New version of the reverse delegation checking tool

Dear all,

This is the newest version of the reverse delegation tool that we use at
the RIPE NCC for checking your reverse delegation requests. A lot has
been changed. The program is now split into functional components and a
common output format has been defined to be able to let it work together
with your own tool that can update your zone files.

Still missing is a back-end that actually updates your zone files.
Furthermore, it can not check if nameservers are at the same ethernet.

The most recent version will always be available at our ftp server:

ftp://ftp.ripe.net/tools/inaddrtool-DATE.tar.gz

Of course comments and bug reports are welcome and can be send to:

<inaddr at ripe.net>

Kind regards,

David Kessens
RIPE NCC
--------


README for the inaddrtool

Date: 951130

Author: David Kessens, RIPE NCC 



NOTE:

PLEASE USE THE NORMAL PROCEDURE AS DESCRIBED IN RIPE-105 IF YOU WANT TO
DO A REVERSE DELEGATION REQUEST FOR A REVERSE DOMAIN MANAGED BY THE RIPE
NCC, BUT SEND YOUR REQUEST TO <AUTO-INADDR at RIPE.NET> INSTEAD OF
<HOSTMASTER at RIPE.NET>



Reverse delegation checking tool
--------------------------------


As of today the RIPE NCC offers an automated method for the submission of
reverse zone delegations in 193.in-addr.arpa and 194.in-addr.arpa. The
reverse delegation requests and the zone files on all nameservers will be
checked automatically. The diagnostics generated by these checks will be
returned to you automatically too. This will make you aware of any
problems very quickly, so that you can correct them and re-submit your
request. The most recent version of the tool is publicly available at:

ftp://ftp.ripe.net/tools/inaddrtool-DATE.tar.gz

The tool itself needs perl4/5 and uses some other external programs for
gathering the information it needs for checking your zone files:

ftp://ftp.ripe.net/tools/ping.tar.Z 
ftp://ftp.ripe.net/tools/dns/host.tar.Z
ftp://ftp.ripe.net/pride/tools/prtraceroute-2.0beta3.shar.gz (perl4 only)


Installing the software:

- uncompress/unzip and untar the tool and the external programs

- if needed, edit the variables in the source code (inaddrtool.config):

  $TESTMODE=1 for testing, 0 for normal use
  
  $CHECKCONNECTIVITY=1 will check the connectivity to the nameserver
                       with ping & prtraceroute when the tool has problems
                       gathering the zone info from a certain server.
  
  $HELPFILE="/ncc/ftp/ripe/docs/ripe-105.txt"; The help file
  
  $TMPDIR="Directory for storing temporary files";
  $UPDLOGDIR="Directory for logging the incoming requests";
  $ACKLOGDIR="Directory for logging the outgoing acknowledgements";
  $FWLOGDIR="Directory for logging the outgoing approved requests";
  $MSGQUEUEDIR="Directory for temporarily storing the requests"; 

  $NSNAME="The name of your nameserver";

  $NAMESERVERCHECK=;  see for details the source code and discussion
                      below about the NSNAME keyword
                      
  $MAILCMD=;          see for details the source code
  $NICECMD="Your nice program" or "" if you don't want to use this feature; 
    
  $HUMANMAIL="The E-mail address of the human processing the approved requests
              and answering questions. When $TESTMODE=1, all mail will be
              send to this address";
  
  $AUTOMAIL="The E-mail address of the mail box that will auto process
             incoming requests";            

  and finally you might want to change the limits we use for the timiing
  parameters defined at the end of the config file. Values that start
  with $too.* are the values that define the upper/lower limits of the
  timers. Values that start with $low|high define the limits wherein no
  warnings will be generated.
  
  
- Put something like:

  "|/home/user/bin/inaddrtool 2>/dev/null"
  
  in the .forward file of user $AUTOMAIL
  
  Note: there is *NO* queuing mechanism yet, so beware of overloading
  your machine with a large number of requests.


The input:

The tool expects to read an E-mail message from standard input. It can be
used from a .forward files as well as a stand-alone program. The E-mail
message should contain a valid RIPE database object as described in the
ripe-105 (ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-105) procedure.

When the automated procedure does not detect any errors, the request is
forwarded to the $HUMANMAIL role account person for some additional
manual checks and the processing of the delegation itself. An
acknowledgement of this fact is also sent to the people mentioned in the
From:/Reply-To: and Cc: field in the E-mail message. The tool will return
an error report if errors are found. If $TESTMODE=1 all mail will be send
to $HUMANMAIL.

You can use some keywords in the 'Subject:' line of your E-mail to
control the checking process. The use of the LONGACK keyword is very
recommended.

HELP    - will send you a (patched) ripe-105 document
CHANGE  - is needed if you want to change an existing reverse delegation 
LONGACK - will give you the most verbose output as possible
TEST    - do the checks, but sent only a report back to the user even if
          no errors are found

You also might want to use the special keyword NSNAME that's documented
in the source code itself (for experts only). This variable can be used
to change the rules that we use for when our own $NSNAME is
required/optional/not allowed as a secondary/primary nameserver.

RIPE document ripe-105 requires you to send in a RIPE database 'inetnum'
object with a 'rev-srv' attribute for each nameserver for single/multiple
C's reverse delegation requests and for whole blocks 'domain' objects
with 'nserver' attributes for each nameserver.

I am neither a DNS expert or native English writer ;-) so all your
comments are welcome! Please send them together with complaints, bug
reports or special requests to <inaddr at ripe.net>.