1NSUPDATE(1)                          BIND9                         NSUPDATE(1)
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NAME

6       nsupdate - Dynamic DNS update utility
7

SYNOPSIS

9       nsupdate [-d] [-D] [[-g] | [-o] | [-l] | [-y [hmac:]keyname:secret] |
10                [-k keyfile]] [-t timeout] [-u udptimeout] [-r udpretries]
11                [-R randomdev] [-v] [filename]
12

DESCRIPTION

14       nsupdate is used to submit Dynamic DNS Update requests as defined in
15       RFC 2136 to a name server. This allows resource records to be added or
16       removed from a zone without manually editing the zone file. A single
17       update request can contain requests to add or remove more than one
18       resource record.
19
20       Zones that are under dynamic control via nsupdate or a DHCP server
21       should not be edited by hand. Manual edits could conflict with dynamic
22       updates and cause data to be lost.
23
24       The resource records that are dynamically added or removed with
25       nsupdate have to be in the same zone. Requests are sent to the zone's
26       master server. This is identified by the MNAME field of the zone's SOA
27       record.
28
29       The -d option makes nsupdate operate in debug mode. This provides
30       tracing information about the update requests that are made and the
31       replies received from the name server.
32
33       The -D option makes nsupdate report additional debugging information to
34       -d.
35
36       The -L option with an integer argument of zero or higher sets the
37       logging debug level. If zero, logging is disabled.
38
39       Transaction signatures can be used to authenticate the Dynamic DNS
40       updates. These use the TSIG resource record type described in RFC 2845
41       or the SIG(0) record described in RFC 2535 and RFC 2931 or GSS-TSIG as
42       described in RFC 3645. TSIG relies on a shared secret that should only
43       be known to nsupdate and the name server. Currently, the only supported
44       encryption algorithm for TSIG is HMAC-MD5, which is defined in RFC
45       2104. Once other algorithms are defined for TSIG, applications will
46       need to ensure they select the appropriate algorithm as well as the key
47       when authenticating each other. For instance, suitable key and server
48       statements would be added to /etc/named.conf so that the name server
49       can associate the appropriate secret key and algorithm with the IP
50       address of the client application that will be using TSIG
51       authentication. SIG(0) uses public key cryptography. To use a SIG(0)
52       key, the public key must be stored in a KEY record in a zone served by
53       the name server.  nsupdate does not read /etc/named.conf.
54
55       GSS-TSIG uses Kerberos credentials. Standard GSS-TSIG mode is switched
56       on with the -g flag. A non-standards-compliant variant of GSS-TSIG used
57       by Windows 2000 can be switched on with the -o flag.
58
59       nsupdate uses the -y or -k option to provide the shared secret needed
60       to generate a TSIG record for authenticating Dynamic DNS update
61       requests, default type HMAC-MD5. These options are mutually exclusive.
62
63       When the -y option is used, a signature is generated from
64       [hmac:]keyname:secret.  keyname is the name of the key, and secret is
65       the base64 encoded shared secret. Use of the -y option is discouraged
66       because the shared secret is supplied as a command line argument in
67       clear text. This may be visible in the output from ps(1) or in a
68       history file maintained by the user's shell.
69
70       With the -k option, nsupdate reads the shared secret from the file
71       keyfile. Keyfiles may be in two formats: a single file containing a
72       named.conf-format key statement, which may be generated automatically
73       by ddns-confgen, or a pair of files whose names are of the format
74       K{name}.+157.+{random}.key and K{name}.+157.+{random}.private, which
75       can be generated by dnssec-keygen. The -k may also be used to specify a
76       SIG(0) key used to authenticate Dynamic DNS update requests. In this
77       case, the key specified is not an HMAC-MD5 key.
78
79       nsupdate can be run in a local-host only mode using the -l flag. This
80       sets the server address to localhost (disabling the server so that the
81       server address cannot be overridden). Connections to the local server
82       will use a TSIG key found in /var/run/named/session.key, which is
83       automatically generated by named if any local master zone has set
84       update-policy to local. The location of this key file can be overridden
85       with the -k option.
86
87       By default, nsupdate uses UDP to send update requests to the name
88       server unless they are too large to fit in a UDP request in which case
89       TCP will be used. The -v option makes nsupdate use a TCP connection.
90       This may be preferable when a batch of update requests is made.
91
92       The -p sets the default port number to use for connections to a name
93       server. The default is 53.
94
95       The -t option sets the maximum time an update request can take before
96       it is aborted. The default is 300 seconds. Zero can be used to disable
97       the timeout.
98
99       The -u option sets the UDP retry interval. The default is 3 seconds. If
100       zero, the interval will be computed from the timeout interval and
101       number of UDP retries.
102
103       The -r option sets the number of UDP retries. The default is 3. If
104       zero, only one update request will be made.
105
106       The -R randomdev option specifies a source of randomness. If the
107       operating system does not provide a /dev/random or equivalent device,
108       the default source of randomness is keyboard input.  randomdev
109       specifies the name of a character device or file containing random data
110       to be used instead of the default. The special value keyboard indicates
111       that keyboard input should be used. This option may be specified
112       multiple times.
113

