Zcash Foundation adds new Rust DNS seeder to improve network reliability

The Zcash Foundation launched a new Rust-based DNS seeder earlier this week, a piece of infrastructure designed to help Zcash nodes find each other when they first come online.

DNS seeders act as the entry point for decentralized networks. When a new Zcash node starts up, it has no built-in list of peers to connect to. The seeder provides a short list of active, healthy nodes, allowing the network to grow without relying on any central coordinator.

Until now, Zcash relied on older implementations of this tool. The Foundation said rewriting the seeder in Rust modernizes an often-overlooked part of the network and reduces the risk of failures during periods of stress or growth.

The new seeder is built using the same networking code that powers Zebra, the Foundation’s Rust-based Zcash full node. That means the tool scans the network using the same rules and protocols as the nodes it supports, reducing inconsistencies and improving reliability.

The Rust design also improves safety and performance. The Foundation said the seeder uses a lock-free architecture to handle DNS requests quickly, even during high traffic. It also includes built-in protections such as per-IP rate limiting, which helps prevent abuse like DNS amplification attacks.

For operators, the seeder is designed to be easy to run. It supports both IPv4 and IPv6, includes real-time monitoring through Prometheus metrics, and ships with Docker tools for simple deployment.

The code is open source and available on GitHub, with testing encouraged on both mainnet and testnet.