3/1/2007
How the DNS system works

1. DNS host files exist on god in /var/named. The config file 
(/etc/named.conf) on god contains all domain name records, and is 
a "master" server for that domain.

2. deuce and bulldog are "slave" servers to god... When god's DNS records
update, they are automatically propagated to deuce and bulldog.

2. In order to accomodate adding virtual domains for websites, vectorstar.net 
has a core_vectorstar.net and virtual_vectorstar.net (generated) file in 
the directory /vsn/admin/dns/.

3. The /vsn/admin/backend/scripts/dns-builder script goes through the 
database entries of users with virtual domains and creates a CNAME to 
users.vectorstar.net for any vectorstar subdomains. It writes this out to 
/vsn/admin/dns/virtual_vectorstar.net. It then writes 
core_vectorstar.net and virtual_vectorstar.net (in order) to 
/var/named/vectorstar.net (the actual domain record).

This forces nearly all changes to take place within an hour, give or take
a few minutes on the frontend.

The scripts are generally run from CRON, though the administration system
may also call them if necessary for synchronization.