NAME

bdbaccess -- safe Berkeley DB reader

distributed as perl module Mail::SpamCannibal::BDBaccess

SYNOPSIS

bdbaccess [options]...

DESCRIPTION

There is no perl module for bdbaccess. This is a documentation shell.

See IPTables::IPv4::DBTarpit::Tools to manipulate and examine the bdbaccess database(s).

bdbaccess is a C daemon that provides access to Berkeley DB files via a unix domain socket. bdbaccess is configured for concurrent use of the database, allowing similtaneous access and update of the database by other applications.

An application can access the data from a database opened by bdbaccess using one of the following methods:

  Open the domain socket.
  Send a query of the form:

	how, number, name

  where:
	how is a single byte
	= 0 for access by key
	= 1 - 255 for access by record number

  and:
  	number is 32 bits
  how = 0, number is a packed network address
  how = 1-255, number is a record number or zero

  and:
	name is the database to access
	TERMINATED with a NULL "\0"

NOTE: the key, be it a network address or a record number, should be in network order. inet_aton produces packed addresses in the correct order, however record numbers must be packed correctly and natively are dependent on whether your host has a big endian or litte endian operating system.

bdbaccess will respond in one of 3 modes depending on the access request.

MODE 1: For requests where how = 0 or 1, The response will be as follows:

key, data

where key is a 32 bit packed network address and data contains either a 32 bit integer or a string depending on the database queried.

If there is a database error, inlcuding the record not being found, the key will return INADDR_NONE, which is equivalent to inet_aton('255.255.255.255'), and the data will contain the integer value of the BerkeleyDB failure code

MODE 2: For any request where how is 1 or greater, specifiying a record number of zero (0) - which does not exist - will result in:

RETRIEVING DATABASE STATISTICS and VERSION NUMBER

The first record number in a Berkeley DB is record number ONE (1), there is no record ZERO (0). If the bdbaccess daemon is queried by record for record ZERO, it will return the version number of the underlying database in a form that can be unpacked by inet_ntoa. The returned data record will contain the number of keys or unique records currently in the database. Both of these will be 32 bit fields.

version number, number of keys

MODE 3: For any request where how is 1 or greater and the record number specified is one (1) or more, the bdbaccess daemon will return:

uchar number, key1, key2, ... keyN

where "uchar number" is an 8 bit field containing the number of keys returned, followed by N 32 bit fields containing packed network addresses. The first key returned will be from the record number specified in the query, followed by number+1, and so on... The daemon will return "how" records or what is available if it is less than the number requested (zero is a good anwser).

INSTALLATION

To build the bdbaccess daemon, first install IPTables::IPv4::DBTarpit, then type the following:

perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

To restore the default directory configurations type:

rm config.db

Adjust the permissions for "bdbaccess" and its installation directories. This is not done automatically since it may involve system directories.

The Berkeley DB environment and databases can be created automatically. However it is recommend that you use the initdb.pl script in the ..../Mail/SpamCannibal distribution directory. Adjust the permissions of the files and directories so that they are accessible by the various applications that will be using the information in the databases.

Lastly, copy rc.bdbaccess to your startup directory so it is executed at boot up as:

rc.bdbaccess start

Because the bdbaccess daemon has only concurrent access to the database, applications should not be written which use db->cursor operations these can block dameon access for normal put and sync operations. Instead, use repetitive read-by-record-number operations to gain sequential access to the data as provided in IPTables::IPv4::DBTarpit::Tools.

DEPENDENCIES

Berkeley DB 2.6.4 or better http://www.sleepycat.com/

IPTables::IPv4::DBTarpit, version 0.10

OPTIONS - short version

Options:
 -r    : Alternate DB root directory   [default: /var/run/dbtarpit]

 -f    : Database file name
 -f    : Another db file name (up to 10 total)

 -s    : socket name [default 'bdbread'] (Note 1)
 -p	: port number to listen on (Note 1)
 -i	: use inetd (Note 1)

 -d    : Do NOT detach process.
 -l    : Log activity to syslog (Note 2)
 -o    : Output to stdout instead of syslog (Note 3)
 -V    : Print version information and exit
 -T    : Test mode - Print out debug info and exit
 -h    : Print this help information
 -?    : Print this help information

Note 1:
 bdbaccess can be configured to listen on EITHER a unix
 domain socket or a port. If listening on a port, it can be
 run as a stand-alone daemon or from inetd. The listening
 modes are mutually exclusive.
Note 2:
 'kill -USR1 <bdbaccess_PID>' to toggle logging on and off.
 If logging was not enabled at start this sets the '-l' flag
 If logging (-l | -v) are set this saves the value and turns off
 logging. If logging is presently toggled off it restores the 
 saved level (-l | -v)
Note 3:
 This sends log information to stdout rather than to syslog.
 This option also implies and sets the -d option (Do NOT detach
 process).

OPTIONS - long version

  • -r /path

    Set the database root aka path to db environment home

    (default: /var/run/dbtarpit)
  • -f filename

    Database to open. Up to 10 of names may be specified on the command line. There are no defaults, all databases that bdbaccess responds for must be specified when the daemon is started.

  • -h

    Print the "short" help information and exit.

  • -?

    Print the "short" help information and exit.

  • -d

    Some people want to run bdbaccess under the control of another process. This keeps bdbaccess from detaching and running as a daemon.

  • -l

    Logs any bdbaccess activity to syslog.

  • -o

    This gives you the option to have bdbaccess log information go to stdout instead of the syslog. This option also sets "-d".

  • -V

    Print version information and exit.

  • -T

    This prints a bunch of diagnostic information an exits.

DATABASE CONFIGURATION FILE [optional]

Usually used to increase database cache size.

Most of the configuration information that can be specified to DB_ENV methods can also be specified using a configuration file. If an environment home directory has been specified (done by default or with the -r option to bdbaccess) any file named DB_CONFIG in the database home directory will be read for lines of the format NAME VALUE.

One or more whitespace characters are used to delimit the two parts of the line, and trailing whitespace characters are discarded. All empty lines or lines whose first character is a whitespace or hash (#) character will be ignored. Each line must specify both the NAME and the VALUE of the pair. The specific NAME VALUE pairs are documented in the Berkeley DB manual for the corresponding methods.

See: http://www.sleepycat.com/docs/ref/env/db_config.html

AUTHOR

Michael Robinton <michael@bizsystems.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

 Copyright 2003 - 2014, Michael Robinton <michael@bizsystems.com>

 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
 (at your option) any later version.

 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 GNU General Public License for more details.

 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

SEE ALSO

IPTables::IPv4::DBTarpit::Tools Mail::SpamCannibal::BDBclient