Need some help testing my DNS interface

[D. Strout]

I have been working on a custom DNS interface that integrates with my distributed* DNS servers, and it's finally up and running. If you have a few spare domains that you can point to my nameservers and test the frontend with, I'd appreciate the help. I can't pay, but if you like it I'd happily give you the source when it's done. I would like someone who is fairly familiar with DNS so they can tell me if my interface gets something "wrong" in any validation routine, but mostly just checking for bugs in the front end operation.

As it stands, the interface supports A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, SRV, and TXT records. The domain has IPv6 glue records, and should pass all DNS configuration tests (except mail, which gives duplicate MX errors due to Google Apps - nothing I can do about that). The interface is very AJAX based, no reloading for adding, deleting, and editing records. Deletes can be undone. The frontend is SSL-encrypted, with salted, hashed passwords. Design is mostly mine, and looks OK. Any advice on it or the interface would be appreciated if you help.

If you'd like to help, respond here or PM me. User creation and domain adding have not been automated yet, so I'd have to add them manually, so you might want to PM those details to me. That's to come. Right now I just want to iron out the interface.

* Distributed around the U.S.: RamNode Seattle, Iniz Los Angeles, Versatile IT Dallas, ServerDragon Miami, Reliable Hosting Services Baltimore. FrontRangeHosting Denver to come. Cosmetically, all nameserver IPv4s are in different /8 blocks (that was fun setting up).

 

[blergh]

So, what does this frontend/backend offer? support for DNSSEC? IPv6? Anycast? If not, plznaow

BIND/powerdns?

 

[drmike]

Sounds interesting and I'd like more info like @blergh.

 

[D. Strout]

Full IPv6 support (AAAA records, native IPv6 on all nameservers, GLUE6 records on the nameserver domain) on BIND9. Other than that, pretty standard, just prettier and AJAX powered with "smart" features like delete undo. It's not enterprise grade, more for personal use. Eventually, the idea is to integrate it in to a VPS management system, such that you have a "root" domain that has subdomains for each of your VPSes, but then for "regular" domains it does autocomplete when entering IP addresses on any of the servers in the system. On the server management side, it will integrate with the APIs for SolusVM, DigitalOcean, and BuyVM once Stallion 2 is out. Once all that is complete, then I plan to release it as donationware.

 

[drmike]

Sounds pretty interesting @D. Strout.

You have some screencaps made up for it and is it ready to test now?

 

[D. Strout]

Screenshot:

The placeholder in the "new record" data field changes based on what record type you select. It is ready to test if anyone wants to help.

 

[blergh]

Ah, I'm out. I'm already testing dns4.pro and it is awesome!

 

[D. Strout]

That does look nice, but I had to roll my own if it was going to integrate with my VPSes in the way I mentioned above. Plus I think it was a good learning experience. No anycast here though I do wonder how DNS4.pro managed to get a .pro domain. Those are usually reserved for doctors and lawyers and such.

 

[Shados]

Add SRV record support and I'll give it a whirl if you want.

salted, hashed passwords

 

bcyrpted?

 

[D. Strout]

Add SRV record support and I'll give it a whirl if you want.

bcyrpted?

Not using bcrypt at the moment, but after reading that article I'll look in to changing it. As to SRV records, I'll look in to adding that, and PM you when it's in place. Main thing with adding them is I've never used them and thus don't know how to validate them server-side. Once I figure that out it shouldn't be any trouble adding them.

 

[D. Strout]

SRV records have been set up. Thanks to Wikipedia and Shados for the help. bcrypt is still WIP, but on the to-do list. Ideally I'd like three testers, and I currently have two, including Shados. Let me know if you'd like to help!

 

[prometeus]

I'm not able myself but it looks good

So do you plan to release the code for it?

 

[D. Strout]

I'm not able myself but it looks good

So do you plan to release the code for it?

As I said, donationware when finished. Open source of course. It will be somewhat niche: designed for people who have/want their own DNS server/network and also have a lot of servers. But hey, you never know.

 

[NodeBytes]

Pm me the details. Been looking for a good dns interface.

 

[D. Strout]

OK, I have all the testers I need for now, thanks. It is progressing, though. I have added the code for adding domains automatically, rather than a long manual process. Now I need to set up domain deletion and go over the validation for each of these components before moving on to the server interface.

 

[D. Strout]

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to all my testers. They have already found several crucial bugs that are now fixed. Thanks to them, the domain/DNS system is much more robust.

 

[D. Strout]

I'm adding a somewhat unique feature at the request of one of my testers: import. With this you can query another nameserver for your (or another) domain and import all the records of the types my system supports. You can also copy/paste or upload a zone file and have that parsed for records to import. I haven't seen many other DNS services that offer this, and hopefully it will be useful.

 

[qps]

Will it have support for PTR records?

Can it edit existing zones on the server, or do you have to import them into the interface first?

 

[D. Strout]

I'll look in to PTR records. With existing zones, it won't support them directly, but since you'll be able to just copy/paste the zone file they will be easy enough to add.