pdns Cookbook

Installs and configures PowerDNS (pdns). Sets up an authoritative by default and can set up an Authoritative Server with multiple backends.

Requirements

Platforms:

• Ubuntu (12.04, 14.04)

Required Cookbooks:

• build-essential (for source build)
• resolvconf (used in the server recipe for setting resolv.conf)

Suggested Cookbooks:

• mysql (for the MySQL backend)
• sqlite (for the SQLite backend)
• postgres (for the PostgreSQL backend)

Attributes

Depending on the type of server you are installing there are specific options you may want to set via attributes. Several attribute files handle settings of the different 'flavors' of a PowerDNS install, that is an authoritative server, a slave server or a recursor. Also there is two attribute files that handle the way PowerDNS should be installed: via a package or compiled by source.

The different combinations of install method and functionality are handled by the attributes 'build_method' and 'flavor' located in the default attributes file. You can set these attributes according to your needs.

default

Key	Type	Description	Default
node['pdns']['build_method']	String	Type of installation: 'package' or 'source'	package
node['pdns']['flavor']	String	Functionality: 'resolver', 'authoritative', 'slave'	recursor
node['pdns']['user']	String	User to setuid the pdns daemons	pdns
node['pdns']['group']	String	Group to setuid the pdns daemons	pdns

source

Key	Type	Description	Default
node['pdns']['source']['path']	String	The base path to setting up the source installation	/opt
node['pdns']['source']['version']	String	Version of source server or resolver based on 'flavor'	3.4.7 or 3.7.3
node['pdns']['source']['url']	String	URL to the PowerDNS Server Source Package	https://downloads.powerdns.com/releases/pdns-[recursor?]-[version].tar.bz2

package

Key	Type	Description	Default

authoritative

Key	Type	Description	Default
node['pdns']['authoritative']['backends']	Array	List of backends to build and configure or install with PowerDNS	[ 'bind' ]
node['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['launch']	String	Backend that will be used when running PowerDNS	bind
node['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['config_dir']	String	Location of configuration directory	/etc/powerdns
node['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['setgid']	String	User to setuid the pdns daemons	pdns
node['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['setuid']	String	Group to setuid the pdns daemons	pdns
node['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['version_string']	String	What powerdns answers when queried for its version over DNS	powerdns
node['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['allow_recursion']	Array	IP addresses that are authorized for recursion	[ '127.0.0.1' ]
node['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['daemon']	Boolean	Operate as a daemon	true
node['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['disable_axfr']	Boolean	Do not allow zone transfers	true
node['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['guardian']	Boolean	Run within a guardian process	true
node['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['default_ttl']	String	TTL to use when none is provided	3600

slave

Key	Type	Description	Default
node['pdns']['slave']['backends']	Array	List of backends to build and configure or install with PowerDNS	[ 'bind' ]
node['pdns']['slave']['config']['launch']	String	Backend that will be used when running PowerDNS	bind
node['pdns']['slave']['config']['config_dir']	String	Location of configuration directory	/etc/powerdns
node['pdns']['slave']['config']['setgid']	String	User to setuid the pdns daemons	pdns
node['pdns']['slave']['config']['setuid']	String	Group to setuid the pdns daemons	pdns
node['pdns']['slave']['config']['version_string']	String	What powerdns answers when queried for its version over DNS	powerdns
node['pdns']['slave']['config']['master']	Boolean	Operate in master mode	false
node['pdns']['slave']['config']['slave']	Boolean	Operate as a slave to a PowerDNS master server	true
node['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['guardian']	Boolean	Run within a guardian process	true
node['pdns']['slave']['config']['slave_cycle_interval']	String	Seconds slave checks of domains with unknown status	'60'
node['pdns']['slave']['config']['disable_axfr']	Boolean	Do not allow zone transfers	true

recursor

Key	Type	Description	Default
node['pdns']['recursor']['config_dir']	String	Location of configuration directory	/etc/powerdns
node['pdns']['recursor']['config']['config_dir']	String	Location of configuration directory	/etc/powerdns
node['pdns']['recursor']['config']['allow_from']	Array	Netmasks that are allowed to use the server	'127.0.0.0/8', '10.0.0.0/8', '192.168.0.0/16', '172.16.0.0/12', '::1/128', 'e80::/10'
node['pdns']['recursor']['config']['auth_zones']	Array	Zones read from these files are served authoritatively	[ ]
node['pdns']['recursor']['config']['forward_zones']	Array	Queries for zones listed here will be forwarded to the IP	[ ]
node['pdns']['recursor']['config']['forward_zones_recurse']	Array	Add the recurse bit to the behavior of forward zones	[ ]
node['pdns']['recursor']['config']['local_address']	Array	IP addresses to bind to	['127.0.0.1']
node['pdns']['recursor']['config']['local_port']	String	Port to listen	'53'

Further configurations

Every flavor has it's own attribute namespace for customizing it. More precisely

The ['pdns'][flavor]['config'] array directly maps to each configuration directive in the configuration file. Of special note is any configuration option that needs a hyphen (-) should be defined as an underscore (_) and it will be converted at compilation time.

For example, if you want the version-string setting to be changed for your authoritative server, you'll want to define it like so:

default['pdns']['authoritative']['config']['version_string'] = 'awesomedns'

Another thing to note is boolean values are mapped to 'yes' and 'no' respectively. If you want to remove a value, simply set it to 'nil' or do not define the attribute entirely.

Usage

Add the default recipe and set the right attributes ('flavor' and 'install_method') to install and configure PowerDNS as your needs. The default behavior is installing a recursor by package.

To set up a secursor, simply put recipe[pdns::default] in the run list. Modify the attributes via a role or on the node directly as required for the local configuration.

To set up an authoritative server, put recipe[pdns::default] in the node's run list and set the attribute node['pdns']['flavor'] to 'authoritative'. Modify node['pdns']['authoritative']['backend'] attribute in order to install one or more backends. Choose between 'package' and 'source' installs in the node['pdns']['install_method'] attribute. Further tune your server configuration with node['pdns']['authoritative']['config'].

To set up an slave server, add recipe[pdns::default] to you run list and set the attribute node['pdns']['flavor'] to 'slave'. Choose between 'package', 'source' with the node['pdns']['install_method'] attribute. Tune your server specific configuration with node['pdns']['slave']['config'].

Notes

• Ubuntu has an specific database configuration when using their packges for backends, it's located here: /etc/powerdns/pdns.d/
• It is not possible to install both an authoritative server and a recursor on the same machine using the flavor attribute.

Backends and flavors

There are several combinations of backends and flavors available, currently a few of them have been tested, more or less the ones that represented in .kitchen.yml file, specifically:

• Authoritative / PostgreSQL backend (package and source)
• Authoritative / pipe backend (package and source)
• Resolver (package and source)
• Slave (package and source)

## TODO

• Add Bind backend (that should be the default)
• Add MySQL backend
• Add SQLite backend
• Use ubuntu /etc/powerdns/pdns.d/ for configuring PowerDNS.

License & Authors

• Author:: Joshua Timberman (joshua@chef.io)
• Author:: Aaron Kalin (aaron.kalin@dnsimple.com)
• Author:: Jacobo García (jacobo.garcia@dnsimple.com)
• Author:: Anthony Eden (anthony.eden@dnsimple.com)

Copyright:: 2010-2014, Chef Software, Inc & 2014 Aetrion, LLC.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.