dynonym

dynonym is a minimalistic HTTP server that manages dynamic DNS records. It operates on the edge between the Web and the Domain Name System, taking care of the following tasks:

1. Listening for incoming update requests via HTTP.
2. Verifying authentication and authorization.
3. Forwarding the request to a DNS server using RFC 2136.

dynonym is written in Rust and built on top of Rocket. Its functionality is inspired by No-IP and DynDNS.

While dynonym is mainly used as an application, it is nevertheless possible to integrate it in other projects as a library. Check out the documentation for details! (This README does solely care for the application!)

WARNING

dynonym is currently under development. At the moment, there is no stable version! Since I prepare myself for the final release, even some parts of this README are flawed. I would highly recommend you to wait until I finish my work!

Prerequisites

Using dynonym makes almost no sense without a DNS server that allows for dynamic updates using RFC 2136: While most commands will still work, the very basic update functionality will fail as soon as the first update request comes in. Therefore, it is recommended to setup your DNS server first. Doing this goes beyond the scope of this explanation! Look at the documentation of your DNS server!

If you want to compile dynonym, you will need a nightly version of the Rust compiler and the Cargo package manager. Consider using rustup!

Installation

There are several ways to install dynonym:

1. Binaries
   Binaries are available for download here.

2. From crates.io
   Once you have Cargo installed, you can download, compile and install the latest version from crates.io with cargo install dynonym.

3. From source
   This method is not recommended unless you want to make a contribution.

   git clone https://github.com/teiesti/dynonym.git
   cd dynonym
   cargo install
   

Configuration

dynonym uses a TOML-encoded configuration file. While it is possible to write it by hand, it is easier to use the command line tool. The most important commands are listed below. In case you are searching for a more advanced feature not listed here, consider using --help in any context!

• dynonym configure default

  Creates a default configuration. You may want to specify the configuration file using --config <FILE>.

• dynonym configure dns --socket <ADDR>

  Specifies the socket address (IP address and port) of your DNS server. You will need to adjust these settings in order to get dynonym working with your DNS server.

• dynonym configure users add <USER>

  Adds a user. Since there is no default user within the default configuration, you will need to add one. (Note: This is not a bug but a security feature!)

• dynonym configure users auth <USER> <DOMAIN>

  Authorizes a user to update a domain.

Running the server

Type dynonym serve!

This command will start the HTTP server and listen for incoming update requests. You can stop the server with Ctrl+C.

The server creates a lock file that is auto-removed when the server stops. The lock file makes sure that only one instance is running at a time. It contains the process ID. Under Linux, you may use kill -s SIGINT $(< dynonym.lock) to stop a server instance running in the background. You can specify the lock file using --lock <FILE>.

Routes

When a server instance is running, some routes are available via HTTP. A client may use these routes to interact with the server in order to gather necessary information or trigger a dynamic update. These are all currently available routes:

• http://<user>:<pw>@<url>/dns/update?domain=<domain>&ipv4=<ipv4>&ipv6=<ipv6>

  Updates the given domain. Returns

  • 200 OK if the update was successful
  • 400 Bad Request if any parameter (domain or IP address) has an invalid form
  • 401 Unauthorized if the given credentials are wrong
  • 403 Forbidden if the user is not authorized to change the given domain
  • 500 Internal Server Error if the update failed for any other reason

• http://<url>/ip

  Returns the client's IP address.

• http://<url>/port

  Return the client's port number.

• http://<url>/socket

  Return the client's socket address (IP address and port).

Contributing

I love to include contributions! Please feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request!

License

dynonym is distributed under the terms of the MIT license. See LICENSE for details!