Knot DNS Resolver daemon

The server is in the daemon directory, it works out of the box without any configuration.

$ kresd -h # Get help
$ kresd -a ::1

Enabling DNSSEC

The resolver supports DNSSEC including RFC 5011 automated DNSSEC TA updates and RFC 7646 negative trust anchors. To enable it, you need to provide trusted root keys. Bootstrapping of the keys is automated, and kresd fetches root trust anchors set over a secure channel from IANA. From there, it can perform RFC 5011 automatic updates for you.

Note

Automatic bootstrap requires luasocket and luasec installed.

$ kresd -k root.keys # File for root keys
[ ta ] bootstrapped root anchor "19036 8 2 49AAC11D7B6F6446702E54A1607371607A1A41855200FD2CE1CDDE32F24E8FB5"
[ ta ] warning: you SHOULD check the key manually, see: https://data.iana.org/root-anchors/draft-icann-dnssec-trust-anchor.html#sigs
[ ta ] key: 19036 state: Valid
[ ta ] next refresh: 86400000

Alternatively, you can set it in configuration file with trust_anchors.file = 'root.keys'. If the file doesn’t exist, it will be automatically populated with root keys validated using root anchors retrieved over HTTPS.

This is equivalent to using unbound-anchor:

$ unbound-anchor -a "root.keys" || echo "warning: check the key at this point"
$ echo "auto-trust-anchor-file: \"root.keys\"" >> unbound.conf
$ unbound -c unbound.conf

Warning

Bootstrapping of the root trust anchors is automatic, you are however encouraged to check the key over secure channel, as specified in DNSSEC Trust Anchor Publication for the Root Zone. This is a critical step where the whole infrastructure may be compromised, you will be warned in the server log.

Manually providing root anchors

The root anchors bootstrap may fail for various reasons, in this case you need to provide IANA or alternative root anchors. The format of the keyfile is the same as for Unbound or BIND and contains DS/DNSKEY records.

  1. Check the current TA published on IANA website
  2. Fetch current keys (DNSKEY), verify digests
  3. Deploy them
$ kdig DNSKEY . @k.root-servers.net +noall +answer | grep "DNSKEY[[:space:]]257" > root.keys
$ ldns-key2ds -n root.keys # Only print to stdout
... verify that digest matches TA published by IANA ...
$ kresd -k root.keys

You’ve just enabled DNSSEC!

CLI interface

The daemon features a CLI interface, type help() to see the list of available commands.

$ kresd /var/run/knot-resolver
[system] started in interactive mode, type 'help()'
> cache.count()
53

Verbose output

If the verbose logging is compiled in, i.e. not turned off by -DNOVERBOSELOG, you can turn on verbose tracing of server operation with the -v option. You can also toggle it on runtime with verbose(true|false) command.

$ kresd -v

Scaling out

The server can clone itself into multiple processes upon startup, this enables you to scale it on multiple cores. Multiple processes can serve different addresses, but still share the same working directory and cache. You can add, start and stop processes during runtime based on the load.

$ kresd -f 4 rundir > kresd.log &
$ kresd -f 2 rundir > kresd_2.log & # Extra instances
$ pstree $$ -g
bash(3533)─┬─kresd(19212)─┬─kresd(19212)
           │              ├─kresd(19212)
           │              └─kresd(19212)
           ├─kresd(19399)───kresd(19399)
           └─pstree(19411)
$ kill 19399 # Kill group 2, former will continue to run
bash(3533)─┬─kresd(19212)─┬─kresd(19212)
           │              ├─kresd(19212)
           │              └─kresd(19212)
           └─pstree(19460)

Note

On recent Linux supporting SO_REUSEPORT (since 3.9, backported to RHEL 2.6.32) it is also able to bind to the same endpoint and distribute the load between the forked processes. If your OS doesn’t support it, you can use supervisor that is going to bind to sockets before starting multiple processes.

Notice the absence of an interactive CLI. You can attach to the the consoles for each process, they are in rundir/tty/PID.