INPUT FORMAT

115       nsupdate reads input from filename or standard input. Each command is
116       supplied on exactly one line of input. Some commands are for
117       administrative purposes. The others are either update instructions or
118       prerequisite checks on the contents of the zone. These checks set
119       conditions that some name or set of resource records (RRset) either
120       exists or is absent from the zone. These conditions must be met if the
121       entire update request is to succeed. Updates will be rejected if the
122       tests for the prerequisite conditions fail.
123
124       Every update request consists of zero or more prerequisites and zero or
125       more updates. This allows a suitably authenticated update request to
126       proceed if some specified resource records are present or missing from
127       the zone. A blank input line (or the send command) causes the
128       accumulated commands to be sent as one Dynamic DNS update request to
129       the name server.
130
131       The command formats and their meaning are as follows:
132
133       server {servername} [port]
134           Sends all dynamic update requests to the name server servername.
135           When no server statement is provided, nsupdate will send updates to
136           the master server of the correct zone. The MNAME field of that
137           zone's SOA record will identify the master server for that zone.
138           port is the port number on servername where the dynamic update
139           requests get sent. If no port number is specified, the default DNS
140           port number of 53 is used.
141
142       local {address} [port]
143           Sends all dynamic update requests using the local address. When no
144           local statement is provided, nsupdate will send updates using an
145           address and port chosen by the system.  port can additionally be
146           used to make requests come from a specific port. If no port number
147           is specified, the system will assign one.
148
149       zone {zonename}
150           Specifies that all updates are to be made to the zone zonename. If
151           no zone statement is provided, nsupdate will attempt determine the
152           correct zone to update based on the rest of the input.
153
154       class {classname}
155           Specify the default class. If no class is specified, the default
156           class is IN.
157
158       ttl {seconds}
159           Specify the default time to live for records to be added. The value
160           none will clear the default ttl.
161
162       key {name} {secret}
163           Specifies that all updates are to be TSIG-signed using the keyname
164           keysecret pair. The key command overrides any key specified on the
165           command line via -y or -k.
166
167       gsstsig
168           Use GSS-TSIG to sign the updated. This is equivalent to specifying
169           -g on the commandline.
170
171       oldgsstsig
172           Use the Windows 2000 version of GSS-TSIG to sign the updated. This
173           is equivalent to specifying -o on the commandline.
174
175       realm {[realm_name]}
176           When using GSS-TSIG use realm_name rather than leaving the realm
177           detection up to GSSAPI. If no realm is specified the saved realm is
178           cleared.
179
180       [prereq] nxdomain {domain-name}
181           Requires that no resource record of any type exists with name
182           domain-name.
183
184       [prereq] yxdomain {domain-name}
185           Requires that domain-name exists (has as at least one resource
186           record, of any type).
187
188       [prereq] nxrrset {domain-name} [class] {type}
189           Requires that no resource record exists of the specified type,
190           class and domain-name. If class is omitted, IN (internet) is
191           assumed.
192
193       [prereq] yxrrset {domain-name} [class] {type}
194           This requires that a resource record of the specified type, class
195           and domain-name must exist. If class is omitted, IN (internet) is
196           assumed.
197
198       [prereq] yxrrset {domain-name} [class] {type} {data...}
199           The data from each set of prerequisites of this form sharing a
200           common type, class, and domain-name are combined to form a set of
201           RRs. This set of RRs must exactly match the set of RRs existing in
202           the zone at the given type, class, and domain-name. The data are
203           written in the standard text representation of the resource
204           record's RDATA.
205
206       [update] del[ete] {domain-name} [ttl] [class] [type [data...]]
207           Deletes any resource records named domain-name. If type and data is
208           provided, only matching resource records will be removed. The
209           internet class is assumed if class is not supplied. The ttl is
210           ignored, and is only allowed for compatibility.
211
212       [update] add {domain-name} {ttl} [class] {type} {data...}
213           Adds a new resource record with the specified ttl, class and data.
214
215       show
216           Displays the current message, containing all of the prerequisites
217           and updates specified since the last send.
218
219       send
220           Sends the current message. This is equivalent to entering a blank
221           line.
222
223       answer
224           Displays the answer.
225
226       debug
227           Turn on debugging.
228
229       Lines beginning with a semicolon are comments and are ignored.
230

