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<TH>MARADNS 8 "January 2002" MARADNS "MaraDNS reference"</TH>
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<h1>NAME</h1>
maradns - DNS server
<h1>SYNOPSIS</h1>
<b>maradns [ -v | -f mararc_file_location ]</b>
<h1>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h1>
This man page has the following sections:

<blockquote>
<pre>
Name 
Synopsis
Table of Contents
Description
Usage
Firewall Configuration
Frequently Asked Questions
Bugs
Unimplemented Features
Legal Disclaimer
Authors
</pre>
</blockquote>
<H1>DESCRIPTION</H1>
<b>maradns</b>
is a DNS server written with security, simplicity, and performance in mind.

<p>

<b>maradns</b>
has two forms of arguments, both of which are optional.

<p>

The first is the location of a 
<b>mararc</b>
file which MaraDNS obtains all configuration information from.
The default location of this file is
<b>/etc/mararc</b>.
This is specified in the form 
<b>maradns -f mararc_file_location</b>;
<i>mararc_file_location</i>
is the location of the mararc file.

<p>
It is also possible to have MaraDNS display the version number and
exit.  This is specified by invoking maradns in the form
<b>maradns -v</b>
or
<b>maradns --version</b>

<H1>USAGE</H1>
MaraDNS consists of two programs: maradns, an authoritative-only nameserver,
and Deadwood, a recursive name server.  Deadwood has its own man page.
<p>
In order for MaraDNS to function as an authoritative nameserver, two
or more files need to be set up: the mararc file and one or more "csv2"
(or "csv1") zone files.  
<p>
The format of a csv2 zone file can be obtained from the 
<b>csv2(5)</b>
manual page.  The configuration format of the mararc file can be obtained
from the
<b>mararc(5)</b>
manual page.
<p>

Please note that, in order to reload a zone file, it is necessary to
restart MaraDNS and reload all zone files.  MaraDNS uses a hash data
format which loads records very quickly from memory, but requires a
restart to update.

<p>
In order to have MaraDNS run as a daemon, the duende program is used to
daemonize MaraDNS.  See the <b>duende(8)</b> manual page for details.

<h1>FIREWALL CONFIGURATION</h1>

When using the maradns authoritative nameserver, allow UDP 
connections from all hosts on the internet to UDP port 53 for the IP
that the authoritative nameserver uses.
<p>
When using the Deadwood recursive nameserver:
<ul>
<li>
Allow UDP connections from the Deadwood server to any
machine on the internet where the UDP destination port is 53
<li>
Allow UDP connections from any machine on the internet to the IP of the
recursive server, where the source port from the remote server is 53, and the 
destination port is between 15000 and 19095 (inclusive)
<li>
Allow UDP connections from IPs that use Deadwood as a recursive DNS server 
to port 53 
</ul>
Deadwood uses a strong secure RNG (RadioGatun[32]) for both the query (16
bits of entropy) and the source port of the query (12 bits of entropy).
This makes spoofing replies to a Deadwood recursive server more difficult,
since the attacker has only a one in 250 million chance that a given
spoofed reply will be considered valid.
<p>

<include "../source/faq.embed">
<p>
<h1>BUGS</h1>
In the unusual case of having a csv2 zone file with Macintosh-style newlines
(as opposed to DOS or UNIX newlines), while the file will parse, any errors
in the file will be reported as being on line 1.
<p>
The system startup script included with MaraDNS assumes that the only 
MaraDNS processes running are started by the script; it stops <i>all</i>
MaraDNS processes running on the server when asked to stop MaraDNS.
<p>
MaraDNS needs to use the <b>zoneserver</b> program to serve DNS records
over TCP.  See <b>zoneserver(8)</b> for usage information.
<p>
MaraDNS does not use the zone file ("master file") format specified in 
chapter 5 of RFC1035.
<p>
MaraDNS default behavior with star records is not RFC-compliant.
In more detail, 
if a wildcard MX record exists in the form "*.example.com", and
there is an A record for "www.example.com", but no MX record for
"www.example.com", the correct behavior (based on RFC1034 
<hibit alt="section ">§</hibit>4.3.3)
is to return "no host" (nothing in the answer section, SOA in the
authority section, 0 result code) for a MX request to "www.example.com".
Instead, MaraDNS returns the MX record attached to "*.example.com".
This can be changed by setting <tt>bind_star_handling</tt> to 1.
<p>
Star records (what RFC1034 calls "wildcards") can not be attached to
NS records.
<p>
MaraDNS, like every other known DNS implementation, only supports a 
QDCOUNT of 0 or 1.
<h1>UNIMPLEMENTED FEATURES</h1>
<i>These are features which I do not plan to implement in MaraDNS.</i>
<p>
MaraDNS does not have a disk-based caching scheme for authoritative 
zones.  
<p>
MaraDNS' UDP server only loads zone files while MaraDNS is first started.  
UDP Zone information can only be updated by stopping MaraDNS, and restarting
MaraDNS again.  Note that TCP zone files are loaded from the filesystem
at the time the client requests a zone.
<p>
MaraDNS does not have support for allowing given host names to only
resolve for a limited range of IPs querying the DNS server, or for host
names to resolve differently, depending on the IP querying the host name.
<p>
MaraDNS only allows wildcards
at the beginning or end of a host name.  E.g. names with wildcards like 
"foo.*.example.com".  "www.*" will work, however, if a default zonefile is
set up.  Likewise, MaraDNS does not have regular expression hostname
substitution.
<p>
MaraDNS does not have support for MRTG or any other SNMP-based logging
mechanism.  

<h1>LEGAL DISCLAIMER</h1>
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHORS ''AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS 
OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED 
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 
ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE 
LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR 
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF 
SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR 
BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, 
WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE 
OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, 
EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. 

<h1>AUTHORS</h1>
Sam Trenholme (<A href=http://www.samiam.org/>http://www.samiam.org</a>) is 
responsible for this man page.
<p>
MaraDNS is written by me, Sam Trenholme, with a little help from my
friends.  Naturally, all errors in MaraDNS are my own (but read the 
disclaimer above).
<p>
<include "../source/credits.embed">
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