$ nc -U rundir/tty/3008 # or socat - UNIX-CONNECT:rundir/tty/3008
> cache.count()
53

The direct output of the CLI command is captured and sent over the socket, while also printed to the daemon standard outputs (for accountability). This gives you an immediate response on the outcome of your command. Error or debug logs aren’t captured, but you can find them in the daemon standard outputs.

This is also a way to enumerate and test running instances, the list of files in tty corresponds to the list of running processes, and you can test the process for liveliness by connecting to the UNIX socket.

Running supervised

Knot Resolver can run under a supervisor to allow for graceful restarts, watchdog process and socket activation. This way the supervisor binds to sockets and lends them to the resolver daemon. If the resolver terminates or is killed, the sockets remain open and no queries are dropped.

The watchdog process must notify kresd about active file descriptors, and kresd will automatically determine the socket type and bound address, thus it will appear as any other address. There’s a tiny supervisor script for convenience, but you should have a look at real process managers.

$ python scripts/supervisor.py ./daemon/kresd -a 127.0.0.1
$ [system] interactive mode
> quit()
> [2016-03-28 16:06:36.795879] process finished, pid = 99342, status = 0, uptime = 0:00:01.720612
[system] interactive mode
>

The daemon also supports systemd socket activation, it is automatically detected and requires no configuration on users’s side.

Configuration

In it’s simplest form it requires just a working directory in which it can set up persistent files like cache and the process state. If you don’t provide the working directory by parameter, it is going to make itself comfortable in the current working directory.

$ kresd /var/run/kresd

And you’re good to go for most use cases! If you want to use modules or configure daemon behavior, read on.

There are several choices on how you can configure the daemon, a RPC interface, a CLI, and a configuration file. Fortunately all share common syntax and are transparent to each other.

Configuration example

-- interfaces
net = { '127.0.0.1', '::1' }
-- load some modules
modules = { 'policy' }
-- 10MB cache
cache.size = 10*MB

Tip

There are more configuration examples in etc/ directory for personal, ISP, company internal and resolver cluster use cases.

Configuration syntax

The configuration is kept in the config file in the daemon working directory, and it’s going to get loaded automatically. If there isn’t one, the daemon is going to start with sane defaults, listening on localhost. The syntax for options is like follows: group.option = value or group.action(parameters). You can also comment using a -- prefix.

A simple example would be to load static hints.

modules = {
        'hints' -- no configuration
}

If the module accepts configuration, you can call the module.config({...}) or provide options table. The syntax for table is { key1 = value, key2 = value }, and it represents the unpacked JSON-encoded string, that the modules use as the input configuration.

modules = {
        hints = '/etc/hosts'
}

Warning

Modules specified including their configuration may not load exactly in the same order as specified.

Modules are inherently ordered by their declaration. Some modules are built-in, so it would be normally impossible to place for example hints before rrcache. You can enforce specific order by precedence operators > and <.

modules = {
   'hints  > iterate', -- Hints AFTER iterate
   'policy > hints',   -- Policy AFTER hints
   'view   < rrcache'  -- View BEFORE rrcache
}
modules.list() -- Check module call order

This is useful if you’re writing a module with a layer, that evaluates an answer before writing it into cache for example.

Tip

The configuration and CLI syntax is Lua language, with which you may already be familiar with. If not, you can read the Learn Lua in 15 minutes for a syntax overview. Spending just a few minutes will allow you to break from static configuration, write more efficient configuration with iteration, and leverage events and hooks. Lua is heavily used for scripting in applications ranging from embedded to game engines, but in DNS world notably in PowerDNS Recursor. Knot DNS Resolver does not simply use Lua modules, but it is the heart of the daemon for everything from configuration, internal events and user interaction.

