MaraDNS
A security-aware DNS server
      
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Other DNS software

This is a list of some other DNS software out there:

Freely downloadable DNS servers

Caching DNS servers
  • BIND 9 is a complete rewrite of BIND, and, as such, probably does not have the security issues that previous versions of BIND has. In fact, one of the BIND developers found a security problem in earlier versions of MaraDNS. Very full-featured, and is the reference standard for the newer DNS RFCs.
  • pdnsd is a recursive caching DNS server. Paul Rombouts is the current maintainer of this program.
  • PowerDNS is an authoritative-only DNS server with support for, among other things, SQL. I would like to applaud the PowerDNS developers for making a libre release of this software. Recursion is done via pdns_recursor.
  • Posadis is another DNS server project, similiar to MaraDNS. This server is now both a resolving and an authoritative DNS server.
Non-recursive DNS servers
  • DnsJAVA is an authoritative-only DNS server written in Java.
  • NSD is an authoritative-only DNS server which is compatible with BIND zone files.
  • MyDNS is an authoritative-only DNS server which uses MySQL as a database back end.
  • The Pliant language/package comes with a DNS server. This DNS server can not recursively process DNS queries given a list of root servers.
  • Twisted includes a non-recursive DNS server.
  • The Eddit project includes a DNS server
  • SheerDNS is a simple non-caching DNS server that stores all records as their own files.
Abandoned DNS server projects

These are DNS server projects which have not released any files for six months or longer, and which never became functioning recursive (caching) DNS servers.

  • Oak DNS is a DNS server written completely in python. It is compatible (I think) with both BIND zone files and cache files. The file can be downloaded here, here, or here. The most recent alpha version can be downloaded here or here. The most recent file in this alpha is from February of 2003; until this program has a more recent update, I am marking this abandoned. (Thanks, Michel Talon, for the update)
  • MooDNS is another DNS server project. A CVS checkout on January 21, 2003 shows that no files have been updated since July 20, 2002, except for a single readme file updated on August 1, 2002. This project is abadoned.

    I have made a tarball available for people who do not want to bother with a CVS checkout.

  • Dents is a DNS server that showed a lot of promise. Unfortunatly, no files have been released since 1999.
  • Yaku-NS is a DNS server geared towards embedded systems. According to the changelog, no one has made any changes to this software since Feburary, 2001.
  • CustomDNS has not released any files since the summer of 2000.
Other

Semi-libre DNS solutions

  • DjbDNS DJ Bernstein's DNS package, which has both an authoritative DNS server and a caching nameserver. Excellent in all aspects except for its license. (Thanks to Andy Dustman for correcting the link for DjbDNS' license). This is being listed as semi-libre software because open source software allows people to modify software and distribute modified versions of the software. Full source code provided; no expectation of receiving payment for using the software.

Proprietary DNS solutions

No, I don't really care to list every single DNS server that exists here. I find the idea of using proprietary software for anything that matters repulsive; however I try to keep this list up-to-date
  • UltraDNS
  • Cisco Network Registrar
  • QIP These people are obviously hiding something, since they require a password to look up the technical details of their product.
  • DNS commander
  • Simple DNS plus. Only available for Windows.
  • Yet another DNS program; this one at least has a Linux port