🌐 SMH Domains

SMH Domains is a self-custodial domain name service built on top of the Polkadot blockchain (currently deployed on the Passet Hub parachain).
Domains are registered directly on-chain, and users can add or update DNS zones securely without relying on centralized registrars.

---

🚀 Demo

🔗 Live Demo: https://smh.elamir.ch

Try resolving .smh domains through our live DNS instance at 91.107.151.44.

Example:

dig @91.107.151.44 latinhack.smh

---

🧠 How It Works

• Every .smh domain is registered on the blockchain using SMH smart contracts.
• Domain metadata (DNS zones) are stored and synchronized by the smh_dns_plugin script.
• The PowerDNS authoritative server hosts .smh zones.
• A recursive PowerDNS server forwards .smh queries to the authoritative server, while handling normal DNS queries normally.

---

⚙️ Setup Guide

1️⃣ Install PowerDNS Authoritative Server

Ubuntu / Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install pdns-server pdns-backend-sqlite3

You can use SQLite, MySQL, or PostgreSQL as a backend. For simplicity, we'll use SQLite in this guide.

Configure the backend:

Edit /etc/powerdns/pdns.conf:

launch=gsqlite3
gsqlite3-database=/var/lib/powerdns/pdns.sqlite3

Initialize the database:

sudo pdnsutil create-zone example.smh ns1.smh.local
sudo systemctl restart pdns

---

2️⃣ Install PowerDNS Recursor

This will handle all queries and forward .smh domains to your authoritative server.

sudo apt install pdns-recursor

Edit /etc/powerdns/recursor.conf:

forward-zones=smh=91.107.151.44

Restart the service:

sudo systemctl restart pdns-recursor

Test it:

dig @127.0.0.1 example.smh

If everything is configured properly, you should see your .smh domain resolving via the blockchain-powered authoritative server.

---

🔁 Syncing Domains from the Blockchain

The smh_dns_plugin script continuously reads .smh domain updates from the Passet Hub blockchain and updates the PowerDNS authoritative server database.

Install the Plugin

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/elamirch/smh-domains.git
cd smh-domains

Set executable permissions:

chmod +x smh_dns_plugin.js

Add to Cron

Edit your crontab:

crontab -e

Add this line to sync every 5 minutes:

*/5 * * * * /path/to/smh-domains/smh_dns_plugin.js >> /var/log/smh_sync.log 2>&1

This ensures your DNS zones stay up-to-date with the latest blockchain state.

---

🧩 Architecture Overview

┌────────────────────────────┐
│   Polkadot / Passet Hub    │
│     (SMH Registry)         │
└────────────┬───────────────┘
             │
             ▼
     smh_dns_plugin (cron)
             │
             ▼
┌────────────────────────────┐
│  PowerDNS Authoritative    │
│  - Hosts .smh zones        │
└────────────┬───────────────┘
             │
             ▼
┌────────────────────────────┐
│  PowerDNS Recursor         │
│  - Forwards .smh → Auth    │
│  - Resolves others normally│
└────────────────────────────┘

---

Related repos:

• smh-dns-plugin
• smh-domains-website

🧪 Testing

Use the sample DNS server to test .smh domain resolution:

dig @91.107.151.44 example.smh

Or via your local recursor setup:

dig @127.0.0.1 example.smh

---

📜 License

MPL 2.0 License

---

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a PR if you’d like to improve SMH Domains.

---