Dynamic configuration

Knowing that the the configuration is a Lua in disguise enables you to write dynamic rules. It also helps you to avoid repetitive templating that is unavoidable with static configuration.

if hostname() == 'hidden' then
        net.listen(net.eth0, 5353)
else
        net = { '127.0.0.1', net.eth1.addr[1] }
end

Another example would show how it is possible to bind to all interfaces, using iteration.

for name, addr_list in pairs(net.interfaces()) do
        net.listen(addr_list)
end

Tip

Some users observed a considerable, close to 100%, performance gain in Docker containers when they bound the daemon to a single interface:ip address pair. One may expand the aforementioned example with browsing available addresses as:

addrpref = env.EXPECTED_ADDR_PREFIX
for k, v in pairs(addr_list["addr"]) do
        if string.sub(v,1,string.len(addrpref)) == addrpref then
                net.listen(v)
...

You can also use third-party packages (available for example through LuaRocks) as on this example to download cache from parent, to avoid cold-cache start.

local http = require('socket.http')
local ltn12 = require('ltn12')

if cache.count() == 0 then
        -- download cache from parent
        http.request {
                url = 'http://parent/cache.mdb',
                sink = ltn12.sink.file(io.open('cache.mdb', 'w'))
        }
        -- reopen cache with 100M limit
        cache.size = 100*MB
end

Events and services

The Lua supports a concept called closures, this is extremely useful for scripting actions upon various events, say for example - prune the cache within minute after loading, publish statistics each 5 minutes and so on. Here’s an example of an anonymous function with event.recurrent():

-- every 5 minutes
event.recurrent(5 * minute, function()
        cache.prune()
end)

Note that each scheduled event is identified by a number valid for the duration of the event, you may cancel it at any time. You can do this with anonymous functions, if you accept the event as a parameter, but it’s not very useful as you don’t have any non-global way to keep persistent variables.

-- make a closure, encapsulating counter
function pruner()
        local i = 0
        -- pruning function
        return function(e)
                cache.prune()
                -- cancel event on 5th attempt
                i = i + 1
                if i == 5 then
                        event.cancel(e)
                fi
        end
end

-- make recurrent event that will cancel after 5 times
event.recurrent(5 * minute, pruner())

Another type of actionable event is activity on a file descriptor. This allows you to embed other event loops or monitor open files and then fire a callback when an activity is detected. This allows you to build persistent services like HTTP servers or monitoring probes that cooperate well with the daemon internal operations.

For example a simple web server that doesn’t block:

local server, headers = require 'http.server', require 'http.headers'
local cqueues = require 'cqueues'
-- Start socket server
local s = server.listen { host = 'localhost', port = 8080 }
assert(s:listen())
-- Compose per-request coroutine
local cq = cqueues.new()
cq:wrap(function()
   s:run(function(stream)
      -- Create response headers
      local headers = headers.new()
      headers:append(':status', '200')
      headers:append('connection', 'close')
      -- Send response and close connection
      assert(stream:write_headers(headers, false))
      assert(stream:write_chunk('OK', true))
      stream:shutdown()
      stream.connection:shutdown()
   end)
   s:close()
end)
-- Hook to socket watcher
event.socket(cq:pollfd(), function (ev, status, events)
   cq:step(0)
end)
  • File watchers

Note

Work in progress, come back later!

Configuration reference

This is a reference for variables and functions available to both configuration file and CLI.

Environment

env (table)

Return environment variable.

env.USER -- equivalent to $USER in shell
hostname([fqdn])
Returns:Machine hostname.

If called with a parameter, it will set kresd’s internal hostname. If called without a parameter, it will return kresd’s internal hostname, or the system’s POSIX hostname (see gethostname(2)) if kresd’s internal hostname is unset.

verbose(true | false)
Returns:Toggle verbose logging.
mode('strict' | 'normal' | 'permissive')
Returns:Change resolver strictness checking level.

By default, resolver runs in normal mode. There are possibly many small adjustments hidden behind the mode settings, but the main idea is that in permissive mode, the resolver tries to resolve a name with as few lookups as possible, while in strict mode it spends much more effort resolving and checking referral path. However, if majority of the traffic is covered by DNSSEC, some of the strict checking actions are counter-productive.

