changelog

BIND 9 dynamic DNS webmin module. This module supports both static and dynamic zones, and IPv4 and I

53) Master, slave and stub zones can now reset their DNS records file to be
'none', have one automatically created ('auto') or the user can specify a file
to use. This is the same as when a zone is created. Master zones cannot specify
'none'. The zone file must not previously exist, even for stub and slaves
zones, because they would overwrite the file.

52) Slave zones now check that if the max-transfer-time-in option is to be set,
then a value has actually been supplied. Previously the option would be written
to the config file but with no value.

51) Removed code that allowed stub zones to set transfer options, update
options and so on.

50) Slave zones cannot be converted to masters unless they contain some
records - that is, an initial zone transfer must have taken place.

49) To create forward zones requires BIND version 9.1 or above.

48) IPv6 addresses can be wildcarded. To avoid confusion though any zeros
before the '*' will be shown. So, for example, we could get something like
'ff:1:2:3:aa:cd04:99ee:00*' rather than '...99ee:*'.

47) The CNAME collision code now checks wildcarded names. It also checks that
an entry is not pointing back to itself or some sub-domain part of itself.

46) TXT records were not displaying all the text message. Also there was no
check on the text length. This now happens. Also modified the quoting of
records to cater for dynamic zones (which use the 'echo' command for updates).

45) Due to a bug in BIND, 'rndc stop' did not always write out dynamic zone
files. So to use the 'Can treat dynamic zones as static when named stopped' ACL
option requires BIND version 9.2.3 or greater.

44) It is now possible, when creating or modifying a record, to check that the
IP address, either IPv4 or IPv6, is not currently in use in any forward or
reverse zone. Previously only the forward zones were checked. The idea is that
it is possible to enforce a stricter one-to-one relationship between an IP
address and its forward record. Alternatively a less strict approach can be
taken whereby multiple names with the same IP address can exist in reverse
zones, but not in forward ones (this was the previous setting). The checks can,
of course, be disabled altogether so that multiple names and addresses can
exist in both zone types. Altering just a records TTL value will not cause the
checks to occur. This code now prevents the previous problem of being able to
circumvent the ACL restriction simply by creating reverse records and allowing
it to automatically create the forward record. By default the module ACL is set
so that multiple names with the same IP address may only exist in reverse
zones.

43) IP addresses are now 'compressed' before being saved. For example,
127.000.050.67 => 127.0.50.67  Although this shouldn't be a problem, BIND logs
a warning when it sees a non-compressed address in the zone file. IPv6
addresses will also be compressed where possible - that is, they will contain a
'::' in place of zeros.

42) Deleting a zone removes the journal file if it exists. Also, when seeing a
static zone (in the main page), any corresponding journal file will be
deleted - because it shouldn't exist.

41) Changed module acl code to show IPv6 reverse zones correctly - they are
case-independant, and with no trailing dot. Throughout the module, the zone and
domain names are now case-independant and generally independant of whether a
trailing dot (the root zone) is used or not.

40) Modified some of the buttons to show as greyed-out when named is stopped or
started, rather than not showing them at all. Also some icons are shown but are
not clickable depending on the users access rights.

39) Added ACL option to allow users to treat dynamic zones as static if named
has stopped. When the zone is read any existing journal file will be deleted.
We have to do this to ensure that only the zone file itself is used for zone
transfers.

38) Removed whois code. I see little need for this really, and although it is
related to the DNS, it just seems more trouble than it is worth to maintain.
Access to whois servers is available over the web and directly from the command
line.

37) Enabled comments to work with WKS records. Also corrected the display
output for these records. Comments should now work with any record type, and
they will have leading/trailing spaces stripped off them.

36) Only display record comments for static zones. They won't exist for dynamic
zones.

35) Recoded some of the names and values being displayed. If the configuration
option to display records in FQDN format is used, then everything is displayed
using this format. It is not not expected that users will use this format by
default, but it can be useful to see what is going on. When records are to be
displayed in the abbreviated format, then all names and values are displayed
abbreviated except that IP addresses are shown in their 'forward' format - e.g.
10.1.2.3.

34) Time units, e.g. for the SOA values, record TTL, etc, can now be
(relatively) free-format. Time 'units' can either be selected or left blank. If
blank then the value will be read as the number of seconds if it consists only
of digits, or will be treated as a mixed time specification and the number of
seconds will be calculated. Examples:

       4               => 4 seconds
     14 hours          => 14 hours (where 'hours' is the selected time unit)
     1d3h4m2s          => 1 day, 3 hours, 4 minutes and 2 seconds
     48h or 48 hours   => 2 days

Zero is currently not allowed.

33) The index page has name server control buttons at the bottom. These will
allow the admin to stop, start or restart (i.e. reload) the name server. ACL's
control if these buttons will appear or not. There is also a status line
indicating the current status of the name server.

32) Each zone now states in the top right-hand corner its type and whether it
is static or dynamic. Reverse zones will also specify whether they are IPv4 or
IPv6. If the zone is dynamic but not updateable from the localhost then this
will be stated.

