RSDNS Tools

RSDNS tools are (will be) a set of shell scripts for the rackspace cloud dns api.

Requires - bash, curl, awk, sed & jq ( +dig for the dhcp client )

$PATH

The rsdns scripts have been designed to be called independently so that administrators can batch process DNS record management. Typing commands like "rsdns-list.sh" aren't very user friendly, for the one off typed by hand activities a "master script" called rsdns exists.

rsdns can be used to call the subscripts below, for example, once you add rsdns to your $PATH you can use commands like:

rsdns list -d www.linickx.com

You can add rsdns to you path in one of two ways:

• add the whole rsdns directory to your $PATH environment variable ( see example below ) ... or...
• symlink rsdns to a folder like /usr/local/bin, which is already in your $PATH

The Config File ~/.rsdns_config

To reduce the amount of typing and to enable usage of rsdns in your $PATH, a basic config file is supported. The following Variables are supported:

• RSUSER - Your rackspace username
• RSAPIKEY - Your rackspace api key
• UKAUTH - set to 1 if you want to use the London (UK) servers
• RSPATH - this is where you have installed RSDNS
• QUIET - disable the output
• RSLIMIT - set the pagination limit (default 99) must be less than 100

Example:

[LINICKX@SERVER ~]$ cat ~/.rsdns_config 
RSUSER=linickx  
RSAPIKEY=123456  
RSPATH=~/rsdns/  
UKAUTH=1 
[LINICKX@SERVER ~]$

$PATH Example:

[LINICKX@SERVER ~]$ PATH=$PATH:~/rsdns/;export PATH  
[LINICKX@SERVER ~]$ echo $PATH  
/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/home/LINICKX/bin:/home/LINICKX/rsdns/  
[LINICKX@SERVER ~]$ rsdns-list.sh  
 123456  - test.linickx.com  
[LINICKX@SERVER ~]$

The scripts

The following scripts are provided with rsdns, help and examples for each are listed below

rsdns-domain.sh

RSDNS Domain, create and delete a domain from rackspace cloud DNS

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -d domain
• -e email address
• -t TTL
• -x Delete a domain
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -J Output in JSON (raw RS API data)
• -h help

Usage: To create a record:
./rsdns-domain.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d www.linickx.com -e [email protected]
To delete a record:
./rsdns-domain.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d www.linickx.com -x

rsdns-list.sh

RSDNS List, lists all the domains for an account, or the records for a domain.

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -d domain
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -h help

Usage: To list my domains:
./rsdns-list.sh -u linickx -a 123456
To list records in a domain
./rsdns-list.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com

rsdns-a.sh

RSDNS A, create and delete an A record within an existing domain.

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -n fully qualified hostname
• -i IP address
• -t TTL
• -x Delete a record
• -U Update an existing record
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -J Output in JSON (raw RS API data)
• -h help

Usage:
To create a record:
./rsdns-a.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -n www.linickx.com -i 123.123.123.123
To delete an A record:
./rsdns-a.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -n www.linickx.com -x
To update an existing record:
./rsdns-a.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -n www.linickx.com -i 111.222.111.222 -U
Wildcard records are supported, for example
./rsdns-a.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -n *.linickx.com -i 123.123.123.123
To create a record with no prefix:
./rsdns-a.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com -n linickx.com -i 123.123.123.123

rsdns-aaaa.sh

RSDNS AAAA, create and delete an AAAA record within an existing domain.

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -n fully qualified hostname
• -i IP address
• -t TTL
• -x Delete a record
• -U Update an existing record
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -J Output in JSON (raw RS API data)
• -h help

Usage:
To create a record:
./rsdns-aaaa.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -n www.linickx.com -i 4321:0:1:2:3:4:567:89ab
To delete an A record:
./rsdns-aaaa.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -n www.linickx.com -x
To update an existing record:
./rsdns-aaaa.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -n www.linickx.com -i 4321:0:1:2:3:4:567:89ab -U
Wildcard records are supported, for example
./rsdns-aaaa.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -n *.linickx.com -i 4321:0:1:2:3:4:567:89ab

rsdns-cn.sh

RSDNS CN, create and delete an CNAME record within an existing domain.

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -n hostname of the new CNAME
• -r the RECORD the CNAME points to
• -t TTL
• -x Delete a record
• -U Update an existing record
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -J Output in JSON (raw RS API data)
• -h help

Usage:
CNAMEs are a little confusing, you are creating an alias to another record. To keep the usage syntax the same, -n is the name of the new record you are creating, -r is the record you are aliasing. For example, below www.linickx.com is the new record & test.linickx.com is an existing A record.
To create a record:
./rsdns-cn.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -n www.linickx.com -r test.linickx.com
To delete a CN record:
./rsdns-cn.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -n www.linickx.com -x
To update an existing record:
./rsdns-cn.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -n www.linickx.com -r test2.linickx.com -U

rsdns-did.sh

RSDNS Delete by ID (did), delete a record by ID.
I've noticed that rsdns-list doesn't parse some records properly, whilst I sort that out this tool allows these records to be deleted by their record ID. The record ID is always the 1st column printed by rsdns-list.

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -d domain name
• -i redord ID
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -J Output in JSON (raw RS API data)
• -h help

Usage:
To delete a record:
./rsdns-did.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d www.linickx.com -i MX-1234

rsdns-mx.sh

RSDNS MX, create and delete an MX record within an existing domain.

