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Resolve devices with DNS

Out of the box you address simulated devices by their 10.42.x.x management IPs. With the CoreDNS sidecar you can resolve them by name instead — forward <device-name>.nl6.local and reverse PTRs — kept up to date automatically as devices come and go.

nl6 runs an authoritative DNS server as a hidden primary; a stock CoreDNS runs as a secondary, transferring the zones via AXFR and refreshing on NOTIFY. No custom CoreDNS plugin.

 dig @localhost  ──►  CoreDNS :53 (secondary)  ──AXFR/NOTIFY──►  nl6 :5353 (primary)
                                                                  derived from the
                                                                  live device set
  • Forward <device-name>.nl6.local → device management IP
  • Reverse <ip> (PTR) → ip4.mgmt.<device-name>.nl6.local, which resolves forward to the same IP (round-trips)

Prerequisites​

  • Docker with Compose v2 (docker compose). The sidecar stack runs nl6 in a container, so you don't need host TUN/netns setup — see Docker.
  • dig (or any DNS client) and curl on the host to verify.

Run the stack​

The repo ships a ready-to-run stack at examples/coredns-sidecar/:

git clone https://github.com/labmonkeys-space/nl6
cd nl6/examples/coredns-sidecar
docker compose up -d

It auto-starts a 10-device demo fleet (10.42.0.1–10.42.0.10) with the DNS subsystem enabled. On every device create/delete nl6 bumps the zone serial (debounced ~1s) and NOTIFYs CoreDNS, which re-transfers.

The nl6 service runs with these DNS flags (see the CLI flags for the full set):

command:
  - -dns-enable
  - -dns-domain=nl6.local
  - -dns-reverse-zone=42.10.in-addr.arpa
  - -dns-notify=coredns:53

…and the CoreDNS Corefile is a stock secondary block per zone:

nl6.local:53 {
    secondary {
        transfer from nl6:5353
    }
    log
    errors
}
42.10.in-addr.arpa:53 {
    secondary {
        transfer from nl6:5353
    }
    log
    errors
}

Verify​

# List the running fleet to pick a real name/IP (names are random per run):
curl -s localhost:8080/api/v1/devices | jq -r '.data[].ip'
dig @localhost -p 5353 nl6.local AXFR | grep ' A '   # the forward names + IPs

# Forward + reverse against CoreDNS (host :53):
dig @localhost core-rtr-01.nl6.local +short          # device name -> 10.42.0.x
dig @localhost -x 10.42.0.5 +short                   # 10.42.0.5  -> ip4.mgmt.<name>.nl6.local.

# Publish + NOTIFY counters:
curl -s localhost:8080/api/v1/dns/status | jq
Names are synthesised

nl6 generates each device's sysName randomly, so the exact forward names change per run. Read them from the AXFR (dig @localhost -p 5353 nl6.local AXFR) or from /api/v1/devices. Duplicate names are disambiguated deterministically (lowest IP keeps the bare label).

How it stays current​

Creating or deleting a device marks the zones dirty. A debounced worker waits for a quiescence window (-dns-debounce, default 1s), then bumps the SOA serial once and NOTIFYs each secondary — so a large batch coalesces into a single transfer rather than one per device. Try it:

# Create a device, then watch the serial advance and CoreDNS pick it up.
curl -s -XPOST localhost:8080/api/v1/devices \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"device_count":1,"start_ip":"10.42.0.50"}'
curl -s localhost:8080/api/v1/dns/status | jq '.zones, .zone_bumps'

Adjust​

  • Different domain / subnets — change -dns-domain and -dns-reverse-zone on the nl6 service, and add/rename the matching secondary blocks in the Corefile. A CoreDNS secondary needs one block per zone. Device IPs outside every configured reverse zone resolve forward-only (no PTR).
  • No NOTIFY — drop -dns-notify; CoreDNS still picks up changes on its SOA refresh interval, just less promptly.

Next​