Action Modes
Use mandatory glue strict, normal, permissive
Use in-bailiwick glue normal, permissive
Use any glue records permissive
reorder_RR([true | false])
Parameters:
  • value (boolean) – New value for the option (optional)
Returns:

The (new) value of the option

If set, resolver will vary the order of resource records within RR-sets every time when answered from cache. It is disabled by default.

user(name, [group])
Parameters:
  • name (string) – user name
  • group (string) – group name (optional)
Returns:

boolean

Drop privileges and run as given user (and group, if provided).

Tip

Note that you should bind to required network addresses before changing user. At the same time, you should open the cache AFTER you change the user (so it remains accessible). A good practice is to divide configuration in two parts:

-- privileged
net = { '127.0.0.1', '::1' }
-- unprivileged
cache.size = 100*MB
trust_anchors.file = 'root.key'

Example output:

> user('baduser')
invalid user name
> user('kresd', 'netgrp')
true
> user('root')
Operation not permitted
resolve(qname, qtype[, qclass = kres.class.IN, options = 0, callback = nil])
Parameters:
  • qname (string) – Query name (e.g. ‘com.’)
  • qtype (number) – Query type (e.g. kres.type.NS)
  • qclass (number) – Query class (optional) (e.g. kres.class.IN)
  • options (number) – Resolution options (see query flags)
  • callback (function) – Callback to be executed when resolution completes (e.g. function cb (pkt, req) end). The callback gets a packet containing the final answer and doesn’t have to return anything.
Returns:

boolean

Example:

-- Send query for root DNSKEY, ignore cache
resolve('.', kres.type.DNSKEY, kres.class.IN, kres.query.NO_CACHE)

-- Query for AAAA record
resolve('example.com', kres.type.AAAA, kres.class.IN, 0,
function (answer, req)
   -- Check answer RCODE
   local pkt = kres.pkt_t(answer)
   if pkt:rcode() == kres.rcode.NOERROR then
      -- Print matching records
      local records = pkt:section(kres.section.ANSWER)
      for i = 1, #records do
         local rr = records[i]
         if rr.type == kres.type.AAAA then
            print ('record:', kres.rr2str(rr))
         end
      end
   else
      print ('rcode: ', pkt:rcode())
   end
end)

Network configuration

For when listening on localhost just doesn’t cut it.

Tip

Use declarative interface for network.

net = { '127.0.0.1', net.eth0, net.eth1.addr[1] }
net.ipv4 = false
net.ipv6 = true|false
Return:boolean (default: true)

Enable/disable using IPv6 for recursion.

net.ipv4 = true|false
Return:boolean (default: true)

Enable/disable using IPv4 for recursion.

net.listen(addresses, [port = 53, flags = {tls = (port == 853)}])
Returns:boolean

Listen on addresses; port and flags are optional. The addresses can be specified as a string or device, or a list of addresses (recursively). The command can be given multiple times, but note that it silently skips any addresses that have already been bound.

Examples:

net.listen('::1')
net.listen(net.lo, 5353)
net.listen({net.eth0, '127.0.0.1'}, 53853, {tls = true})
net.close(address, [port = 53])
Returns:boolean

Close opened address/port pair, noop if not listening.

net.list()
Returns:Table of bound interfaces.

Example output:

[127.0.0.1] => {
    [port] => 53
    [tcp] => true
    [udp] => true
}
net.interfaces()
Returns:Table of available interfaces and their addresses.

Example output:

[lo0] => {
    [addr] => {
        [1] => ::1
        [2] => 127.0.0.1
    }
    [mac] => 00:00:00:00:00:00
}
[eth0] => {
    [addr] => {
        [1] => 192.168.0.1
    }
    [mac] => de:ad:be:ef:aa:bb
}

Tip

You can use net.<iface> as a shortcut for specific interface, e.g. net.eth0

net.bufsize([udp_bufsize])

Get/set maximum EDNS payload available. Default is 4096. You cannot set less than 512 (512 is DNS packet size without EDNS, 1220 is minimum size for DNSSEC) or more than 65535 octets.

Example output:

> net.bufsize 4096
> net.bufsize()
4096
net.tcp_pipeline([len])

Get/set per-client TCP pipeline limit (number of outstanding queries that a single client connection can make in parallel). Default is 50.

