term% cat index.txt NDB(8) System Manager's Manual NDB(8)
NAME
query, ipquery, mkhash, mkdb, mkhosts, cs, csquery, dns, dnstcp, dns‐
query, dnsdebug, dnsgetip, inform - network database
SYNOPSIS
ndb/query [ -am ] [ -f dbfile ] attr value [ rattr ]
ndb/ipquery attr value rattr...
ndb/mkhash file attr
ndb/mkdb
ndb/mkhosts [ domain [ dbfile ] ]
ndb/cs [ -4n ] [ -f dbfile ] [ -x netmtpt ]
ndb/csquery [ -s ] [ server [ addr... ] ]
ndb/dns [ -norRs ] [ -a maxage ] [ -f dbfile ] [ -N target ] [ -x
netmtpt ] [ -z program ]
ndb/dnstcp [ -rR ] [ -f dbfile ] [ -x netmtpt ] [ conn-dir ]
ndb/dnsquery [ -x ]
ndb/dnsdebug [ -rx ] [ -f dbfile ] [ [ @server ] domain-name [ type ] ]
ndb/dnsgetip [ -ax ] domain-name
ndb/inform [ -x netmtpt ]
DESCRIPTION
The network database holds administrative information used by network
programs such as dhcpd(8), ipconfig(8), con(1), etc.
Ndb/query searches the database dbfile (/lib/ndb/local by default) for
an attribute of type attr and value value. If rattr is not specified,
all entries matched by the search are printed. If rattr is specified,
the value of the first pair with attribute rattr of all the matched en‐
tries normally is printed. Under -m and rattr, the values of all pairs
with a rattr attribute within the first matching entry are printed.
Under -a and rattr, all values of pairs with a rattr attribute within
all entries are printed.
Ndb/ipquery uses ndbipinfo (see ndb(2)) to search for the values of the
attributes rattr corresponding to the system with entries of attribute
type attr and value value.
Ndb/inform sends an RFC2136 DNS inform packet to a nameserver to asso‐
ciate the host's IPv4 address with its DNS name. This is required if
the domain's nameserver is a Microsoft Windows Active Directory con‐
troller. The host's domain name will be sent to the AD controller un‐
less a tuple of the form inform=xxx is found in the host's ndb entry.
Database maintenance
Ndb/mkhash creates a hash file for all entries with attribute attr in
database file file. The hash files are used by ndb/query and by the
ndb library routines.
Ndb/mkdb is used in concert with awk(1) scripts to convert uucp systems
files and IP host files into database files. It is very specific to
the situation at Murray Hill.
When the database files change underfoot, ndb/cs and ndb/dns track them
properly. Nonetheless, to keep the database searches efficient it is
necessary to run ndb/mkhash whenever the files are modified. It may be
profitable to control this by a frequent cron(8) job.
Ndb/mkhosts generates a BSD style hosts, hosts.txt, and hosts.equiv
files from an ndb data base file specified on the command line (default
/lib/ndb/local). For local reasons the files are called hosts.1127,
astro.txt, and hosts.equiv.
Connection service
Ndb/cs is a server used by dial(2) to translate network names. It is
started at boot time. It finds out what networks are configured by
looking for /net/*/clone when it starts. It can also be told about
networks by writing to /net/cs a message of the form:
add net1 net2 ...
Ndb/cs also sets the system name in /dev/sysname if it can figure it
out. The options are:
-4 Only look up IPv4 addresses (A records) when consulting DNS.
The default is to also look up v6 addresses (AAAA records).
Writing to /net/cs will toggle IP v6 look-ups.
-f supplies the name of the data base file to use, default
/lib/ndb/local.
-n causes cs to do nothing but set the system name.
-x specifies the mount point of the network.
Ndb/csquery queries ndb/cs to see how it resolves addresses. Ndb/cs‐
query prompts for addresses and prints what ndb/cs returns. Server de‐
faults to /net/cs. If any addrs are specified, ndb/csquery prints
their translations and immediately exits. The exit status will be nil
only if all addresses were successfully translated. The -s flag sets
exit status without printing any results.
Domain name service
Ndb/dns serves ndb/cs and remote systems by translating Internet domain
names. Ndb/dns is started at boot time. By default dns serves only
requests written to /net/dns. Programs must seek to offset 0 before
reading or writing /net/dns or /net/cs. The options are:
-a sets the maximum time in seconds that an unreferenced domain
name will remain cached. The default is one hour (3600).
-f supplies the name of the data base file to use, default
/lib/ndb/local.
-n whenever a DNS zone that we serve changes, send UDP NOTIFY mes‐
sages to any dns slaves for that zone (see the attribute below).
-N sets the goal for the number of domain names cached to target
rather than the default of 8,000.
-o used with -s, -o causes dns to assume that it straddles inside
and outside networks and that the outside network is mounted on
/net.alt. Queries for inside addresses will be sent via
/net/udp (or /net/tcp in response to truncated replies) and
those for outside addresses via /net.alt/udp (or /net.alt/tcp).
