It doesn't write any zone files.

It looks about as difficult to fix as it would be to rewrite so I'm giving up. Shame really. This looked like such a useful thing.

I made a mistake in one config file (/etc/bind/named.conf.bit ), sorry.
Here is what it should look like :

Code:

// zones generated by users
zone "bit" { type master; file "/etc/bind/dotbit/db.namecoin.bit"; allow-query { any; }; allow-transfer { none; }; forwarders { }; };

I've also updated the code to show php errors in debug mode and set max memory to 200MB.

[sd]

I made a mistake in one config file (/etc/bind/named.conf.bit ), sorry.
Here is what it should look like :

Code:

// zones generated by users
zone "bit" { type master; file "/etc/bind/dotbit/db.namecoin.bit"; allow-query { any; }; allow-transfer { none; }; forwarders { }; };

I've also updated the code to show php errors in debug mode and set max memory to 200MB.

After some more poking I got this to generate a zone file but it's only 547 lines long and none of my domains are listed. This appears to be skipping a huge number of domains. Maybe php isn't the right language to write this in.

I really don't get why namecoin uses 'ip' for 'A' records, 'ip6' for 'AAAA' records, 'alias' for 'CNAME' records. Why not just name these things the same way DNS does? After all this is aimed at DNS administrators isn't it?

[khal]

After some more poking I got this to generate a zone file but it's only 547 lines long and none of my domains are listed. This appears to be skipping a huge number of domains. Maybe php isn't the right language to write this in.

I guess after all tests you've done that it has cached an incomplete list of names and tou got only new names.
Here is what i have (after cleaning the cache and launching once) :

Code:

ll cache/
total 2.1M
-rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data 1.7M May 30 09:10 bind_tree_seri
-rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data  415 May 30 09:10 getinfo_seri
-rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data 434K May 30 09:10 names_block_seri

Code:

ll /etc/bind/dotbit
total 1.4M
-rw-r--r-- 1 www-data bind 1.1M May 30 09:10 db.namecoin.bit

Can you report any error you have on first launch (after a cache clean) ?

On which OS are you installing it ?

I really don't get why namecoin uses 'ip' for 'A' records, 'ip6' for 'AAAA' records, 'alias' for 'CNAME' records. Why not just name these things the same way DNS does? After all this is aimed at DNS administrators isn't it?

Maybe to be coherent with other keywords like tor, i2p, fingerprint and all other that don't have a DNS equivalent.

[paraipan]

great work, watching...

[khal]

A new update has been released : v3.0.4.

Some bugs fixed :p

Source :
https://github.com/khalahan/NamecoinToBind/archive/v3.0.4.zip

[jackjack]

Wow, a thread in the altcoin subforum which is not about a 5 days-old coin.
I nearly cried.

Anyway, nice work. I'm happy to see Namecoin is still developped.
I won't be able to test it soon though.

[ondratra]

are there any existing .bit domains you would recommend to visit?

[virtualmaster]

are there any existing .bit domains you would recommend to visit?

http://dot-bit.org/Websites

[khal]

A new update has been released : v3.0.5.

- better support of aliases (support redirect to an existing domain : https://dot-bit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4335#p4335)
- update bind config file to support malformed names (avoid one step during the install)

Source :
https://github.com/khalahan/NamecoinToBind/archive/v3.0.5.zip