dnsmgr2

README

dnsmgr2

Tool to manage ISC BIND from a text records file.

It writes forward and reverse zone files, keeps SOA serial numbers in a sqlite3 database, and reloads BIND when a zone changes.

Installation

Requires BIND's named-checkzone on PATH (Debian/Ubuntu: bind9-utils). sync writes under /etc/bind and /var/lib/bind, so run it as root.

Pre-built Linux binaries and .deb packages are on the GitHub Releases page.

From source, requires Go 1.25 and make:

git clone https://github.com/abundo/dnsmgr2
cd dnsmgr2
make
make install

make install copies the binary to /usr/bin/dnsmgr2.

sudo mkdir -p /etc/dnsmgr2 /var/lib/dnsmgr2
sudo cp examples/dnsmgr2-example.yaml /etc/dnsmgr2/dnsmgr2.yaml
sudo cp examples/records-example /etc/dnsmgr2/records

The config file defaults to /etc/dnsmgr2/dnsmgr2.yaml. Override with -c / --config-file on any command. Do not use tabs in the YAML file.

Edit the config and records for your zones, then generate BIND files:

sudo dnsmgr2 sync

The first sync creates /etc/bind/named.conf.dnsmgr2 and the zone files under /var/lib/bind. BIND does not load them yet, so the reload step may fail; that is expected.

Once, add this include to /etc/bind/named.conf after the other include lines:

include "/etc/bind/named.conf.dnsmgr2";

Then:

sudo named-checkconf
sudo systemctl restart named.service

Later syncs update only changed zones and reload them with rndc.

Configuration

See examples/dnsmgr2-example.yaml. The main pieces:

• sources — records file (type: file)
• dns.host_templates — BIND paths and reload/restart commands
• dns.soa_templates — SOA values
• dns.zone_templates — default TTL, NS records, and which SOA template to use
• dnsmgr2 — which host template to use, and the zones to manage (forward, reverse4, reverse6)

Each zone names a zone template (dns_template). That template names an SOA template.

Records file

See examples/records-example. Empty lines and comments starting with # or ; are ignored.

$DOMAIN example.com

test                                    A       192.0.2.4
mail                                    A       192.0.2.10
@                                       MX      10 mail
@                                       TXT     "v=spf1 mx -all"

Directives:

• $DOMAIN — current forward zone
• $INCLUDE — read another records file
• $FORWARD / $REVERSE / $REVERSE4 / $REVERSE6 — on/off (also true/false, 1/0, yes/no)

A line is name [ttl] type value. Optional TTL sits between the name and the type. Supported types include A, AAAA, MX, TXT and TLSA. A and AAAA records also get a PTR in a matching reverse zone unless you add ; reverse=0.

Commands

dnsmgr2 sync          # write zone files and reload BIND
dnsmgr2 load          # load records and print them
dnsmgr2 show-config   # print the resolved configuration
dnsmgr2 restart       # run the host template restart command

Global flags: -d (debug), -l / --loglevel (error, warning, info, debug), -c / --config-file.

Daily use

Edit /etc/dnsmgr2/records, then:

sudo dnsmgr2 sync

Development

See DEV.md.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later. Copyright (c) 2026 Anders Löwinger.