Gonemaster - A Go implementation of Zonemaster

Speaker: Mr Patrik Wallström Gonemaster is a Go implementation of Zonemaster that began life as a near 1:1 port of the original software—and then evolved into something that is purpose-built for modern, large-scale DNS measurement work. At its core, Gonemaster provides robust tests of DNS delegation quality, helping operators and researchers identify misconfigurations and edge cases that impact resolution, availability, and DNS correctness. While preserving the intent and coverage of the upstream test suite, the Go-based approach brings two immediate advantages: significantly faster execution and fewer external software dependencies, making it easier to deploy in constrained environments and simpler to run reproducibly across diverse platforms. A key design goal has been scalability. Gonemaster’s architecture is particularly well-suited for running large batches of tests—from routine monitoring of portfolios of zones, to broad measurement campaigns where throughput, predictability, and operational simplicity matter as much as test accuracy. This enables new workflows where delegation testing can move from “one domain at a time” troubleshooting into continuous, automated, and data-driven practice. Just as importantly, Gonemaster formalizes the log output into a structure that is far more suitable for downstream analysis. A complete list of test specifications—including the emitted tags with harmonized arguments—makes it straightforward to correlate results across domains, compare runs over time, and build tooling that can slice measurement data by delegation patterns, failure modes, and test semantics. In practice, this reduces the friction between “running tests” and “learning from results,” making analysis substantially easier than it has been previously. This talk will cover Gonemaster’s evolution from port to platform: architectural choices, performance considerations, batching at scale, and how formalized output unlocks richer measurement pipelines for DNS operations and research. Presentation Materials available at: https://indico.dns-oarc.net/event/56/contributions/1210 #DNS #OARC46 #DNSTesting