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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/networking/dns_resolver.txt')
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diff --git a/Documentation/networking/dns_resolver.txt b/Documentation/networking/dns_resolver.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..aefd1e68180 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/networking/dns_resolver.txt @@ -0,0 +1,146 @@ + =================== + DNS Resolver Module + =================== + +Contents: + + - Overview. + - Compilation. + - Setting up. + - Usage. + - Mechanism. + - Debugging. + + +======== +OVERVIEW +======== + +The DNS resolver module provides a way for kernel services to make DNS queries +by way of requesting a key of key type dns_resolver. These queries are +upcalled to userspace through /sbin/request-key. + +These routines must be supported by userspace tools dns.upcall, cifs.upcall and +request-key. It is under development and does not yet provide the full feature +set. The features it does support include: + + (*) Implements the dns_resolver key_type to contact userspace. + +It does not yet support the following AFS features: + + (*) Dns query support for AFSDB resource record. + +This code is extracted from the CIFS filesystem. + + +=========== +COMPILATION +=========== + +The module should be enabled by turning on the kernel configuration options: + + CONFIG_DNS_RESOLVER - tristate "DNS Resolver support" + + +========== +SETTING UP +========== + +To set up this facility, the /etc/request-key.conf file must be altered so that +/sbin/request-key can appropriately direct the upcalls. For example, to handle +basic dname to IPv4/IPv6 address resolution, the following line should be +added: + + #OP TYPE DESC CO-INFO PROGRAM ARG1 ARG2 ARG3 ... + #====== ============ ======= ======= ========================== + create dns_resolver * * /usr/sbin/cifs.upcall %k + +To direct a query for query type 'foo', a line of the following should be added +before the more general line given above as the first match is the one taken. + + create dns_resolver foo:* * /usr/sbin/dns.foo %k + + + +===== +USAGE +===== + +To make use of this facility, one of the following functions that are +implemented in the module can be called after doing: + + #include <linux/dns_resolver.h> + + (1) int dns_query(const char *type, const char *name, size_t namelen, + const char *options, char **_result, time_t *_expiry); + + This is the basic access function. It looks for a cached DNS query and if + it doesn't find it, it upcalls to userspace to make a new DNS query, which + may then be cached. The key description is constructed as a string of the + form: + + [<type>:]<name> + + where <type> optionally specifies the particular upcall program to invoke, + and thus the type of query to do, and <name> specifies the string to be + looked up. The default query type is a straight hostname to IP address + set lookup. + + The name parameter is not required to be a NUL-terminated string, and its + length should be given by the namelen argument. + + The options parameter may be NULL or it may be a set of options + appropriate to the query type. + + The return value is a string appropriate to the query type. For instance, + for the default query type it is just a list of comma-separated IPv4 and + IPv6 addresses. The caller must free the result. + + The length of the result string is returned on success, and a negative + error code is returned otherwise. -EKEYREJECTED will be returned if the + DNS lookup failed. + + If _expiry is non-NULL, the expiry time (TTL) of the result will be + returned also. + + +========= +MECHANISM +========= + +The dnsresolver module registers a key type called "dns_resolver". Keys of +this type are used to transport and cache DNS lookup results from userspace. + +When dns_query() is invoked, it calls request_key() to search the local +keyrings for a cached DNS result. If that fails to find one, it upcalls to +userspace to get a new result. + +Upcalls to userspace are made through the request_key() upcall vector, and are +directed by means of configuration lines in /etc/request-key.conf that tell +/sbin/request-key what program to run to instantiate the key. + +The upcall handler program is responsible for querying the DNS, processing the +result into a form suitable for passing to the keyctl_instantiate_key() +routine. This then passes the data to dns_resolver_instantiate() which strips +off and processes any options included in the data, and then attaches the +remainder of the string to the key as its payload. + +The upcall handler program should set the expiry time on the key to that of the +lowest TTL of all the records it has extracted a result from. This means that +the key will be discarded and recreated when the data it holds has expired. + +dns_query() returns a copy of the value attached to the key, or an error if +that is indicated instead. + +See <file:Documentation/keys-request-key.txt> for further information about +request-key function. + + +========= +DEBUGGING +========= + +Debugging messages can be turned on dynamically by writing a 1 into the +following file: + + /sys/module/dnsresolver/parameters/debug |