Defining a DNS server in BMC Network Automation

Defining a Domain Name System (DNS) server enables a cloud administrator to specify the DNS server information for address pools defined in pods and containers. BMC Network Automation supports out-of-the-box DNS registration for static IP addressing for Linux, Windows, and Infoblox DNS servers. This topic includes the following sections:

• DNS and NIC properties in BMC Network Automation
• Managing DNS registration among multiple products
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DNS and NIC properties in BMC Network Automation

DNS server information and NIC properties can be associated with the following Pod and Container Management (PCM) components in BMC Network Automation:

• Pod Blueprint: You can specify the DNS and NIC information in the pod blueprint. This information is optional and can be overridden during pod creation.
• Pod: When creating or editing a pod, you can specify the DNS and NIC server information. Default values are populated in the pod creation wizard from the pod blueprint.
• Pod Address Pool and Address Range: Each address pool and address range is associated with the DNS and NIC information in the pod, but can be overridden during pod creation in the pod creation wizard. Default values are populated from the pod DNS and NIC Information page. You can also override the DNS information by using the pod editor from the Pod View page.
• Container Address Pool and Address Space: While provisioning or modifying a container, you can specify the DNS and NIC information as address pool override or address space override. If you do not choose the override address pool option, address pools in the container, either from a pod address range or from a container address space are associated with the DNS and NIC information.

On the BMC Network Automation GUI, DNS information includes the following fields:

• Primary DNS Server: Holds the "master copy" of the data for a zone. BMC Atrium Orchestrator workflows try to register the given host name and IP address with the primary DNS server
  

• Reverse DNS Server: Allows reverse lookup of the IP address. In other words, given the IP address, the reverse DNS server resolves the domain name associated with the IP address. This attribute is optional. If you specify the value for the reverse DNS server, only PTR records are added; otherwise, the API adds only an A record in the primary DNS server.
• Secondary DNS Server: Is the secondary DNS server, which is used for setting the DNS server fields in the VM that is to be provisioned from the pod or container address pool.
  
• Primary Domain Suffix for NIC: Defines a primary domain suffix for a NIC or a list of NIC’s. The primary domain suffix is used in DNS name registration and DNS name resolution. Ensure that you specify this field if you specify the primary DNS server.
• DNS Domains for NIC: Defines the search order for a network domain when a DNS server is queried.
  
• Reverse DNS Zone: Specifies the reverse DNS zone where the PTR-record type stores reverse DNS entries. The reverse DNS zone value is specific to the network address from which the PTR entries can be added. Ensure that you specify this field if you specify the reverse DNS server.

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Managing DNS registration among multiple products

BMC Network Automation 8.5.01 and later integrates with BMC Atrium Orchestrator and BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management to provide out-of-the-box DNS registration for static IP addressing as shown in the following sequence diagram. For details about the components and labels, see the Notes below the figure.

Before you begin

• Ensure that the appropriate contents are enabled in BMC Atrium Orchestrator. For details, see Configuring BMC Atrium Orchestrator for automatic DNS registration.

• Ensure that all of the following conditions are met for DNS registration; otherwise, BMC Network Automation does not call the DNS registration workflow in BMC Atrium Orchestrator, and even though an IP address is acquired,  an appropriate warning message is logged in BMC Network Automation.

  • Set the performDnsOperation property to true in the global.properties file.
    
    

    Important

    performDnsOperation, the global property in the global.properties file, is set to false by default. This property has been disabled by design to prevent BMC Network Automation from performing DNS operations, which might create conflicts with other DNS registration mechanisms that might be in use before you upgrade to BMC Network Automation 8.5.01 and later.

  • The Require DNS Registration flag, registerDNS is true in the acquireVirtualServerNicAddress or acquirePhysicalServerNicAddress API, which is called from BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management when a NIC is added to the VM.
  • DNS information is correctly specified in the addressPool in the container from which the IP address is acquired for the VM being provisioned.

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To register the host name to the specified DNS server

1. BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management calls BMC Network Automation to acquire a static IP address to provision a VM.
2. BMC Network Automation in turn calls BMC Atrium Orchestrator for DNS registration, and passes the following parameters to BMC Atrium Orchestrator workflows for DNS registration:
   1. Primary DNS Server
   2. Reverse DNS Server
   3. Primary Domain Suffix for NIC
   4. Reverse DNS Zone
   5. IP Address

   6. Hostname
      
      

      DNS Domains for NIC and Secondary DNS Server values are not used when BMC Network Automation calls BMC Atrium Orchestrator for DNS registration.

3. BMC Atrium Orchestrator registers the host name to the specified DNS server.

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To deregister the host name from the specified DNS server

1. BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management calls BMC Network Automation to release a static IP address to decommission a VM.
2. BMC Network Automation in turn calls BMC Atrium Orchestrator for DNS deregistration, and passes the required parameters to BMC Atrium Orchestrator workflows for DNS deregistration.
3. BMC Atrium Orchestrator deregisters the host name from the specified DNS server.

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