run bind9 on the loopback interface for ensuring we are using a DNSSEC-aware nameserver to resolve our own DNS queries (i.e. when sending mail) since we can't trust that the network configuration provided for us gives us a DNSSEC-aware DNS server

see #71

management/dns_update.py

@@ -271,6 +271,7 @@ $TTL 86400           ; default time to live
 ########################################################################
 
 def write_nsd_conf(zonefiles):
+	# Basic header.
 	nsdconf = """
 server:
   hide-version: yes
@@ -280,10 +281,19 @@ server:
 
   # The directory for zonefile: files.
   zonesdir: "/etc/nsd/zones"
-  
-# ZONES
 """
 	
+	# Since we have bind9 listening on localhost for locally-generated
+	# DNS queries that require a recursive nameserver, we must have
+	# nsd listen only on public network interfaces. Those interfaces
+	# may have addresses different from the public IP address that the
+	# Internet sees this machine on. Get those interface addresses
+	# from `hostname -i` (which omits all localhost addresses).
+	for ipaddr in shell("check_output", ["/bin/hostname", "-I"]).strip().split(" "):
+		nsdconf += "ip-address: %s\n" % ipaddr
+
+
+	# Append the zones.
 	for domain, zonefile in sorted(zonefiles):
 		nsdconf += """
 zone:

setup/system.sh

@@ -30,3 +30,34 @@ if [ -z "$DISABLE_FIREWALL" ]; then
 	ufw_allow ssh;
 	ufw --force enable;
 fi
+
+# Resolve DNS using bind9 locally, rather than whatever DNS server is supplied
+# by the machine's network configuration. We do this to ensure that DNS queries
+# that *we* make (i.e. looking up other external domains) perform DNSSEC checks.
+# We could use Google's Public DNS, but we don't want to create a dependency on
+# Google per our goals of decentralization. bind9, as packaged for Ubuntu, has
+# DNSSEC enabled by default via "dnssec-validation auto".
+#
+# So we'll be running bind9 bound to 127.0.0.1 for locally-issued DNS queries
+# and nsd bound to the public ethernet interface for remote DNS queries asking
+# about our domain names. nsd is configured in dns.sh.
+#
+# About the settings:
+#
+# * RESOLVCONF=yes will have bind9 take over /etc/resolv.conf to tell
+#   local services that DNS queries are handled on localhost.
+# * Adding -4 to OPTIONS will have bind9 not listen on IPv6 addresses
+#   so that we're sure there's no conflict with nsd, our public domain
+#   name server, on IPV6.
+# * The listen-on directive in named.conf.options restricts bind9 to
+#   binding to the loopback interface instead of all interfaces.
+apt_install bind9
+tools/editconf.py /etc/default/bind9 \
+	RESOLVCONF=yes \
+	"OPTIONS=\"-u bind -4\""
+if ! grep -q "listen-on " /etc/bind/named.conf.options; then
+	# Add a listen-on directive if it doesn't exist inside the options block.
+	sed -i "s/^}/\n\tlisten-on { 127.0.0.1; };\n}/" /etc/bind/named.conf.options
+fi
+
+service bind9 restart