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Weblog Archive Cutedge

by: Bernard Teo








Creative Commons License

Copyright © 2003-2012
Bernard Teo
Some Rights Reserved.

Thu 28 Jul 2005

DNS Enabler 1.1.4

Category : Technology/DNSEnabler114.txt

I've updated DNS Enabler to include the ability to update the domain's SOA (Start of Authority) information including the zone's default TTL duration (Time to Live). The serial number for the zone will also work properly now, and it increments with each modification to the zone files.

This all in preparation to make DNS Enabler work on a public network, so that it'll be able to transfer data to a secondary name server when the zone data changes.

It's on to MX records next and, after that, I'll revise all the documentation.

Like Postfix Enabler, WebMon, and all that, this is the interface I've wanted to build ever since I figured out how to do things manually. In fact, DNS was the first thing that got me on this track.

I was using AppleShare IP in the pre-OS X days to serve out our Cutedge web site. I started by using MacDNS, which was buggy, and then Men and Mice's QuickDNS Pro.

On moving to OS X and OS X Server, I found that it didn't have a GUI for configuring DNS and QuickDNS Pro didn't run, then, on OS X. I was on a leased line public network then, and so I had to learn how to configure DNS by hand.

Surprisingly, I managed to do so, which piqued my curiosity, rekindled my interest in Unix, and I wondered if I could do the same on a plain OS X machine. When I found that I could, it led to the idea that maybe a mail server will run, too, on that plain OS X machine, i.e., on my garden-variety iBook. And that has led to all the stuff you see on this page.

So, DNS marked the start of this journey and that's why getting DNS Enabler to this stage has been of some significance to me. And I wanted to do something which didn't copy the QuickDNS Pro interface, but to try to improve on it in terms of its usability by someone with very little DNS knowledge beyond the essential basics.

Finding a way to allow the user to specify an MX record within the confines of the DNS Enabler interface, as I have designed it, is the next challenge. I think I have an idea.

By the way, my iBook is now more than three years old and it's falling apart. It's trackpad has become unusable. But then, this is my most useful, most used, most productive computing machine ever. I will always love this iBook but I'm looking forward to replacing it with the new 12 inch iBook that's just come out. That is the iBook I've been waiting for. Yes, spend wisely. Right on time.

Posted at 3:15AM UTC | permalink

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