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -d domain for the record
• -n name for the record
• -D data for the record
• -p MX priority
• -t TTL
• -x Delete a record
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -J Output in JSON (raw RS API data)
• -h help

Usage:
MX record creation is a little more complicated than A records; the record name is the path for receiving mail in most cases this is the same as the domain, but can be a hostname. The DATA for the record is the hostname of the server receiving the email. The priority is 10 by default and can be used to distribute the mail across different servers. Below is an email for sending mail to linickx.com
./rsdns-mx.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com -n linickx.com -D mail.linickx.com -p 5
Below is an example for sending email to a server.
./rsdns-mx.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com -n host.linickx.com -D host.linickx.com -p 10
To delete a record:
./rsdns-mx.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com -n linickx.com -x
If you have two (or three/four/etc) MX records where the -n (name) is the same, the last record you created will be deleted. To delete a different record use delete by ID (rsdns-did.sh)

rsdns-txt.sh

RSDNS TXT, create and delete TXT records within an existing domain.

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -d domain for the record
• -n name for the record
• -D data for the record
• -t TTL
• -x Delete a record
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -J Output in JSON (raw RS API data)
• -h help

Usage:
TXT records can be used to create SPF & DKIM records, below is an example to create an SPF record.
./rsdns-txt.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com -n linickx.com -D "v=spf1 include:aspmx.googlemail.com ~all"
To delete a TXT record:
./rsdns-txt.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com -n linickx.com -x

rsdns-srv

RSDNS SRV, create and delete SRV records within an existing domain, the usage / functionality here is the same as TXT records.

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -d domain for the record
• -n name for the record
• -p priority
• -T target host (a record) for the record
• -P Port
• -W Weight
• -t TTL
• -x Delete a record
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -J Output in JSON (raw RS API data)
• -h help

Usage:
TXT records can be used to create SPF & DKIM records, below is an example to create an SPF record.
./rsdns-srv.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com -n _tcp._sip.linickx.com -T ip.foo.com -p 10 -P 5060 -W 11
To delete a SRV record:
./rsdns-srv.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com -n _tcp._sip.linickx.com -x

rsdns-ns

RSDNS NS, update the Name Server records for a domain (This makes the most sense for sub domains).

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -d domain for the record
• -s name of the old name server (the one you are changing)
• -S new name server
• -t TTL
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -J Output in JSON (raw RS API data)
• -h help

Usage:
Currently you can only update records, this should be enough for most use cases. ./rsdns-ns.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com -s dns1.stabletransit.com -S ns.example.com

If you are modifying a client's dns ./rsdns-ns.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com -s dns1.stabletransit.com -S ns.example.com -c 123456

rsdns-export.sh

RSDNS Export, exports a domain in BIND format.

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -d domain
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -o Save export to local directory / text file
• -O Specify filename to save export to
• -h help

Usage: To export a domain
./rsdns-export.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d linickx.com -O ~/Desktop/export.txt

rsdns-show.sh

RSDNS Show (by ID). This provides a way to view, show the record details, such as the updated/created timestamps

Options:

• -u username
• -a api key
• -c client ID (for cloud sites users)
• -d domain name
• -i record ID
• -k use the UK (London) servers
• -J Output in JSON (raw RS API data)
• -h help

Usage:
To delete a record:
./rsdns-show.sh -u linickx -a 123456 -d www.linickx.com -i MX-1234

Dynamic DNS Client

Dynamic DNS is where a clients IP address changes regularly and it's A record is updated as appropriate. This script is slightly different to the others; example usage is given below, I have a full description on this blog post.

rsdns-dc

RSDNS Dynamic Client (DC), a dynamic DNS client for rackspace cloud. Setup an A record, and use cron to call rsdns-dc.sh to keep the record up to date.
To use rsdns-dc.sh you will need a config file (see above) and dig installed. This script makes an http request to icanhazip.com to determine your current IP address, firewalls and proxies will need to be setup as appropriate.

Usage:

1. Setup a config file (/home/linickx/.rsdns_config)
2. Create an A record ./rsdns-a.sh -n www.linickx.com -i 123.123.123.123 -t 3600
3. Run the script ./rsdns-dc.sh -n dynamichost.linickx.com

Below is an example of my /etc/cron.d/rsdns-dc crontab file which updates my IP address every 2 hours.

* */2  * * *     linickx /home/linickx/rsdns/rsdns-dc.sh -n dynamichost.linickx.com &>/dev/null

rsdns-dc6 is an IPv6 version; the usage is exactly the same as rsdns-dc. To update both an A & AAAA record, run both scripts, as separate cron jobs.

Legacy Output (-J for JSON)

Early versions of rsdns would submit the API request and finish with a JSON output; this had two disadvantages firstly, it wasn't clear to humans what the command had done and secondly the status of asynchronous requests/changes were not checked or reported back (everything had a status of RUNNING ). If you have used rsdns in an external script and relying on the JSON output then add the -J switch to get the old response back.

IMPORTANT NOTE : rsdns now supports pagination, if you have more than 99 domains then the JSON response from the script will be corrupt with Downloading... printed in the output as the pagination response from the API is processed.

Creditz

A big thank you jsquared for publishing rscurl as without it I would never have got started ;)

An even bigger, thank you to those in the CONTRIB.md file who have submitted code and Pull Requests as you make this code worthy to be published on the Internet :D