> net.tcp_pipeline()
50
> net.tcp_pipeline(100)
net.tls([cert_path], [key_path])

Get/set path to a server TLS certificate and private key for DNS/TLS.

Example output:

> net.tls("/etc/kresd/server-cert.pem", "/etc/kresd/server-key.pem")
> net.tls()
("/etc/kresd/server-cert.pem", "/etc/kresd/server-key.pem")
> net.listen("::", 853)
> net.listen("::", 443, {tls = true})
net.tls_padding([padding])

Get/set EDNS(0) padding. If set to value >= 2 it will pad the answers to nearest padding boundary, e.g. if set to 64, the answer will have size of multiplies of 64 (64, 128, 192, ...). Setting padding to value < 2 will disable it.

Trust anchors and DNSSEC

trust_anchors.hold_down_time = 30 * day
Return:int (default: 30 * day)

Modify RFC5011 hold-down timer to given value. Example: 30 * sec

trust_anchors.refresh_time = nil
Return:int (default: nil)

Modify RFC5011 refresh timer to given value (not set by default), this will force trust anchors to be updated every N seconds periodically instead of relying on RFC5011 logic and TTLs. Example: 10 * sec

trust_anchors.keep_removed = 0
Return:int (default: 0)

How many Removed keys should be held in history (and key file) before being purged. Note: all Removed keys will be purged from key file after restarting the process.

trust_anchors.config(keyfile)
Parameters:
  • keyfile (string) – File containing DNSKEY records, should be writeable.

You can use only DNSKEY records in managed mode. It is equivalent to CLI parameter -k <keyfile> or trust_anchors.file = keyfile.

Example output:

> trust_anchors.config('root.keys')
[trust_anchors] key: 19036 state: Valid
trust_anchors.set_insecure(nta_set)
Parameters:
  • nta_list (table) – List of domain names (text format) representing NTAs.

When you use a domain name as an NTA, DNSSEC validation will be turned off at/below these names. Each function call replaces the previous NTA set. You can find the current active set in trust_anchors.insecure variable.

Tip

Use the trust_anchors.negative = {} alias for easier configuration.

Example output:

> trust_anchors.negative = { 'bad.boy', 'example.com' }
> trust_anchors.insecure
[1] => bad.boy
[2] => example.com
trust_anchors.add(rr_string)
Parameters:
  • rr_string (string) – DS/DNSKEY records in presentation format (e.g. . 3600 IN DS 19036 8 2 49AAC11...)

Inserts DS/DNSKEY record(s) into current keyset. These will not be managed or updated, use it only for testing or if you have a specific use case for not using a keyfile.

Example output:

> trust_anchors.add('. 3600 IN DS 19036 8 2 49AAC11...')

Modules configuration

The daemon provides an interface for dynamic loading of daemon modules.

Tip

Use declarative interface for module loading.

modules = {
        hints = {file = '/etc/hosts'}
}

Equals to:

modules.load('hints')
hints.config({file = '/etc/hosts'})
modules.list()
Returns:List of loaded modules.
modules.load(name)
Parameters:
  • name (string) – Module name, e.g. “hints”
Returns:

boolean

Load a module by name.

modules.unload(name)
Parameters:
  • name (string) – Module name
Returns:

boolean

Unload a module by name.

Cache configuration

The cache in Knot DNS Resolver is persistent with LMDB backend, this means that the daemon doesn’t lose the cached data on restart or crash to avoid cold-starts. The cache may be reused between cache daemons or manipulated from other processes, making for example synchronised load-balanced recursors possible.

cache.size (number)

Get/set the cache maximum size in bytes. Note that this is only a hint to the backend, which may or may not respect it. See cache.open().

print(cache.size)
cache.size = 100 * MB -- equivalent to `cache.open(100 * MB)`
cache.storage (string)

Get or change the cache storage backend configuration, see cache.backends() for more information. If the new storage configuration is invalid, it is not set.

print(cache.storage)
cache.storage = 'lmdb://.'
cache.backends()
Returns:map of backends

The cache supports runtime-changeable backends, using the optional RFC 3986 URI, where the scheme represents backend protocol and the rest of the URI backend-specific configuration. By default, it is a lmdb backend in working directory, i.e. lmdb://.

