Mindy extends djb's tinydns by updating the zone file with records fetched from a blockchain

Run a test mindy on a one man blockchain across four containers with ./test/build.sh

First thing we need the eris-keys daemon to generate private keys and handle signing.

go get github.com/eris-ltd/eris-keys
eris-keys &
eris-keys gen

This will install the software, start the daemon, and generate a new key (keys are stored in ~/.eris/keys/). The final output is your tendermint address. We need to also know the public key:

eris-keys pub <address>

where <address> is the address you just generated with eris-keys gen

Now, to simplify our lives, lets set a few environment variables. Open your ~/.bashrc and paste in the following

export MINTX_SIGN_ADDR=http://localhost:4767
export MINTX_NODE_ADDR=http://pinkpenguin.chaintest.net:46657/
export MINTX_PUBKEY=<PUBKEY>
export MINTX_CHAINID=tendermint_testnet_5e

where <PUBKEY> is the output of the eris-keys pub command.

Run source ~/.bashrc to make the new variables take effect.

Now we can send transactions!

Well, technically, someone has to send you a transaction first so you have some funds. Contact someone with funds on the chain and give them your address so they can send you funds. Sending funds is easy as:

mintx send --to <addr> --amt <amount> --sign --broadcast

You can monitor the accounts at http://pinkpenguin.chaintest.net:46657/list_accounts Alternatively, run

mintinfo accounts

Now, lets say we want to create an A record for the subdomain magma.interblock.io at 1.2.3.4. We would send the following tx:

mintx name --name magma.interblock.io --data '{"fqdn":"magma.interblock.io", "address":"1.2.3.4", "type":"A"}' --amt 100000 --fee 0 --sign --broadcast

The data you pass must be specially formatted (as shown) to be recognized as a dns entry. It's just json with an fqdn, address, and type argument. The --amt flag determines how long your entry will remain on the chain (or at least how long until it can be overwritten, but it is not automatically deleted). Wait about 30 seconds, and you should be able to resolve the new domain with dig:

dig @ns1.interblock.io magma.interblock.io

Of course this uses our name server directly, and it might take a little longer before the new record propogates to other dns caches.

To run your own nameservers linked to the blockchain, send a NameTx with the "type" argument set to "NS", eg:

mintx name --name newdomain.io --data '{"fqdn":"newdomain.io", "address":"4.3.2.1", "type":"NS"}' --amt 100000 --fee 0 --sign --broadcast

Of course this will only work with the real DNS system if you own the domain newdomain.io, and you tell your registrar to point at your own nameservers (presumably 4.3.2.1). Then just run our docker container and you'll be serving DNS straight from the blockchain!

A full mindy node uses 4 containers: one for each of tendermint, tendermint's data, tinydns, and mindy. They can be used all together or in varying combinations. The recommended way to setup containers is with eris-cli, and we will have a tutorial for setting up a mindy cluster using eris-cli available soon. In the meantime, see the tendermint repo and the tinydns folder in this repo to set up those containers.

Once tinydns and tendermint are running,

docker build -t mindy .
docker run -d --name mindy --volumes-from tinydns --link mint:mint mindy