31) Removed 'convert_illegal' subroutine since html_escape does the same thing.

30) Re-worked some of the IP address checking. The subroutine 'valipaddr' now
checks any given address type, with or without wildcards, and it will check
subnets as well.

29) Removed configuration options relating to supporting IPv6. The only
difference in using these or not is that an entry, for the AAAA records, is
added to the records table displayed for a zone. The module now supports IPv6
by default.

28) Removed support for the deprecated IPv6 reverse address domain 'ip6.int'. 

27) Removed 'allow_long' option. RFC 2181 obsoletes RFC 1123 which specified
that servers must support names up to 635 characters long. The limit is now 255
characters. The 635 was actually a typo in the RFC. Record labels can be of
length 63, not 'upto but excluding' 63. Removed some of the restrictions
regarding record labels - not sure why these were present unless they related
to earlier BIND versions.

26) Created checks, and config options, for the SOA record date-based serial
number when it reaches 99 - e.g. 2003043099. The options are to a) abort the
update; b) just use the next sequential number; or c) calculate and use a
future date. Option (b) works, but the serial number will be an invalid date,
and won't correct itself until the current date exceeds the invalid one. This
is not a problem when only a few updates are done, or when a period of time is
allowed when no updates are done - e.g. the weekend. In other instances it may
be best not to use the date-based format, or to let it calculate a future
date - although that too can cause a problem if the date is set far in the
future!

25) SRV records must not use solely numbers for the service and protocol.

24) For IPv4 and IPv6 address records, and PTR records, there are now three
options the user can choose from. These will determine what will happen to the
relevant forward/reverse record. The options to 'Create forward/reverse record'
are:

       'Yes' - create a new record unless one already exists and only the TTL
               value has changed. If the domain name and/or IP address has
               changed then a new record will be created.
       'Yes or update existing' - create a new record if one does not already
                                  exist. If a record does exist then that one
                                  will be updated.
       'No' - do not modify any existing record, nor create a new one.

Previously 'Yes' would only create a record if one didn't exist and leave any
existing record alone.

23) If forward/reverse zone is required to exist then this is independant of
whether the zone is being updated or not. That is, the zone *must* exist.

22) Added ACL support for the named.conf file. ACL's are now checked when
required - in particular to see if a dynamic zone can be updated from the local
host. If it cannot then the zone is treated as read-only.

21) Removed code relating to Hesiod record class. Each zone file can only
support one class and other code assumes that the Internet class is to be used.

20) Removed 'Put $TTL at top of zone files' config option - this always occurs
now, as recommended by the ISC.

19) Removed 'check-names' code - not supported in BIND 9.

18) Added 'Stop' button on main index page to allow stopping of the name server.

17) Added 'stderr' as a logging channel. Previously only 'syslog' and 'null'
existed. Removed 'ftp' as a syslog facility - couldn't find it defined in
Solaris or Linux syslog.conf.

16) Removed 'topology' code  - not supported in BIND 9.

15) Modified all occurances of 'b9ddns' to use $module_name. Use of
'b9ddns-lib.pl' is particular to this modules' code, so if that changes then we
would have to modify all the relevant code (because the '-lib.pl' file does
not *have* to have the module name).

14) Modified index.cgi to perform some verification of the module config -
basically checking that commands, file and directories exist, and that other
config options are correct.

13) Control section no longer supports 'unix' type in BIND 9. Removed code.

12) Stub zones now only support (display) A, AAAA and NS records.

11) Removed stub_form.cgi since this is basically the same as slave_form. The
difference is made by a parameter (slave) passed to the CGI script.

10) Removed no-home image - not used that I could see.

9) Remote slave restart now uses rndc rather than the pid file. However, the
call is just to 'rndc' so if it is not in the PATH then it may fail.

8) Whois code modified to ensure that a list of servers is available - if it
isn't then something is wrong! Although whois command itself can be
unavailable.

7) Re-enabled check of IP addresses in save_controls.cgi. Not sure why it was
commented out - but there may well have been a reason!

6) Merged restart_zone.cgi and restart.cgi together since the latter is just
the former without a zone. Renamed to 'reload_zone.cgi'.

5) The error messages were changed and added to. As such language support,
whilst still in the code, is not by default provided except for English.

4) The module is not configured for any particular system. As such it must be
configured after being installed. Pathnames to files and commands must be set,
although defaults for a Sun Solaris 9 system are initially set.

3) Modified all remote calls from 'bind8' to 'b9ddns'.

2) Removed the db.cache file. Bind 9 contains an internal list of Internet name
servers so the hint file is not needed. However, the user may want to create a
root zone for an internal network, so the functionality to configure it has
remained. The hint file must exist before being configured. It is now also
possible to have the hint file removed when the root zone is deleted. This does
not occur by default.

1) Many small general changes to code - some cosmetic changes, some just typos
or redundant bits of code. The above are changes subsequently made.