Example output:

[lmdb://] => true
cache.stats()
return:table of cache counters

The cache collects counters on various operations (hits, misses, transactions, ...). This function call returns a table of cache counters that can be used for calculating statistics.

cache.open(max_size[, config_uri])
Parameters:
  • max_size (number) – Maximum cache size in bytes.
Returns:

boolean

Open cache with size limit. The cache will be reopened if already open. Note that the max_size cannot be lowered, only increased due to how cache is implemented.

Tip

Use kB, MB, GB constants as a multiplier, e.g. 100*MB.

The cache supports runtime-changeable backends, see cache.backends() for mor information and default. Refer to specific documentation of specific backends for configuration string syntax.

  • lmdb://

As of now it only allows you to change the cache directory, e.g. lmdb:///tmp/cachedir.

cache.count()
Returns:Number of entries in the cache or nil on error.
cache.close()
Returns:boolean

Close the cache.

Note

This may or may not clear the cache, depending on the used backend. See cache.clear().

cache.stats()

Return table of statistics, note that this tracks all operations over cache, not just which queries were answered from cache or not.

Example:

print('Insertions:', cache.stats().insert)
cache.max_ttl([ttl])
Parameters:
  • ttl (number) – maximum cache TTL (default: 6 days)
Returns:

current maximum TTL

Get or set maximum cache TTL.

Note

The ttl value must be in range (min_ttl, 4294967295).

Warning

This settings applies only to currently open cache, it will not persist if the cache is closed or reopened.

cache.min_ttl([ttl])
Parameters:
  • ttl (number) – minimum cache TTL (default: 0)
Returns:

current maximum TTL

Get or set minimum cache TTL. Any entry inserted into cache with TTL lower than minimal will be overriden to minimum TTL. Forcing TTL higher than specified violates DNS standards, use with care.

Note

The ttl value must be in range <0, max_ttl).

Warning

This settings applies only to currently open cache, it will not persist if the cache is closed or reopened.

cache.prune([max_count])
Parameters:
  • max_count (number) – maximum number of items to be pruned at once (default: 65536)
Returns:

{ pruned: int }

Prune expired/invalid records.

cache.get([domain])
Returns:list of matching records in cache

Fetches matching records from cache. The domain can either be:

  • a domain name (e.g. "domain.cz")
  • a wildcard (e.g. "*.domain.cz")

The domain name fetches all records matching this name, while the wildcard matches all records at or below that name.

You can also use a special namespace "P" to purge NODATA/NXDOMAIN matching this name (e.g. "domain.cz P").

Note

This is equivalent to cache['domain'] getter.

Examples:

-- Query cache for 'domain.cz'
cache['domain.cz']
-- Query cache for all records at/below 'insecure.net'
cache['*.insecure.net']
cache.clear([domain])
Returns:bool

Purge cache records. If the domain isn’t provided, whole cache is purged. See cache.get() documentation for subtree matching policy.

Examples:

-- Clear records at/below 'bad.cz'
cache.clear('*.bad.cz')
-- Clear packet cache
cache.clear('*. P')
-- Clear whole cache
cache.clear()

Timers and events

The timer represents exactly the thing described in the examples - it allows you to execute closures after specified time, or event recurrent events. Time is always described in milliseconds, but there are convenient variables that you can use - sec, minute, hour. For example, 5 * hour represents five hours, or 5*60*60*100 milliseconds.

event.after(time, function)
Returns:event id

Execute function after the specified time has passed. The first parameter of the callback is the event itself.

Example:

event.after(1 * minute, function() print('Hi!') end)
event.recurrent(interval, function)
Returns:event id

Similar to event.after(), periodically execute function after interval passes.

Example:

msg_count = 0
event.recurrent(5 * sec, function(e)
   msg_count = msg_count + 1
   print('Hi #'..msg_count)
end)
event.reschedule(event_id, timeout)

Reschedule a running event, it has no effect on canceled events. New events may reuse the event_id, so the behaviour is undefined if the function is called after another event is started.