EXAMPLES

232       The examples below show how nsupdate could be used to insert and delete
233       resource records from the example.com zone. Notice that the input in
234       each example contains a trailing blank line so that a group of commands
235       are sent as one dynamic update request to the master name server for
236       example.com.
237
238           # nsupdate
239           > update delete oldhost.example.com A
240           > update add newhost.example.com 86400 A 172.16.1.1
241           > send
242
243
244       Any A records for oldhost.example.com are deleted. And an A record for
245       newhost.example.com with IP address 172.16.1.1 is added. The
246       newly-added record has a 1 day TTL (86400 seconds).
247
248           # nsupdate
249           > prereq nxdomain nickname.example.com
250           > update add nickname.example.com 86400 CNAME somehost.example.com
251           > send
252
253
254       The prerequisite condition gets the name server to check that there are
255       no resource records of any type for nickname.example.com. If there are,
256       the update request fails. If this name does not exist, a CNAME for it
257       is added. This ensures that when the CNAME is added, it cannot conflict
258       with the long-standing rule in RFC 1034 that a name must not exist as
259       any other record type if it exists as a CNAME. (The rule has been
260       updated for DNSSEC in RFC 2535 to allow CNAMEs to have RRSIG, DNSKEY
261       and NSEC records.)
262

FILES

264       /etc/resolv.conf
265           used to identify default name server
266
267       /var/run/named/session.key
268           sets the default TSIG key for use in local-only mode
269
270       K{name}.+157.+{random}.key
271           base-64 encoding of HMAC-MD5 key created by dnssec-keygen(8).
272
273       K{name}.+157.+{random}.private
274           base-64 encoding of HMAC-MD5 key created by dnssec-keygen(8).
275

SEE ALSO

277       RFC 2136, RFC 3007, RFC 2104, RFC 2845, RFC 1034, RFC 2535, RFC 2931,
278       named(8), ddns-confgen(8), dnssec-keygen(8).
279

BUGS

281       The TSIG key is redundantly stored in two separate files. This is a
282       consequence of nsupdate using the DST library for its cryptographic
283       operations, and may change in future releases.
284
286       Copyright © 2004-2012 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
287       Copyright © 2000-2003 Internet Software Consortium.
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291BIND9                            Aug 25, 2009                      NSUPDATE(1)
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