Discussion

Some installations (mostly Linux distributions) are now using a chroot jail by default. If you are not sure, check the init script and/or full command line of the named process, looking for a -t option.

Furthermore, in the last several revisions of SuSE Linux, the chroot jail setup involves lots of symlinks and a special jail maintenance routine in the /etc/init.d/named init script. The main problem with this is that the init script copies data from outside the jail into the jail every time the service is started (or restarted). Most problematically, /etc/named.conf is copied in each time the service is started. This causes problems for Men & Mice DNS Server Controller.

Solutions

First Time Installation

The first time you install Men & Mice DNS Server Controller, you must confront this problem. Either turn off the chroot jail by editing /etc/sysconfig/named, or else fix the situation immediately after installing the DNS Server Controller. To fix it, take the following steps:

1. During installation, answer the following questions as indicated (note that some answers are the defaults, and are only included to illustrate the correct answers):

• Are you running named in a chroot() environment? [n]:y
• Do you want to run the Men & Mice DNS Server Controller within the chroot() environment? [n]:n
• Where is the BIND configuration file? [/etc/named.conf]:/etc/named.conf
• The directory "/var/lib/named" contains links. Proceed at your own risk. Do you want to continue? [n]:y

You will see some errors at the end of the installation.

2. Stop both named and the DNS Server Controller using their init scripts, like this:

/etc/init.d/named stop
/etc/init.d/qdnsr stop

3. Fix the jail. Execute the following commands (as root, of course):

rm -r /var/lib/named/var/lib
cd /var/lib/named.bak
cp -a dev log ../named
cp -a var/run var/log var/lib ../named/var

4. Start named using its boot script:

/etc/init.d/named start

You will see some error messages, like this:

cp: `/var/lib/named/conf/logging' and `/var/lib/named/var/lib/named/conf/logging' are the same file
cp: `/var/lib/named/conf/user_before' and `/var/lib/named/var/lib/named/conf/user_before' are the same file
cp: `/var/lib/named/conf/options' and `/var/lib/named/var/lib/named/conf/options' are the same file
cp: `/var/lib/named/conf/user_after' and `/var/lib/named/var/lib/named/conf/user_after' are the same file
cp: `/var/lib/named/conf/zones' and `/var/lib/named/var/lib/named/conf/zones' are the same file

This is normal and cannot be helped. (It actually indicates that everything's set up correctly.)

Make sure it started successfully: Wait a few seconds and then use the init script again:

/etc/init.d/named status

5. Edit the DNS Server Controller init script, /etc/init.d/qdnsr, using your preferred text editor (e.g. vi or nano). Near the top there are several variables defined, including PARAMS and CHROOTDIR. Set it as follows:

Men & Mice Suite 5.1:

CHROOTDIR="/var/lib/named"
PARAMS="-unamed -gnamed -c/etc/named.conf"

Men & Mice Suite 5.0:

CHROOTDIR="/var/lib/named"
PARAMS="-unamed -gnamed -c/etc/named.conf -t/var/lib/named"

Save and exit the editor.

6. Start the DNS Server Controller using its boot script:

/etc/init.d/qdnsr start

Wait a few seconds, and then check its status:

/etc/init.d/qdnsr status

Upgrading

When upgrading Men & Mice DNS Server Controller, or otherwise reinstalling, the problem has already been solved once. Simply accept the default answers for all of the installer's questions.