Berkeley ist mail log

A blast from the past!

The Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) is a popular open-source DNS (Domain Name System) software that was widely used in the early days of the internet. The Berkeley Mail Log (BML) is a log file generated by BIND that contains information about DNS queries and responses.

The BML file typically contains records of DNS queries, including:

  1. Query type: The type of query (e.g., A, AAAA, MX, etc.)
  2. Query name: The domain name being queried
  3. Query IP address: The IP address of the client making the query
  4. Response code: The response code returned by the DNS server (e.g., NOERROR, NXDOMAIN, etc.)
  5. Response data: The data returned in the response (e.g., IP address, mail server information, etc.)

The BML file is often used for troubleshooting DNS issues, monitoring DNS traffic, and analyzing DNS performance. It can also be used to detect and prevent DNS-based attacks, such as DNS amplification attacks.

Here's an example of what a BML file might look like:

# Version 4.9.5
# Date: 2023-02-20 14:30:00
# Server: ns1.example.com
# Log format: %h %t %r %s %b

192.0.2.1 2023-02-20 14:30:00.000 A example.com NOERROR 192.0.2.100
192.0.2.2 2023-02-20 14:30:01.000 MX example.com NOERROR 10 mail.example.com
192.0.2.3 2023-02-20 14:30:02.000 AAAA example.com NXDOMAIN

In this example, the BML file shows three DNS queries:

  1. A query for example.com from IP address 192.0.2.1, which returns an A record with IP address 192.0.2.100.
  2. An MX query for example.com from IP address 192.0.2.2, which returns an MX record with mail server mail.example.com.
  3. An AAAA query for example.com from IP address 192.0.2.3, which returns a NXDOMAIN response (i.e., the domain does not exist).

The BML file is an important tool for understanding DNS traffic and troubleshooting DNS issues. However, with the advent of more modern DNS software and logging formats, the BML file is no longer as widely used as it once was.