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dns-zonefile

An RFC1035 compliant DNS zone file parser and generator for Node.js and browser.

Installation

Bower Install

bower install dns-zonefile --save

Standalone

sudo npm install dns-zonefile -g

Module

npm install dns-zonefile

Usage

Zone Information

dns-zonefile accepts both zone data expressed as a JSON object or plain text zone file. It supports SOA, NS, A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, PTR, SRV and TXT record types as well as the $ORIGIN keyword (for zone-wide use only). Each record type (and the $ORIGIN keyword) is optional, though bind expects to find at least an SOA record in a valid zone file.

Examples

Forward DNS Zone

The following JSON produces a zone file for a forward DNS zone:

{
    "$origin": "MYDOMAIN.COM.",
    "$ttl": 3600,
    "soa": {
        "mname": "NS1.NAMESERVER.NET.",
        "rname": "HOSTMASTER.MYDOMAIN.COM.",
        "serial": "{time}",
        "refresh": 3600,
        "retry": 600,
        "expire": 604800,
        "minimum": 86400
    },
    "ns": [
        { "host": "NS1.NAMESERVER.NET." },
        { "host": "NS2.NAMESERVER.NET." }
    ],
    "a": [
        { "name": "@", "ip": "127.0.0.1" },
        { "name": "www", "ip": "127.0.0.1" },
        { "name": "mail", "ip": "127.0.0.1" }
    ],
    "aaaa": [
        { "ip": "::1" },
        { "name": "mail", "ip": "2001:db8::1" }
    ],
    "cname":[
        { "name": "mail1", "alias": "mail" },
        { "name": "mail2", "alias": "mail" }
    ],
    "mx":[
        { "preference": 0, "host": "mail1" },
        { "preference": 10, "host": "mail2" }
    ],
    "txt":[
        { "name": "txt1", "txt": "hello" },
        { "name": "txt2", "txt": "world" }
    ],
    "srv":[
        { "name": "_xmpp-client._tcp", "target": "jabber", "priority": 10, "weight": 0, "port": 5222 },
        { "name": "_xmpp-server._tcp", "target": "jabber", "priority": 10, "weight": 0, "port": 5269 }
    ]
}

dns-zonefile will produce the following zone file from the above information, while the following zone file can as well be parsed to produce the zone file like above:

; Zone: MYDOMAIN.COM.
; Exported  (yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sssZ): 2014-09-22T21:10:36.697Z

$ORIGIN MYDOMAIN.COM.
$TTL 3600

; SOA Record
@	 		IN	SOA	NS1.NAMESERVER.NET.	HOSTMASTER.MYDOMAIN.COM.	(
            1411420237	 ;serial
            3600	 ;refresh
            600	 ;retry
            604800	 ;expire
            86400	 ;minimum ttl
)

; NS Records
@	IN	NS	NS1.NAMESERVER.NET.
@	IN	NS	NS2.NAMESERVER.NET.

; MX Records
@	IN	MX	0	mail1
@	IN	MX	10	mail2

; A Records
@	IN	A	127.0.0.1
www	IN	A	127.0.0.1
mail	IN	A	127.0.0.1

; AAAA Records
@	IN	AAAA	::1
mail	IN	AAAA	2001:db8::1

; CNAME Records
mail1	IN	CNAME	mail
mail2	IN	CNAME	mail

; TXT Records
txt1	IN	TXT	"hello"
txt2	IN	TXT	"world"

; SRV Records
_xmpp-client._tcp	IN	SRV	10	0	5222	jabber
_xmpp-server._tcp	IN	SRV	10	0	5269	jabber

Reverse DNS Zone

This JSON will produce a zone file for a reverse DNS zone (the $ORIGIN keyword is recommended for reverse DNS zones):

{
    "$origin": "0.168.192.IN-ADDR.ARPA.",
    "$ttl": 3600,
    "soa": {
        "mname": "NS1.NAMESERVER.NET.",
        "rname": "HOSTMASTER.MYDOMAIN.COM.",
        "serial": "{time}",
        "refresh": 3600,
        "retry": 600,
        "expire": 604800,
        "minimum": 86400
    },
  "ns": [
      { "host": "NS1.NAMESERVER.NET." },
      { "host": "NS2.NAMESERVER.NET." }
  ],
  "ptr":[
      { "name": 1, "host": "HOST1.MYDOMAIN.COM." },
      { "name": 2, "host": "HOST2.MYDOMAIN.COM." }
  ]
}

dns-zonefile will produce the following zone file from the above information, while the following zone file can as well be parsed to produce the zone file like above:

; Zone: 0.168.192.IN-ADDR.ARPA.
; Exported  (yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sssZ): 2014-09-22T21:10:36.698Z

$ORIGIN 0.168.192.IN-ADDR.ARPA.
$TTL 3600

; SOA Record
@	 		IN	SOA	NS1.NAMESERVER.NET.	HOSTMASTER.MYDOMAIN.COM.	(
            1411420237	 ;serial
            3600	 ;refresh
            600	 ;retry
            604800	 ;expire
            86400	 ;minimum ttl
)

; NS Records
@	IN	NS	NS1.NAMESERVER.NET.
@	IN	NS	NS2.NAMESERVER.NET.

; PTR Records
1	IN	PTR	HOST1.MYDOMAIN.COM.
2	IN	PTR	HOST2.MYDOMAIN.COM.

Standalone Usage

To use dns-zonefile to generate a zone file from JSON from the command line, place the desired JSON data in a file (zonefile_data.json in this example) and run the following command. Note that the resulting zone file will be printed to the console; to save the zone file to disk (my_zone.conf in this example), use redirection as in this example:

zonefile -g zonefile_data.json > my_zone.conf

To use dns-zonefile to parse a zone file to JSON from the command line, place the desired zone file data in a file (zonefile_data.txt in this example) and run the following command. Note that the resulting JSON will be printed to the console; to save the JSON to disk (my_zone.json in this example), use redirection as in this example:

zonefile -p zonefile_data.txt > my_zone.json

If the -g and -p are omitted, -g will be assumed if the lower cased filename contains .json, otherwise, -p will be assumed.

zonefile -v or zonefile --version will print the version information.

Module Usage

dns-zonefile can also be used as a module. Simply use require() to include it, then invoke its generate() function as shown in the following example:

var zonefile = require('dns-zonefile');
var options = require('./zonefile_forward.json');
var output = zonefile.generate(options);
console.log(output);

options can either be a parsed JSON object as shown above, or a regular Javascript object containing the same required fields.

It is also possible to parse a zone file to JSON by invoking its parse() function as shown in the following example:

var zonefile = require('dns-zonefile');
var text = fs.readFileSync('./zonefile_forward.txt', 'utf8');
output = zonefile.parse(text);
console.log(JSON.stringify(output));

License

ISC License (ISC)

Copyright (c) 2014, Qian Chen

Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.