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DNS management software is computer software that controls Domain Name System (DNS) server clusters. DNS data is typically deployed on multiple physical servers. The main purposes of DNS management software are:

  • to reduce human error when editing complex and repetitive DNS data
  • to reduce the effort required to edit DNS data
  • to validate DNS data before it is published to the DNS servers
  • to automate the distribution of DNS data

Background

The rapid expansion of the internet in the mid-1990s exposed the limitations of manual DNS management. Between 1995 and mid-1997, the number of registered domains grew from 70,000[1] to over 1.3 million.[2] Early administration relied on the BIND software, where registration was often handled via email[3] and zone files were edited manually using text editors. As hosting providers began managing hundreds of thousands of zones,[4] several critical inefficiencies emerged:

  • Manual Error & Server Downtime: Syntax errors in manually edited zone files could cause BIND to fail during reloads, leading to service outages.
  • Scalability Bottlenecks: On contemporary hardware, full BIND reloads for large datasets could take several hours.
  • Propagation Delays: The combination of manual edits and slow processing often resulted in DNS changes taking more than 24 hours to propagate across the network.

To address these hurdles, administrators first developed in-house Perl and Shell scripts for automation. This eventually led to the birth of dedicated DNS management software, designed to provide data validation, reduce human error, and automate distribution across server clusters.

DNS and databases

While struggling with the challenges of editing zone files, more than a few sysadmins noticed that SQL is a terrific place to store DNS data. By moving the Single Source of Truth from text files into SQL, DNS data could be validated and constrained before acceptance into the database. Export scripts could convert the SQL to zone files. Rsync could replace named-xfer for distribution, increasing security and reducing propagation time. Among large hosting providers, it became fashionable to store DNS data in SQL and build a custom interface for managing it. mysqlBind is one such DNS manager. It provides a web interface for data input and exports the data to BIND zone files.

In 2000, Daniel J. Bernstein released Djbdns. One of the novel features was that tinydns, the included authoritative DNS server, served DNS directly from a CDB database. The cdb had to be compiled from a plain text file whose format was designed to be edited by scripts. Tinydns quickly became the second most popular DNS server[5] and a number of DNS managers were released for it, including: VegaDNS, SuaveDNS, and NicTool.

In 2005, PowerDNS was released. One of its features was the ability to serve DNS data directly out of the SQL database, bypassing the export step entirely. PowerDNS also spawned a number of DNS managers that provide web interfaces to its SQL data store.

DDNS

Using the RFC2136 DDNS update protocol, it is possible to change DNS zones without accessing the zone files. Management tools known to work that way are Admin4 and NicTool via its nsupdate[6] export mechanism.

Service providers

DNS service providers often deploy different types of DNS servers in their networks. In addition, different answers may be provided to DNS clients based on the clients’ geographic location, as determined by their IP address (GeoIP). The most practical way to manage such critical Internet infrastructure has been to rely on databases and complex DNS management software to ensure homogeneity and avoid single points of deployment errors.

DNS management software comparison

Feature NicTool VegaDNS mysqlBind Webmin Admin4 Microsoft DNS SuaveDNS Xname dnsadmin fmDNS Micetro
Language Perl & JS PHP C Perl Python C PHP & Perl PHP & Perl C PHP & JS C++
Database MySQL MySQL MySQL flat files – flat files or
Active Directory		 MySQL MySQL MySQL MySQL SQLite, MS SQL, PostgreSQL
Delegated Permissions Yes 3 groups Yes No No No No No No Yes Yes
Open Source Yes[7] Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes No
Latest Release 2017 2016 2016 2017 2016 2012 2003 2005 2003 2021 2021

DNS server support

Name NicTool EfficientIP VegaDNS mysqlBind Webmin Admin4 Microsoft
DNS Manager		 fmDNS Infoblox Micetro
BIND Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
tinydns Yes No Yes No No No No No No
PowerDNS Yes No No No No ? No No No
MaraDNS Yes No No No No ? No No No
NSD Yes Yes No No No ? No No No
Microsoft
DNS Server		 No Yes No No No No Yes No No
Infoblox No No No No No No No No Yes
EfficientIP No Yes No No No No Yes No Yes

BIND zone file format

The BIND zone file format is a widely used industry standard documented in RFC 1035. Several other DNS servers, including PowerDNS, NSD, Knot DNS, Microsoft DNS Server, and Micetro by MEn&Mice have the ability to read BIND zone files and serve from them.

Resource record types supported

Name NicTool VegaDNS mysqlBind Webmin Admin4 Microsoft DNS Manager ProBIND fmDNS Micetro
A,NS,SOA,PTR Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
MX,TXT,CNAME Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
KEY No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
AAAA Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
LOC Yes No No Yes Yes No No No Yes
SRV Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
NAPTR Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
SSHFP Yes No No No Yes No No Yes Yes
RRSIG Yes No No No Yes Yes No No Yes
NSEC Yes No No No Yes Yes No No Yes
DNSKEY Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
DS Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
NSEC3 Yes No No No Yes Yes No No Yes
NSEC3PARAM Yes No No No Yes Yes No No Yes
IPSECKEY Yes No No ? Yes ? ? No Yes
DNAME Yes No No ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
SPF Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
  • Microsoft DNS manager supports DNSSEC from Windows Server 2012 onwards. Some of the DNSSEC records can not be directly added but are generated during zone signing and managed as such.

DNS software homogeneity

Primary reasons for DNS providers (especially root operators) to use different DNS servers is code diversity and application performance. Code diversity makes it less likely that a performance or security bug in one DNS server could be exploited to inflict a Denial of Service attack upon an organization. It is for this reason that NSD and Knot DNS are frequently used by root and TLD operators. DNS management software can greatly simplify publishing DNS data to varying DNS servers.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ “Internet Domain Survey, 1995”. ISC. July 1995. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  2. ^ “Internet Domain Survey, 1997”. ISC. July 1997. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  3. ^ Simerson, Matt. “Domain Registration in 1996”. Archived from the original on June 5, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  4. ^ “Internet Growth (1981-1991)”. SRI International HZ. January 1992. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  5. ^ Bernstein, D. J. “What DNS software is used to publish second-level *.com domains”. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  6. ^ A, Beeson. “NicTool Export BIND nsupdate”. github. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  7. ^ Simerson, Matt. “NicTool Source Repository”. GitHub. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  8. ^ “DNS Monitoring Tool”. Dotcom-Monitor. Retrieved September 17, 2024.