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Documentation / networking / dns_resolver.txt




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Based on kernel version 3.9. Page generated on 2013-05-02 23:11 EST.

1				     ===================
2				     DNS Resolver Module
3				     ===================
4	
5	Contents:
6	
7	 - Overview.
8	 - Compilation.
9	 - Setting up.
10	 - Usage.
11	 - Mechanism.
12	 - Debugging.
13	
14	
15	========
16	OVERVIEW
17	========
18	
19	The DNS resolver module provides a way for kernel services to make DNS queries
20	by way of requesting a key of key type dns_resolver.  These queries are
21	upcalled to userspace through /sbin/request-key.
22	
23	These routines must be supported by userspace tools dns.upcall, cifs.upcall and
24	request-key.  It is under development and does not yet provide the full feature
25	set.  The features it does support include:
26	
27	 (*) Implements the dns_resolver key_type to contact userspace.
28	
29	It does not yet support the following AFS features:
30	
31	 (*) Dns query support for AFSDB resource record.
32	
33	This code is extracted from the CIFS filesystem.
34	
35	
36	===========
37	COMPILATION
38	===========
39	
40	The module should be enabled by turning on the kernel configuration options:
41	
42		CONFIG_DNS_RESOLVER	- tristate "DNS Resolver support"
43	
44	
45	==========
46	SETTING UP
47	==========
48	
49	To set up this facility, the /etc/request-key.conf file must be altered so that
50	/sbin/request-key can appropriately direct the upcalls.  For example, to handle
51	basic dname to IPv4/IPv6 address resolution, the following line should be
52	added:
53	
54		#OP	TYPE		DESC	CO-INFO	PROGRAM ARG1 ARG2 ARG3 ...
55		#======	============	=======	=======	==========================
56		create	dns_resolver  	*	*	/usr/sbin/cifs.upcall %k
57	
58	To direct a query for query type 'foo', a line of the following should be added
59	before the more general line given above as the first match is the one taken.
60	
61		create	dns_resolver  	foo:*	*	/usr/sbin/dns.foo %k
62	
63	
64	=====
65	USAGE
66	=====
67	
68	To make use of this facility, one of the following functions that are
69	implemented in the module can be called after doing:
70	
71		#include <linux/dns_resolver.h>
72	
73	 (1) int dns_query(const char *type, const char *name, size_t namelen,
74			   const char *options, char **_result, time_t *_expiry);
75	
76	     This is the basic access function.  It looks for a cached DNS query and if
77	     it doesn't find it, it upcalls to userspace to make a new DNS query, which
78	     may then be cached.  The key description is constructed as a string of the
79	     form:
80	
81			[<type>:]<name>
82	
83	     where <type> optionally specifies the particular upcall program to invoke,
84	     and thus the type of query to do, and <name> specifies the string to be
85	     looked up.  The default query type is a straight hostname to IP address
86	     set lookup.
87	
88	     The name parameter is not required to be a NUL-terminated string, and its
89	     length should be given by the namelen argument.
90	
91	     The options parameter may be NULL or it may be a set of options
92	     appropriate to the query type.
93	
94	     The return value is a string appropriate to the query type.  For instance,
95	     for the default query type it is just a list of comma-separated IPv4 and
96	     IPv6 addresses.  The caller must free the result.
97	
98	     The length of the result string is returned on success, and a negative
99	     error code is returned otherwise.  -EKEYREJECTED will be returned if the
100	     DNS lookup failed.
101	
102	     If _expiry is non-NULL, the expiry time (TTL) of the result will be
103	     returned also.
104	
105	The kernel maintains an internal keyring in which it caches looked up keys.
106	This can be cleared by any process that has the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability by
107	the use of KEYCTL_KEYRING_CLEAR on the keyring ID.
108	
109	
110	===============================
111	READING DNS KEYS FROM USERSPACE
112	===============================
113	
114	Keys of dns_resolver type can be read from userspace using keyctl_read() or
115	"keyctl read/print/pipe".
116	
117	
118	=========
119	MECHANISM
120	=========
121	
122	The dnsresolver module registers a key type called "dns_resolver".  Keys of
123	this type are used to transport and cache DNS lookup results from userspace.
124	
125	When dns_query() is invoked, it calls request_key() to search the local
126	keyrings for a cached DNS result.  If that fails to find one, it upcalls to
127	userspace to get a new result.
128	
129	Upcalls to userspace are made through the request_key() upcall vector, and are
130	directed by means of configuration lines in /etc/request-key.conf that tell
131	/sbin/request-key what program to run to instantiate the key.
132	
133	The upcall handler program is responsible for querying the DNS, processing the
134	result into a form suitable for passing to the keyctl_instantiate_key()
135	routine.  This then passes the data to dns_resolver_instantiate() which strips
136	off and processes any options included in the data, and then attaches the
137	remainder of the string to the key as its payload.
138	
139	The upcall handler program should set the expiry time on the key to that of the
140	lowest TTL of all the records it has extracted a result from.  This means that
141	the key will be discarded and recreated when the data it holds has expired.
142	
143	dns_query() returns a copy of the value attached to the key, or an error if
144	that is indicated instead.
145	
146	See <file:Documentation/security/keys-request-key.txt> for further
147	information about request-key function.
148	
149	
150	=========
151	DEBUGGING
152	=========
153	
154	Debugging messages can be turned on dynamically by writing a 1 into the
155	following file:
156	
157	        /sys/module/dnsresolver/parameters/debug
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