This makes dns suitable for serving non-Plan-9 systems in an or‐
ganization with firewalls, DNS proxies, etc., particularly if
they don't work very well. See `Straddling Server' below for
details.
-r act as a resolver only: send `recursive' queries, asking the
other servers to complete lookups. If present, /env/DNSSERVER
must be a space-separated list of such DNS servers' IP ad‐
dresses, otherwise optional ndb(6) dns attributes name DNS
servers to forward queries to.
-R ignore the `recursive' bit on incoming requests. Do not com‐
plete lookups on behalf of remote systems.
-s also answer domain requests sent to UDP port 53.
-x specifies the mount point of the network.
-z whenever we receive a UDP NOTIFY message, run program with the
domain name of the area as its argument.
When the -r option is specified, the servers used come from the dns at‐
tribute in the database. For example, to specify a set of dns servers
that will resolve requests for systems on the network mh-net:
ipnet=mh-net ip=135.104.0.0 ipmask=255.255.0.0
dns=ns1.cs.bell-labs.com
dns=ns2.cs.bell-labs.com
dom=ns1.cs.bell-labs.com ip=135.104.1.11
dom=ns2.cs.bell-labs.com ip=135.104.1.12
The server for a domain is indicated by a database entry containing
both a dom and a ns attribute.
dom=
ns=A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET
ns=B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET
ns=C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET
dom=A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET ip=198.41.0.4
dom=B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET ip=128.9.0.107
dom=C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET ip=192.33.4.12
The last three lines provide a mapping for the server names to their ip
addresses. This is only a hint and will be superseded from whatever is
learned from servers owning the domain.
Authoritative Name Servers
You can also serve a subtree of the domain name space from the local
database. You indicate subtrees that you would like to serve by adding
an soa= attribute to the root entry. For example, the Bell Labs CS re‐
search domain is:
dom=cs.bell-labs.com soa=
refresh=3600 ttl=3600
ns=plan9.bell-labs.com
ns=ns1.cs.bell-labs.com
ns=ns2.cs.bell-labs.com
mb=presotto@plan9.bell-labs.com
mx=mail.research.bell-labs.com pref=20
mx=plan9.bell-labs.com pref=10
dnsslave=nslocum.cs.bell-labs.com
dnsslave=vex.cs.bell-labs.com
Here, the mb entry is the mail address of the person responsible for
the domain (default postmaster). The mx entries list mail exchangers
for the domain name and refresh and ttl define the area refresh inter‐
val and the minimum TTL for records in this domain. The dnsslave en‐
tries specify slave DNS servers that should be notified when the domain
changes. The notification also requires the -n flag.
Reverse Domains
You can also serve reverse lookups (returning the name that goes with
an IP address) by adding an soa= attribute to the entry defining the
root of the reverse space.
For example, to provide reverse lookup for all addresses in starting
with or ndb must contain a record like:
dom=104.135.in-addr.arpa soa=
dom=d.f.ip6.arpa soa= # special case, rfc 4193
refresh=3600 ttl=3600
ns=plan9.bell-labs.com
ns=ns1.cs.bell-labs.com
ns=ns2.cs.bell-labs.com
Notice the form of the reverse address. For IPv4, it's the bytes of
the address range you are serving reversed and expressed in decimal,
and with appended. For IPv6, it's the nibbles (4-bit fields) of the
address range you are serving reversed and expressed in hexadecimal,
and with appended. These are the standard forms for a domain name in a
PTR record.
If such an soa entry exists in the database, reverse addresses will au‐
tomatically be generated from any IP addresses in the database that are
under this root. For example
dom=ns1.cs.bell-labs.com ip=135.104.1.11
will automatically create both forward and reverse entries for
ns1.cs.bell-labs.com. Unlike other DNS servers, there's no way to gen‐
erate inconsistent forward and reverse entries.
Classless reverse delegation
Following RFC 2317, it is possible to serve reverse DNS data for IPv4
subnets smaller than /24. Declare the non-/24 subnet, the reverse do‐
main and the individual systems.
For example, this is how to serve RFC-2317 ptr records for the subnet
ipnet=our-t1 ip=65.14.39.128 ipmask=/123
dom=128.39.14.65.in-addr.arpa soa=
refresh=3600 ttl=3600
ns=ns1.our-domain.com
ns=ns2.our-domain.com
ip=65.14.39.129 dom=router.our-domain.com
Delegating Name Service Authority
Delegation of a further subtree to another set of name servers is indi‐
cated by an soa=delegated attribute.
dom=bignose.cs.research.bell-labs.com
soa=delegated
ns=anna.cs.research.bell-labs.com
ns=dj.cs.research.bell-labs.com
Nameservers within the delegated domain (as in this example) must have
their IP addresses listed elsewhere in ndb files.
