8. System pages

This chapter explains the pages of the section System: Nodes, Settings, Tools and Diagnosis. Chapter 9 explains Access & audit.

Before you start: You have the role Admin for most functions on these pages. The role Operator can use some tools.

Nodes

Open System > Nodes. Only the role Admin can read this page. Figure 1 shows it.

Figure 1. The page Nodes.

The table has one row for each node.

One node is the leader. Only the leader does the jobs that must run once, for example the fetch of block lists. If the leader stops, another node takes the role.

Click Health in a row to see the checks of the node.

The card Cluster shows the store (sqlite or kube), the leader, the number of nodes, the epoch, and if the cluster accepts Object writes. The card Edge shows the state of dnsdist and of the virtual IP address (keepalived), if you use them. It also lists the backends.

Settings

A setting is a key and a value. Open System > Settings. Figure 2 shows the page.

Figure 2. The page Settings.

The page has two views. Click Basic or Expert at the top.

Figure 3 shows the view Expert.

Figure 3. The view Expert.

Each setting has a label for each property.

Change a setting

1. Open System > Settings.
2. Find the setting. In the view Expert, enter a part of the name in Search all settings.
3. Change the value.
4. Click Save.

To use a different input form, click Edit as JSON. To go back to the default value, click Reset to default.

CAUTION: A banner Kept in memory only means that the node has no settings file. The change is lost at the next restart. Set KUDURRU_SETTINGS_FILE to keep changes.

If a setting needs a restart, the page shows the banner Restart required. Restart the node. For example, run docker restart kudurru.

The appearance

The section Appearance is for your browser only. It has the choices Auto, Light and Dark, a Theme, and the switch High contrast. You can also click the palette icon in the top bar. Figure 4 shows the dialog.

Figure 4. The dialog Appearance.

The block page

The page Settings shows a preview of the block page with your settings. Chapter 6 explains the block page.

All settings

The settings reference lists each setting with its type, its default value and its limits. On the host you can print the list:

kudurru config schema

Tools

Open System > Tools. The page has several tools. Figure 5 shows the tool Query (dig).

Figure 5. The page Tools.

Query (dig)

Use this tool to see what kudurru does with a name. The query goes through the same steps as a real query. It does not use the network port.

1. Enter a name in Name.
2. Select the Type, for example A.
3. Select the Transport: UDP, TCP, DoT, DoH, DoQ or DoH3.
4. To test the rules of a client, enter its address in As client.
5. To ask for DNSSEC data, select DNSSEC (DO bit).
6. Click Query.

The result shows the status, for example forwarded or blocked list, the status code, the time, the node and the upstream. Below it are the sections of the answer.

Use As client to find out why a device gets a different answer. kudurru uses the group and the policies of that address.

Response cache

kudurru keeps answers in a cache. To remove them:

1. Enter a name in Name to remove one name. Leave the field empty to remove everything.
2. Click Flush all. If you gave a name, the button is Flush name.

The role Operator or Admin is necessary.

Doctor

1. Click Run checks in the section Doctor.
2. Read the list of checks. A line has the result ok, warn or FAIL.

The message All checks passed or Some checks failed shows at the top of the list (Figure 6). The checks on this page are the checks that the API can make. The command kudurru doctor on the host also checks the ports, the file permissions and the data directory.

Figure 6. The tools Doctor and Import objects.

Import objects

Use this tool to load objects from YAML or JSON. It does the same as kudurru apply -f.

1. Paste one or more objects into Objects.
2. Click Apply.

The page shows the result for each object. kudurru applies each object as a whole. The owner of the objects is API. kudurru refuses an object that a file or Kubernetes owns.

Backup and export

The section Backup and export has links to download the objects as JSON files and each zone as a BIND file. It also has a link to the audit log. These files are not a full backup. Chapter 11 explains how to back up kudurru.

Diagnosis

kudurru checks its own setup all the time. It writes a message for each problem that it finds. Open System > Diagnosis, or click the message badge in the top bar. Figure 7 shows the page.

Figure 7. The page Diagnosis.

Each message has a level.

A message has a code, for example ListUnreachable, and a text that tells you what is wrong. Often it also has a hint that tells you what to do. The link at the bottom opens the object.

The messages go away when the cause goes away.