Comparison of DNS server software
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This article is a comparison of DNS server software.
| Server | Creator | Cost (USD) | Open source | Software license |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANS [1] | Nominum | ? | No | Proprietary |
| BIND | Internet Systems Consortium | Free | Yes | BSD |
| CNS [2] | Nominum | ? | No | Proprietary |
| djbdns | Daniel J. Bernstein | Free | No | License-free software |
| dnsmasq [4] | Simon Kelley | Free | Yes | GPL |
| DNRD [5] | Wolfgang Zekoll | Free | Yes | GPL |
| IPM DNS [6] | EfficientIP | Varies with number of objects in database | No | Proprietary |
| MaraDNS | Sam Trenholme | Free | Yes | BSD variant |
| MyDNS [7] | Don Moore | Free | Yes | GPL |
| NSD | NLnet Labs | Free | Yes | [8] |
| Posadis | Meilof Veeningen | Free | Yes | GPL |
| PowerDNS | PowerDNS.COM BV / Bert Hubert | Free | Yes | GPL |
| Microsoft DNS | Microsoft | Included with Windows Server - MSRP $999 | No | Commercial, closed source |
| Simple DNS Plus [9] | JH Software | $79+ | No | Commercial, closed source |
| VitalQIP | Lucent Technologies | Varies with number of objects in database | No | Commercial, closed source |
- ↑ djbdns source code is freely available, but not under an OSI-approved license. See the djbdns article for details.
[edit] Features
| Server | authoritative | recursive † | slave mode † | caching † | DNSSEC | TSIG | IPv6 | wildcard | interface | DNS Views Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANS | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | command line | ? |
| BIND | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (since 9.x) | Yes (since 4.x) | command line | Yes |
| CNS | No | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | command line | ? |
| djbdns | Yes† | Yes† | Partial† | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | command line | Yes† |
| DNRD | Partial | No | ? | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| dnsmasq | Yes | No | No | Yes | Partial | ? | Yes | Yes | command line | No |
| IPControl | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| IPM DNS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes GSS-TSIG+ | Yes | Yes | ? | Web, command line, API, SNMP | Yes |
| MaraDNS | Yes | Yes | Partial† | Yes | No | No | Partial | Yes | command line | No |
| MyDNS | Yes | No | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Web, command line | ? |
| NSD | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | command line | ? |
| Posadis | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| PowerDNS | Yes | Yes (via pdns_recursor) | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Web, command line | ? |
| Microsoft DNS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial† | Yes | Yes† | No | GUI, command line | No |
| Simple DNS Plus | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | GUI, Web, command line | ? |
| VitalQIP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | ? | GUI, command line | No |
- ↑ djbdns uses separate programs for authoritative and recursive DNS serving and the two programs can not share an IP
- ↑ A standard configuration of most DNS servers used to include both authoritative and recursive functions. For a variety of reasons including DNS cache poisoning, such "dual mode" configurations are now less common and some software does not allow such configuration. The ability of software to operate "dual mode" as both authoritative and recursive could therefore be seen as either desirable or undesirable.
- ↑ In general, describing a server as a "master" or "slave" is only applicable to servers that are authoritative. Therefore, this column should probably be N/A if "authoritative" is "no".
- ↑ In general, a server that does not recurse will not cache data either--so this column should probably be N/A if "recursive" is "no".
- ↑ djbdns provides facilities to transfer zones; after completing the zone transfer, djbdns can act as an authoritative server for that zone. Consult the axfr-get documentation for further information.
- ↑ This is not the same as views in bind. But it is a solution with more capabilities for the same problem See: section of tinydns-data.
- ↑ MaraDNS cannot directly provide slave support. Instead, a zone transfer is needed, after which MaraDNS will act as an authoritative server for that zone. See DNS Slave for further information.
- ↑ DNSSEC functionality must be manually activated in the registry. It is not enabled by default, and is only available in Windows Server 2003. Additionally, the DNSSEC support is sufficient to act as a slave/secondary server for a signed zone, but not sufficient to create a signed zone (lack of key generation and signing utilities).
- ↑ IPv6 functionality in the Microsoft DNS server is only available on Windows Server 2003, and only if enabled from the command line.
[edit] Platforms
The operating systems or virtual machines the DNS server are designed to run on without emulation; there are several possibilities:
- No indicates that it does not exist or was never released.
- Partial indicates that while it works, the server lacks important functionality compared to versions for other OSs; it is still being developed however.
- Beta indicates that while a version is fully functional and has been released, it is still in development (e.g. for stability).
- Yes indicates that it has been officially released in a fully functional, stable version.
- Dropped indicates that while the server works, new versions are no longer being released for the indicated OS; the number in parentheses is the last known stable version which was officially released for that OS.
- Included indicates that the server comes pre-packaged with or has been integrated into the operating system.
Please note that the list is not exhaustive, but rather reflects the most common platforms today.
| Server | BSD | Solaris | Linux | Windows | Mac OS X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANS | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| BIND | Yes | Included | Yes | Yes† | Included |
| CNS | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| djbdns | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| DNRD | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes |
| dnsmasq | Yes | Dropped (1.18) | Yes | No | Yes |
| IPControl | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| IPM DNS | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| MaraDNS | Yes | Yes [10] | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| MyDNS | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| NSD | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| Posadis | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [11] | Yes |
| PowerDNS | Yes | Yes [12] | Yes | Yes | Beta |
| Microsoft DNS | No | No | No | Included† | No |
| Simple DNS Plus | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| VitalQIP | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- ↑ BIND is available for Windows NT-based systems (including Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003) in a port known as ntbind.
- ↑ The functionality available with the Microsoft DNS server varies depending on the version of the underlying operating system; like most Windows Server components, it is upgraded only with the rest of the operating system. Certain functionality, such as DNSSEC and IPv6 support, is only available in the Windows Server 2003 version. Windows 2000 Server includes TSIG support. The Microsoft DNS Server is not available on Windows client operating systems such as Windows XP.