Wildcards, MX and CNAME records
Wild-carded domain names can also be used. For example, to specify a
mail forwarder for all Bell Labs research systems:
dom=*.research.bell-labs.com
mx=research.bell-labs.com
`Cname' aliases may be established by adding a cname attribute giving
the real domain name; the name attached to the dom attribute is the
alias. `Cname' aliases are severely restricted; the aliases may have
no other attributes than dom and are daily further restricted in their
use by new RFCs.
cname=anna.cs.bell-labs.com dom=www.cs.bell-labs.com
makes www.... a synonym for the canonical name anna.....
Straddling Server
Many companies have an inside network protected from outside access
with firewalls. They usually provide internal `root' DNS servers (of
varying reliability and correctness) that serve internal domains and
pass on DNS queries for outside domains to the outside, relaying the
results back and caching them for future use. Some companies don't
even let DNS queries nor replies through their firewalls at all, in ei‐
ther direction.
In such a situation, running dns -so on a machine that imports access
to the outside network via /net.alt from a machine that straddles the
firewalls, or that straddles the firewalls itself, will let internal
machines query such a machine and receive answers from outside name‐
servers for outside addresses and inside nameservers for inside ad‐
dresses, giving the appearance of a unified domain name space, while
bypassing the corporate DNS proxies or firewalls. This is different
from running dns -s and dns -sRx /net.alt -f /lib/ndb/external on the
same machine, which keeps the inside and outside namespaces entirely
separate.
Under -o, several sys names are significant: inside-dom, inside-ns, and
outside-ns. Inside-dom should contain a series of dom pairs naming do‐
mains internal to the organization. Inside-ns should contain a series
of ip pairs naming the internal DNS `root' servers. Outside-ns should
contain a series of ip pairs naming the external DNS servers to con‐
sult.
Zone Transfers and TCP
Dnstcp is invoked, usually from /rc/bin/service/tcp53, to answer DNS
queries with long answers via TCP, notably to transfer a zone within
the database dbfile (default /lib/ndb/local) to its invoker on the net‐
work at netmtpt (default /net). Standard input will be read for DNS
requests and the DNS answers will appear on standard output. Recursion
is disabled by -R; acting as a pure resolver is enabled by -r. If
conn-dir is provided, it is assumed to be a directory within
netmtpt/tcp and is used to find the caller's address.
DNS Queries and Debugging
Ndb/dnsquery can be used to query ndb/dns to see how it resolves re‐
quests. Ndb/dnsquery prompts for commands of the form
domain-name request-type
where request-type can be ip, ipv6, mx, ns, cname, ptr.... In the case
of the inverse query type, ptr, dnsquery will reverse the ip address
and tack on the .in-addr.arpa if necessary. The -x option switches
ndb/dnsquery to query the dns server on /net.alt instead of /net
Ndb/dnsdebug is like ndb/dnsquery but bypasses the local server. It
communicates via UDP (and sometimes TCP) with the domain name servers
in the same way that the local resolver would and displays all packets
received. The query can be specified on the command line or can be
prompted for. The queries look like those of ndb/dnsquery with one ad‐
dition. Ndb/dnsdebug can be directed to query a particular name server
by the command @name-server. From that point on, all queries go to
that name server rather than being resolved by dnsdebug. The @ command
returns query resolution to dnsdebug. Finally, any command preceded by
a @name-server sets the name server only for that command.
Normally dnsdebug uses the /net interface and the database file
/lib/ndb/local. The -f option supplies the name of the data base file
to use. The -r option is the same as for ndb/dns. The -x option di‐
rects dnsdebug to use the /net.alt interface and /lib/ndb/external
database file.
Ndb/dnsgetip resolves and prints A and AAAA records without consulting
ndb/dns . By default, ndb/dnsgetip queries A records first and then
AAAA records. As with ndb/dns, /env/DNSSERVER or ndb(6) dns attributes
are used as the DNS server. The -a flag will return all records. The -x
option switches ndb/dnsgetip to query the dns server through /net.alt
instead of /net.
EXAMPLES
Look up helix in ndb.
% ndb/query sys helix
sys=helix dom=helix.research.bell-labs.com bootf=/mips/9powerboot
ip=135.104.117.31 ether=080069020427
Look up plan9.bell-labs.com and its IP address in the DNS.
% ndb/dnsquery
> plan9.bell-labs.com ip
plan9.bell-labs.com ip 204.178.31.2
> 204.178.31.2 ptr
2.31.178.204.in-addr.arpa ptr plan9.bell-labs.com
2.31.178.204.in-addr.arpa ptr ampl.com
>
Print the names of all systems that boot via PXE.
% ndb/query -a bootf /386/9bootpxe sys
FILES
/env/DNSSERVER
resolver's DNS servers' IP addresses.
/lib/ndb/local
first database file searched
/lib/ndb/local.*
hash files for /lib/ndb/local
/srv/cs
service file for ndb/cs
/net/cs
where /srv/cs gets mounted
/srv/dns
service file for ndb/dns
/net/dns
where /srv/dns gets mounted
SOURCE
/sys/src/cmd/ndb
SEE ALSO
ndb(2), ndb(6)
BUGS
Ndb databases are case-sensitive; ethernet addresses must be in lower-
case hexadecimal.
NDB(8)