Document Managed by Network Operations
NetDB Documentation Navigation
- Introduction
- Network Contact Groups
- Query Operations
- Hostmaster Functions
- Custom Access Control Lists
- Errata
- Bulk Host Edits
- NetDB contains a series of web interfaces for creating, removing and editting multiple DNS entries. Namely:
- Network Clear: Deletes all hosts on one network that share a single NCG (only hosts assigned to the specified NCG are deleted)
- Network Update NCG: Takes all hosts on one network assigned to a single NCG and updates that NCG
- Loop Add: Add a pattern of hosts with an incrementing value assigned as a suffix (base hostname + 01, 02, 03 . . . )
- Add Fixed: Add up to ten hosts that share common information besides hostname and IP
- CSV Import: Allows the user to upload a pre-formatted CSV to be imported into the host database. Automates host creation.
- NetDB contains a series of web interfaces for creating, removing and editting multiple DNS entries. Namely:
- Network Clear
The Bulk Network Clear dialogue will delete all hosts (forwards and reverses) on a network that share a common, specified NCG. This is a 2-page form, confirming which hosts will be deleted after the initial form page.
Page 1:
- IP (dotted quad, need not be a network base - the network will be found based on the IP)
- NCG (only hosts within this NCG will be removed from the network
Page 2:
- This page lists (in red) the hosts that will be deleted should you press the submit button
- Network Update NCG
The Bulk Update NCG tool will find all hosts within a network assigned to one NCG and re-assign them to a new NCG. This is a single page tool - once you submit the first page the changes will be committed.
Page 1:
- Base Address (MUST specify base address of network, no an IP within the network)
- Network Size (Must match network range size in NetDB)
- Old NCG:
- New NCG:
- Loop Add
The Loop Add tool automates the task of registering a range of IP addresses with incrementing hostnames and IP addresses. The tool takes a base hostname and IP range and registers hostnames for each specified IP in the of [hostname##], where ## is an incrementing set of numbers. Additional host data (MX, RP, TXT records) are uniform across all created hosts.
Page 1:
- Create a base host name (i.e. 'registrar-' for for a LAN full of hostnames like 'registrar-01')
- Fill in the number of hosts you need to register (if registering a whole subnet, this will be the subnet size [in IPs] minus 3)
- Fill in the starting host counter (if you want your hostnames to start from 'hostname-1', enter 1)
- Fill in the starting IP address (if registering an entire subnet, be sure to start at the IP ABOVE the gateway address)
- Fill in the additional host information (MX is mandatory)
Page 2:
- Confirm that the host changes listed on the confirmation screen are correct and submit them
- Add Fixed
The Add Fixed tool automates the process of creating a number of hosts (up to 10 at a time) that share host information such as RP, MX and TXT records but which have unique hostnames and IP addresses.
Page 1:
- Select the domain (rutgers.edu) and appropriate NCG
- Fill in your list of hostnames and corresponding IP addresses
- Fill in the shared host data (MX, RP, TXT, etc) and press submit
Page 2:- Confirm the hostnames and reverses on the confirmation page and press submit to commit them to the database.
- CSV Import
The CSV Import tool allows NetDB users to submit a list of hostnames and IPs in a pre-formatted CSV (comma seperated value) file for import into DNS. These files can be created in standard office applications and saved as .CSVs, generated by hand (in a text editor) or generated by scripts.
CSV File Format:
hostname,domain,NCG,owner-contact,IP,mx-pref,
mx-host,rp-email,rp-host,text,loc-campus,loc-building,loc-room
Fields MAY be left blank if they are both A) optional and B) non-important to your host recordsField Syntax:
- hostname: Single ascii string, no spaces, case-sensitive, cannot contain underscores - example: 128-6-broadcast
- domain: rutgers.edu in most cases, must be a full-qualified domain name, ends with a dot - example: rutgers.edu.
- NCG: the name of your NCG (spaces allowed, capitalization matters) - example: Network Operations
- owner-contact: email address (with @ sign) of owner contact, ends in a dot - example: noc@rutgers.edu.
- IP: standard dotted quad - example: 128.6.255.255
- mx-preference: always 0 unless you plan on further editting the host in XML - example: 0
- mx-host: must be an existing host, must be fully-qualified domain name, ends in a dot - example: td.rutgers.edu.
- rp-email: email address with the '@' replaced with a dot - example (noc@rutgers.edu): noc.rutgers.edu.
- rp-host: most commonly a who record, must be a full-qualified domain name, ends in a dot - example: noc.who.rutgers.edu.
- text: optional, standard text constraints, no underscores - example: text goes here
- loc-campus: optional, text string, no underscores - example: Busch
- loc-building: optional, text string, no underscores - example: Hill Center
- loc-room: optional, text string, no underscores - example: 012
Given the File Format and Field Syntax definitions above, the properly formatted host line for the fictional 128-6-broadcast host would like this:
128-6-broadcast,rutgers.edu.,Network Operations,noc@rutgers.edu.,128.6.255.255,0,td.rutgers.edu.,noc.rutgers.edu.,noc.who.rutgers.edu.,,Busch,Hill Center,012
Additionally, the CSV file itself MUST contain the following two lines as their FIRST two lines:
# Please leave this line and header columns in next row.
host-name,domain,NCG,owner-contact,IP,mx-preference,
mx-host,rp-email,rp-host,text,location-campus,location-building,location-roomThe sample CSV file on the NetDB CSV Import page already contains these two lines. A new sample CSV file with the sample hostline from above can be found here (the sample must must be deleted of course).
