web-nsupdate 1.0

web-nsupdate is a web-based dynamic DNS update utility.

The web-nsupdate package provides a simple, web-based facility for clients to send dynamic DNS updates. Clients are typically DHCP hosts, such as a Linux system acting as a gateway for residential broadband service.

The client sends a simple web request (such as with the wget(1) or lynx(1) commands) to the web-nsupdate service to register their host request.

This package has been tested on a server with the following Debian packages:

* bind9 (ver 9.2.4-1)
* apache2 (ver 2.0.54-5)
* php4 (ver 4.3.10-16)

BE ADVISED: It's a pain in the butt to configure BIND to do dynamic DNS. You are going to need to do that to make "web-nsupdate" work. These instructions describe that process, so follow carefully. I *strongly* urge you to review the dnssec-keygen(8) and nsupdate(8) man pages first, so you can get some idea of what we are trying to accomplish.

Installation Instructions:

1. Copy the "web-nsupdate" files to a location such as
"/usr/local/lib/web-nsupdate". It is OK to install somewhere else,
just adjust the following directions accordingly.

2. Generate a TSIG key that "web-nsupdate" will use to authenticate
itself to the DNS server.

SECURE THIS KEY! Do not leave readable copies around. This key can
be used to make changes to DNS records managed by "web-nsupdate".

Here are the steps to generate the key:

cd /usr/local/lib/web-nsupdate
/usr/sbin/dnssec-keygen -a HMAC-MD5 -b 512 -n HOST web-nsupdate
chmod 440 Kweb-nsupdate*
# Below, adjust "www-data" to the GID your web server runs under.
chgrp www-data Kweb-nsupdate*

3. Setup the "web-nsupdate" definitions file, starting with the provided
sample. This file needs to be secured, to protect the client passwords
from being revealed.

cd /usr/local/lib/web-nsupdate
cp nsupdate-defs.php.sample nsupdate-defs.php
chmod 640 nsupdate-defs.php
# Below, adjust "www-data" to the GID your web server runs under.
chgrp www-data nsupdate-defs.php
vi nsupdate-defs.php

4. Verify that "nsupdate.php" has the correct path to the "nsupdate-defs.php"
file.

vi nsupdate.php
# Check the require_once() statement near the top.

5. Symlink the update script into your web site.

# Below, adjust "/var/www/nsupdate.php" to a location in your web server.
ln -s /usr/local/lib/web-nsupdate/nsupdate.php /var/www/nsupdate.php

At this point, the "web-nsupdate" front-end is configured. Now to
configure the nameserver back-end.

6. Assuming you don't already have a place for nameserver keys, create
a new file called "named.keys" that contains the TSIG key that
"web-nsupdate" will use. The file will look something like:

key web-nsupdate {
algorithm HMAC-MD5;
secret "jzzoMR4ocgZGq5pQho2Pr5r9DDHT4lWK8QO09cpvVtpvHqaUdzktBs1DHCslpPR8PwXU3ni8zjST/5FxEwg44Q==";
};

Replace the "secret" value show above with the key in the
"Kweb-nsupdate.+157+nnnnn.private" file you generated in step 2.

7. Install the "named.keys" file to the directory where your "named.conf"
resides. This file needs to be secured, to protect your namesever
from unauthorized updates.

If your "named.conf" directory is "/etc/bind", do:

# Below, adjust /etc/bind to directory where named.conf lives.
mv named.keys /etc/bind/named.keys
chmod 400 /etc/bind/named.keys
# Below, adjust "bind:bind" to the UID:GID your nameserver runs under.
chown bind:bind /etc/bind/named.keys

8. Add a line to your "named.conf" that says:

include "named.keys";

9. Modify your "named.conf" to list each host that web-nsupdate will
be updating. If, for example, you want to allow dynamic updates
from hosts "host1.example.com" and "host2.example.com", then modify
the "example.com" stanza in "named.conf" and add two lines:

zone "example.com" {
type master;
.
.
.
# add the lines below, one per host in thie zone
update-policy {
grant web-nsupdate. name host1.example.com. A;
grant web-nsupdate. name host2.example.com. A;
};
};

10. Test the update capability. Point your web browser to the installed
"nsupdate.php" script. This should bring up a form for manual
entry. Submit your entry, and verify the update was successful.

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