Example:

local interval = 1 * minute
event.after(1 * minute, function (ev)
   print('Good morning!')
   -- Halven the interval for each iteration
   interval = interval / 2
   event.reschedule(ev, interval)
end)
event.cancel(event_id)

Cancel running event, it has no effect on already canceled events. New events may reuse the event_id, so the behaviour is undefined if the function is called after another event is started.

Example:

e = event.after(1 * minute, function() print('Hi!') end)
event.cancel(e)

Watch for file descriptor activity. This allows embedding other event loops or simply firing events when a pipe endpoint becomes active. In another words, asynchronous notifications for daemon.

event.socket(fd, cb)
Parameters:
  • fd (number) – file descriptor to watch
  • cb – closure or callback to execute when fd becomes active
Returns:

event id

Execute function when there is activity on the file descriptor and calls a closure with event id as the first parameter, status as second and number of events as third.

Example:

e = event.socket(0, function(e, status, nevents)
   print('activity detected')
end)
e.cancel(e)

Map over multiple forks

When daemon is running in forked mode, each process acts independently. This is good because it reduces software complexity and allows for runtime scaling, but not ideal because of additional operational burden. For example, when you want to add a new policy, you’d need to add it to either put it in the configuration, or execute command on each process independently. The daemon simplifies this by promoting process group leader which is able to execute commands synchronously over forks.

map(expr)

Run expression synchronously over all forks, results are returned as a table ordered as forks. Expression can be any valid expression in Lua.

Example:

-- Current instance only
hostname()
localhost
-- Mapped to forks
map 'hostname()'
[1] => localhost
[2] => localhost
-- Get worker ID from each fork
map 'worker.id'
[1] => 0
[2] => 1
-- Get cache stats from each fork
map 'cache.stats()'
[1] => {
    [hit] => 0
    [delete] => 0
    [miss] => 0
    [insert] => 0
}
[2] => {
    [hit] => 0
    [delete] => 0
    [miss] => 0
    [insert] => 0
}

Scripting worker

Worker is a service over event loop that tracks and schedules outstanding queries, you can see the statistics or schedule new queries. It also contains information about specified worker count and process rank.

worker.count

Return current total worker count (e.g. 1 for single-process)

worker.id

Return current worker ID (starting from 0 up to worker.count - 1)

pid (number)

Current worker process PID.

worker.stats()

Return table of statistics.

  • udp - number of outbound queries over UDP
  • tcp - number of outbound queries over TCP
  • ipv6 - number of outbound queries over IPv6
  • ipv4 - number of outbound queries over IPv4
  • timeout - number of timeouted outbound queries
  • concurrent - number of concurrent queries at the moment
  • queries - number of inbound queries
  • dropped - number of dropped inbound queries

Example:

print(worker.stats().concurrent)

Using CLI tools

  • kresd-host.lua - a drop-in replacement for host(1) utility

Queries the DNS for information. The hostname is looked up for IP4, IP6 and mail.

Example:

$ kresd-host.lua -f root.key -v nic.cz
nic.cz. has address 217.31.205.50 (secure)
nic.cz. has IPv6 address 2001:1488:0:3::2 (secure)
nic.cz. mail is handled by 10 mail.nic.cz. (secure)
nic.cz. mail is handled by 20 mx.nic.cz. (secure)
nic.cz. mail is handled by 30 bh.nic.cz. (secure)
  • kresd-query.lua - run the daemon in zero-configuration mode, perform a query and execute given callback.

This is useful for executing one-shot queries and hooking into the processing of the result, for example to check if a domain is managed by a certain registrar or if it’s signed.

Example:

$ kresd-query.lua www.sub.nic.cz 'assert(kres.dname2str(req:resolved().zone_cut.name) == "nic.cz.")' && echo "yes"
yes
$ kresd-query.lua -C 'trust_anchors.config("root.keys")' nic.cz 'assert(req:resolved():hasflag(kres.query.DNSSEC_WANT))'
$ echo $?
0