Kostis Netzwerkberatung
Konstantinos Kostis
Talstr. 25, D-63322 Rödermark
Tel. +49 6074 881056, FAX 881058
kosta@kostis.net, http://www.kostis.net/
You may use this software free of charge at your own risk
netdb 3.0.6 (2001-01-29)
netdb properties are stored in netdb entries which are stored in separate files for each virtual subdomain.
| Property | Meaning/Format | |
| %hostname% | Every network interface has a hostname. If a machine has multiple interfaces then for each interface there must be an entry. |
|
| %domain% | The value for domain is the name of the
virtual subdomain (eg. subnet) hostname is located and always
starts with a leading dot ("."). Each virtual subdomain is stored in separate file with the prefix /etc/netdb/domains/netdb ($DOMAINS) and the value of property domain. It's allowed to create virtual subdomains with multiple dots allowing for building groups of virtual subdomains (eg. multiple subnets on a location). |
|
| %ipaddr% | IP address in dotted decimal format (nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn). | |
| %ipmask% | IP subnet mask in dotted decimal format (nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn). | |
| %mac% | interface MAC address in hex (6 bytes) with "-" delimiters (XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX), all in capital letters | |
| %comment% | Whatever doesn't fit anywhere else (very optional) | |
| %isdnarea% | ISDN area code without leading zero | |
| %isdnnum% | ISDN number without area code | |
| %x25% | X.25 address | |
| %ipxaddr% | IPX
INTERNAL ADDRESS for Novell NetWare servers only hex (4 bytes) without delimiters (xxxxxxxx) all in small letters |
|
| %ipxlan% | IPX LAN address for both Novell NetWare
clients and servers hex (4 bytes) without delimiters (xxxxxxxx) all in small letters |
|
| %decnet% | DECnet Phase IV address in dotted decimal format (nn.nnnn). | |
| %location% | Where is the network interface located? Can be just a room number but also more complete like country, state, city, street address, building, room Example: D-63322 Rödermark/Talstr. 25 |
|
| %hubport% | Which port of which hub/switch/whatever
is the interface attached to? This should be especially helpful when your hubs are not managable and you need to document this information somewhere. |
|
| %user% | Who is using this machine? Username or Adminstrator or just a local contact person. |
|
| %cnames% | List of DNS CNAMEs using a single space as a delimiter between CNAMEs (if there is more than one CNAME) |
The netdb property hostname may not be empty.
RFC1034 defines the following syntax for hostname (called label there) and domain (called subdomain there):
<subdomain> ::= <label> | <subdomain> "." <label>
<label> ::= <letter> [ [ <ldh-str> ] <let-dig> ]
<ldh-str> ::= <let-dig-hyp> | <let-dig-hyp> <ldh-str>
<let-dig-hyp> ::= <let-dig> | "-"
<let-dig> ::= <letter> | <digit>
<letter> ::= any one of the 52 alphabetic characters A through Z in upper case and a through z in lower case
<digit> ::= any one of the ten digits 0 through 9
Obviously the character "-" is not allowed at the end of a hostname. :)
In contrast to RFC1034 netdb stores hostname, domain and cnames in lower case only. When you enter a hostname in upper case using the netdb GUI it will be converted to lower case automatically. DNS will accept both when queried, though, so this is not really a limitation.
live
The netdb property domain may not be empty.
domain has the same syntax as a hostname, except it is preceeded by a leading dot (".") and may contain more dots anywhere in the value. The property domain is used to remember in which virtual subdomain (subnet) and hence in which file this entry is stored in.
.usr
ipaddr is an IP v4 address comprised of four octets in dotted decimal notation with no leading zeroes. Hence the octets representing ipaddr may be anything between 0 and 255 except for the first octet. The first octet will usually be between 1 and 223 hence the very first digit is between 1 and 9. 0 is not valid value for the first octet.
If ipaddr has a value, ipmask must also a value.
192.168.0.254
ipmask is an IP v4 subnet mask value comprised of four octets in dotted decimal notation with no leading zeroes. If ipmask has a value, ipaddr also must have a value.
Valid ipmask values are:
ipmask value class alternative notation 255.0.0.0 A /8 255.128.0.0 A /9 255.192.0.0 A /10 255.224.0.0 A /11 255.240.0.0 A /12 255.248.0.0 A /13 255.252.0.0 A /14 255.254.0.0 A /15 255.255.0.0 A,B /16 255.255.128.0 A,B /17 255.255.192.0 A,B /18 255.255.224.0 A,B /19 255.255.240.0 A,B /20 255.255.248.0 A,B /21 255.255.252.0 A,B /22 255.255.254.0 A,B /23 255.255.255.0 A,B,C /24 255.255.255.128 A,B,C /25 255.255.255.192 A,B,C /26 255.255.255.224 A,B,C /27 255.255.255.240 A,B,C /28 255.255.255.248 A,B,C /29 255.255.255.252 A,B,C /30 255.255.255.254 A,B,C /31 255.255.255.255 A,B,C /32
255.255.255.0
mac has a 48 bit value giving 6 octets. Octets are written in sedecimal notation with capital letters and leading zeroes delimited by minus ("-") characters.
mac can be used for searching network interfaes on a network using additional tools such as arpwatch, tcpdump and others.
mac can also be used for creating dhcpd.conf files with reservations hence assigning a given workstation always the very same ipaddr. This can be done using /etc/netdb/bin/netdb.mkdhcp.conf
00-50-BF-08-6A-DA
comment is a free format field. It may contain things like what type of machine or hardware we're dealing with.
The following characters are forbidden in any free format field:
Cisco 1003 ISDN Router
Red Hat Linux 7.0 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 PDC
isdnarea currently only includes a national area code, but it may be extended to also include a country code prefix. This property could be used for keeping track of the ISDN numbers for WAN ISDN routers. Values for this property consist of digits only. Leading zeroes should be omitted.
6074
isdnnum includes a local ISDN phone number only, no area code (see isdnarea). This property could be used for keeping track of the ISDN numbers for WAN ISDN routers. Values for this property consist of digits only.
881057
x25 represents an X.25 number only. This property could be used for keeping track of X.25 WAN routers. Values for this property consist of digits only.
ipxaddr is a 32 bit workstation address value giving 4 octets written using 8 sedecimal digits (lower case) with leading zeroes and no delimiters.
00000001
ipxlan is a 32 bit network address value giving 4 octets written using 8 sedecimal digits (lower case) with leading zeroes and no delimiters.
eb520000
decnet is a DECnet Phase IV 16 bit address value giving 2 octets divided into two parts: area, host. decnet is written in decimal with no leading zeroes and a dot (".") as a delimiter between area and host part. area and host have a different size: 6 Bits area (0..63) , 10 Bits host (0..1023). area 0, 63 and host 0, 1023 have a special meaning and can not be used for normal DECnet Phase IV addresses.
10.1022
location is a free format field. It may contain things like where the given network interface is physically located or a more generic location or whatever system you have to name locations.
The following characters are forbidden:
D-63322 Rödermark, Talstr. 25
hubport is a free format field. It may contain things like which hub or switch port the given network interface is physically connected to.
The following characters are forbidden:
Netgear DS108 #1 Port 3
user is a free format field. It may contain things like who is using or administering this machine.
Kosta Kostis +49 6074 881056
cnames have the same syntax as a hostname, except for one extension: underscores ('_') are tolerated even though I'm not very happy with it.
Also property cnames can contain more than one CNAME seperated by a single space between each CNAME.
cnames are only valid if ipaddr and ipmask are also given.
ns dns