117 lines
7.3 KiB
HTML
117 lines
7.3 KiB
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Robur's blogMeet DNSvizor: run your own DHCP and DNS MirageOS unikernel
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</title>
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<meta name="description" content="The NGI-funded DNSvizor provides core network services on your network; DNS resolution and DHCP.">
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<h1>blog.robur.coop</h1>
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<blockquote>
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The <strong>Robur</strong> cooperative blog.
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</blockquote>
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<main><a href="https://blog.robur.coop/index.html">Back to index</a>
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<article>
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<h1>Meet DNSvizor: run your own DHCP and DNS MirageOS unikernel</h1>
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<ul class="tags-list"><li><a href="https://blog.robur.coop/tags.html#tag-OCaml">OCaml</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.robur.coop/tags.html#tag-MirageOS">MirageOS</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.robur.coop/tags.html#tag-DNSvizor">DNSvizor</a></li></ul><p>TL;DR: We got <a href="https://nlnet.nl/entrust/">NGI0 Entrust (via NLnet)</a> funding for developing
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<a href="https://nlnet.nl/project/DNSvizor/">DNSvizor</a> - a DNS resolver and
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DHCP server. Please help us by <a href="https://github.com/robur-coop/dnsvizor/issues/new">sharing with us your dnsmasq
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configuration</a>, so we can
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prioritize the configuration options to support.</p>
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<h2 id="introduction"><a class="anchor" aria-hidden="true" href="#introduction"></a>Introduction</h2>
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<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol">dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP)</a>
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is fundamental in today's Internet and local networks. It usually runs on your
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router (or as a dedicated independent service) and automatically configures
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computers that join your network (for example wireless laptops, smartphones)
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with an IP address, routing information, a DNS resolver, etc. No manual
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configuration is needed once your friends' smartphone got the password of your
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wireless network \o/</p>
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<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System">domain name system (DNS)</a>
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is responsible for translating domain names (such as "robur.coop", "nlnet.nl")
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to IP addresses (such as 193.30.40.138 or 2a0f:7cc7:7cc7:7c40::138) - used by
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computers to talk to each other. Humans can remember domain names instead of
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memorizing IP addresses. Computers then use DNS to translate these domain names
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to IP addresses to communicate with. DNS is a hierarchic, distributed,
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faul-tolerant service.</p>
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<p>These two protocols are fundamental to today's Internet: without them it would
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be much harder for humans to use it.</p>
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<h2 id="dnsvizor"><a class="anchor" aria-hidden="true" href="#dnsvizor"></a>DNSvizor</h2>
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<p>We at <a href="https://robur.coop">robur</a> got funding (from
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<a href="https://nlnet.nl/project/DNSvizor/">NGI0 Entrust via NLnet</a>) to continue our work on
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<a href="https://github.com/robur-coop/dnsvizor">DNSvizor</a> - a
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<a href="https://mirageos.org">MirageOS unikernel</a> that provides DNS resolution and
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DHCP service for a network. This is fully implemented in
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<a href="https://ocaml.org">OCaml</a>.</p>
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<p>Already at our <a href="https://retreat.mirageos.org">MirageOS retreats</a> we deployed
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such unikernel, to test our <a href="https://github.com/mirage/charrua">DHCP implementation</a>
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and our <a href="https://github.com/mirage/ocaml-dns">DNS resolver</a> - and found and
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fixed issues on-site. At the retreats we have a very limited Internet uplink,
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thus caching DNS queries and answers is great for reducing the load on the
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uplink.</p>
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<p>Thanks to the funding we received, we'll be able to work on improving the
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performance, but also to finish our DNSSec implementation, provide DNS-over-TLS
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and DNS-over-HTTPS services, and also a web interface. DNSvizor will use the
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existing <a href="https://thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/doc.html">dnsmasq</a> configuration
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syntax, and provide lots of features from dnsmasq, and also provide features
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such as block lists from <a href="https://pi-hole.net/">pi-hole</a>.</p>
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<p>We are at a point where the <a href="https://github.com/robur-coop/dnsvizor">basic unikernel (our MVP)</a></p>
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<ul>
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<li>providing DNS and DHCP services - is ready, and we provide
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<a href="https://builds.robur.coop/job/dnsvizor">reproducible binary builds</a>. Phew. This
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means that the first step is done. The <code>--dhcp-range</code> from dnsmasq is already
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being parsed.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>We are now curious on concrete usages of dnsmasq and the configurations you use.
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If you're interested in dnsvizor, please <a href="https://github.com/robur-coop/dnsvizor/issues/new">open an issue at our repository</a>
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with your dnsmasq configuration. This will help us to guide which parts of the configuration to prioritize.</p>
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<h2 id="usages-of-dnsvizor"><a class="anchor" aria-hidden="true" href="#usages-of-dnsvizor"></a>Usages of DNSvizor</h2>
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<p>We have several use cases for DNSvizor:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>at your home router to provide DNS resolution and DHCP service, filtering ads,</li>
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<li>in the datacenter auto-configuring your machine park,</li>
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<li>when running your unikernel swarm to auto-configure them.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>The first one is where pi-hole as well fits into, and where dnsmasq is used quite
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a lot. The second one is also a domain where dnsmasq is used. The third one is
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from our experience that lots of people struggle with deploying MirageOS
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unikernels since they have to manually do IP configuration etc. We ourselves
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also pass additional information to the unikernels, such as syslog host,
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monitoring sink, X.509 certificates or host names, do some DNS provisioning, ...</p>
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<p>With DNSvizor we will leverage the common configuration options of all
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unikernels (reducing the need for boot arguments), and also go a bit further
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and make deployment seamless (including adding hostnames to DNS, forwarding
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from our reverse TLS proxy, etc.).</p>
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<h2 id="conclusion"><a class="anchor" aria-hidden="true" href="#conclusion"></a>Conclusion</h2>
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<p><a href="https://github.com/robur-coop/dnsvizor">DNSvizor</a> provides DNS resolution and
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DHCP service for your network, and <a href="https://builds.robur.coop/job/dnsvizor">already exists</a> :).
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Please <a href="https://github.com/robur-coop/dnsvizor/issues/">report issues</a> you
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encounter and questions you may have. Also, if you use dnsmasq, please
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<a href="https://github.com/robur-coop/dnsvizor/issues/new">show us your configuration</a>.</p>
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<p>If you're interested in MirageOS and using it in your domain, don't hesitate
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to reach out to us (via eMail: team@robur.coop) - we're keen to deploy MirageOS
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and find more domains where it is useful. If you can
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<a href="https://robur.coop/Donate">spare a dime</a>, we're a registered non-profit in
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Germany - and can provide tax-deductable receipts in Europe.</p>
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</article>
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</main>
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<footer>
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<a href="https://github.com/xhtmlboi/yocaml">Powered by <strong>YOCaml</strong></a>
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<br />
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</footer>
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