Shell Script To Create BIND Zone Files

First, you need to customize configuration file as follows.

Sample ns.profile.nixcraft.net configuration file

Define your default TTL, EMAIL ID and other stuff. Also, set your mail server and nameserver IPs using bash array. Save file as follows ns.profile.nixcraft.net:

# defaults profile for nameserver ns1.nixcraft.net
#
TTL="3h"                      # Default TTL
ATTL="3600"		      # Default TTL for each DNS rec
EMAILID="vivek.nixcraft.in." # hostmaster email
REFRESH="3h"                  # Refresh After 3 hours
RETRY="1h"                    # Retry Retry after 1 hour
EXPIER="1w"		      # Expire after 1 week
MAXNEGTIVE="1h"		      # Minimum negative caching of 1 hour	
 
# name server names FQDN
NAMESERVERS=("ns1.nixcraft.net." "ns2.nixcraft.net." "ns3.nixcraft.net.")
 
# name server IPs,
# leave it blank if you don't need them as follows
NAMESERVERSIP=()
#NAMESERVERSIP=("202.54.1.10" "203.54.1.10" "204.54.1.40")
 
# mail server names
# leave it blank if you don't need them
MAILSERVERS=("mail.nixcraft.net.")
#MAILSERVERS=("smtp1.nixcraft.net." "smtp2.nixcraft.net.")
 
################# add your own A recored here ##########################
# You can add additonal A recs using following function
function LoadCutomeARecords(){
echo >/dev/null # keep this line
# Uncomment or add A recoreds as per your requirments
# echo "ftp			$ATTL	IN	A	202.54.2.2"
# echo "webmail			$ATTL	IN	A	202.54.2.5"
# echo "ipv6host			$ATTL	IN	AAAA	2001:470:1f0e:c2::1"
}

Add additional records using LoadCutomeARecords(). You can create multiple nameserver configuration file and call it from mkzone.sh.

mkzone.sh: Shell script to create BIND zone file

#!/bin/bash
# A Bash shell script to create BIND ZONE FILE.
# Tested under BIND 8.x / 9.x, RHEL, DEBIAN, Fedora Linux.
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Copyright (c) 2002,2009 Vivek Gite <vivek@nixcraft.com>
# This script is licensed under GNU GPL version 2.0 or above
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This script is part of nixCraft shell script collection (NSSC)
# Visit http://bash.cyberciti.biz/ for more information.
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Examples:
# ./mkzone.sh example.com default-www-IP-address
# ./mkzone.sh cyberciti.biz 74.12.5.1
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Last updated on: Mar/24/2007 - Fixed a few bugs.
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOMAIN="$1"
WWWIP="$2"
 
if [ $# -le 1 ]
then
	echo "Syntax: $(basename $0) domainname www.domain.ip.address [profile]"
	echo "$(basename $0) example.com 1.2.3.4"
	exit 1
fi
 
# get profile
PROFILE="ns.profile.nixcraft.net"
[ "$3" != "" ] && PROFILE="$3"
 
SERIAL=$(date +"%Y%m%d")01                     # Serial yyyymmddnn
 
# load profile
source "$PROFILE"
 
# set default ns1
NS1=${NAMESERVERS[0]}
 
###### start SOA ######
echo "\$ORIGIN ${DOMAIN}."
echo "\$TTL ${TTL}"
echo "@	IN	SOA	${NS1}	${EMAILID}("
echo "			${SERIAL}	; Serial yyyymmddnn"
echo "			${REFRESH}		; Refresh After 3 hours"
echo "			${RETRY}		; Retry Retry after 1 hour"
echo "			${EXPIER}		; Expire after 1 week"
echo "			${MAXNEGTIVE})		; Minimum negative caching of 1 hour"
echo ""
 
###### start Name servers #######
# Get length of an array
tLen=${#NAMESERVERS[@]}
 
# use for loop read all nameservers
echo "; Name servers for $DOMAIN"
for (( i=0; i<${tLen}; i++ ));
do
	echo "@			${ATTL}	IN	NS	${NAMESERVERS[$i]}"
done
 
###### start MX section #######
# get length of an array
tmLen=${#MAILSERVERS[@]}
 
# use for loop read all mailservers
echo "; MX Records"
for (( i=0; i<${tmLen}; i++ ));
do
	echo "@			${ATTL}	IN 	MX	$(( 10*${i} + 10 ))	${MAILSERVERS[$i]}"
done
 
###### start A pointers #######
# A Records - Default IP for domain
echo '; A Records'
echo "@ 			${ATTL}	IN 	A	${WWWIP}"
 
# Default Nameserver IPs
# get length of an array
ttLen=${#NAMESERVERSIP[@]}
 
# make sure both nameserver and their IP match
if [ $tLen -eq $ttLen ]
then
# use for loop read all nameservers IPs
for (( i=0; i<${ttLen}; i++ ));
do
  	thisNs="$(echo ${NAMESERVERS[$i]} | cut -d'.' -f1)"
 
	echo "${thisNs} 			${ATTL}	IN	A	${NAMESERVERSIP[$i]}"
done
else
	# if we are here means, our nameserver IPs are defined else where else...  do nothing
	:
fi
 
echo "; CNAME Records"
echo "www			${ATTL}	IN	CNAME	@"
 
LoadCutomeARecords

How do I use this script?

Simply type the command as follows to create a zone file for cyberciti.com domain with 202.54.1.2 as default www IP:
# ./mkzone.sh cyberciti.com 202.54.1.2 ns.profile.nixcraft.net
Sample output:

$ORIGIN cyberciti.com.
$TTL 3h
@	IN	SOA	ns1.nixcraft.net.	vivek.nixcraft.in.(
			2009032401	; Serial yyyymmddnn
			3h		; Refresh After 3 hours
			1h		; Retry Retry after 1 hour
			1w		; Expire after 1 week
			1h)		; Minimum negative caching of 1 hour

; Name servers for cyberciti.com
@			3600	IN	NS	ns1.nixcraft.net.
@			3600	IN	NS	ns2.nixcraft.net.
@			3600	IN	NS	ns3.nixcraft.net.
; MX Records
@			3600	IN 	MX	10	mail.nixcraft.net.
; A Records
@ 			3600	IN 	A	202.54.1.2
; CNAME Records
www			3600	IN	CNAME	@

To save output to a zone file called /var/named/chroot/etc/bind/master/c/cyberciti.com, type:
# ./mkzone.sh cyberciti.com 202.54.1.2 ns.profile.nixcraft.net > /var/named/chroot/etc/bind/master/c/cyberciti.com

Featured Articles:

• 20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know
• 20 Linux Server Hardening Security Tips
• 10 Greatest Open Source Software Of 2009
• My 10 UNIX Command Line Mistakes
• Top 5 Email Client For Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows Users
• Top 20 OpenSSH Server Best Security Practices
• Top 10 Open Source Web-Based Project Management Software
• Top 5 Linux Video Editor Software