<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd"
[<!ENTITY mdash "—">]>
<!--
- Copyright (C) 2004-2009 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
- Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2003 Internet Software Consortium.
-
- Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any
- purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
- copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
-
- THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ISC DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH
- REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY
- AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL ISC BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT,
- INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM
- LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE
- OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
- PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
-->
<!-- $Id: named.docbook,v 1.26 2009/10/05 17:30:49 fdupont Exp $ -->
<refentry id="man.named">
<refentryinfo>
<date>May 21, 2009</date>
</refentryinfo>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle><application>named</application></refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo>BIND9</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname><application>named</application></refname>
<refpurpose>Internet domain name server</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<docinfo>
<copyright>
<year>2004</year>
<year>2005</year>
<year>2006</year>
<year>2007</year>
<year>2008</year>
<year>2009</year>
<holder>Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")</holder>
</copyright>
<copyright>
<year>2000</year>
<year>2001</year>
<year>2003</year>
<holder>Internet Software Consortium.</holder>
</copyright>
</docinfo>
<refsynopsisdiv>
<cmdsynopsis>
<command>named</command>
<arg><option>-4</option></arg>
<arg><option>-6</option></arg>
<arg><option>-c <replaceable class="parameter">config-file</replaceable></option></arg>
<arg><option>-d <replaceable class="parameter">debug-level</replaceable></option></arg>
<arg><option>-E <replaceable class="parameter">engine-name</replaceable></option></arg>
<arg><option>-f</option></arg>
<arg><option>-g</option></arg>
<arg><option>-m <replaceable class="parameter">flag</replaceable></option></arg>
<arg><option>-n <replaceable class="parameter">#cpus</replaceable></option></arg>
<arg><option>-p <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></option></arg>
<arg><option>-s</option></arg>
<arg><option>-S <replaceable class="parameter">#max-socks</replaceable></option></arg>
<arg><option>-t <replaceable class="parameter">directory</replaceable></option></arg>
<arg><option>-u <replaceable class="parameter">user</replaceable></option></arg>
<arg><option>-v</option></arg>
<arg><option>-V</option></arg>
<arg><option>-x <replaceable class="parameter">cache-file</replaceable></option></arg>
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1>
<title>DESCRIPTION</title>
<para><command>named</command>
is a Domain Name System (DNS) server,
part of the BIND 9 distribution from ISC. For more
information on the DNS, see RFCs 1033, 1034, and 1035.
</para>
<para>
When invoked without arguments, <command>named</command>
will
read the default configuration file
<filename>/etc/named.conf</filename>, read any initial
data, and listen for queries.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>OPTIONS</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>-4</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Use IPv4 only even if the host machine is capable of IPv6.
<option>-4</option> and <option>-6</option> are mutually
exclusive.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-6</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Use IPv6 only even if the host machine is capable of IPv4.
<option>-4</option> and <option>-6</option> are mutually
exclusive.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-c <replaceable class="parameter">config-file</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Use <replaceable class="parameter">config-file</replaceable> as the
configuration file instead of the default,
<filename>/etc/named.conf</filename>. To
ensure that reloading the configuration file continues
to work after the server has changed its working
directory due to to a possible
<option>directory</option> option in the configuration
file, <replaceable class="parameter">config-file</replaceable> should be
an absolute pathname.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-d <replaceable class="parameter">debug-level</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Set the daemon's debug level to <replaceable class="parameter">debug-level</replaceable>.
Debugging traces from <command>named</command> become
more verbose as the debug level increases.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-E <replaceable class="parameter">engine-name</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Use a crypto hardware (OpenSSL engine) for the crypto operations
it supports, for instance re-signing with private keys from
a secure key store. When compiled with PKCS#11 support
<replaceable class="parameter">engine-name</replaceable>
defaults to pkcs11, the empty name resets it to no engine.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-f</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Run the server in the foreground (i.e. do not daemonize).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-g</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Run the server in the foreground and force all logging
to <filename>stderr</filename>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-m <replaceable class="parameter">flag</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Turn on memory usage debugging flags. Possible flags are
<replaceable class="parameter">usage</replaceable>,
<replaceable class="parameter">trace</replaceable>,
<replaceable class="parameter">record</replaceable>,
<replaceable class="parameter">size</replaceable>, and
<replaceable class="parameter">mctx</replaceable>.
These correspond to the ISC_MEM_DEBUGXXXX flags described in
<filename><isc/mem.h></filename>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-n <replaceable class="parameter">#cpus</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Create <replaceable class="parameter">#cpus</replaceable> worker threads
to take advantage of multiple CPUs. If not specified,
<command>named</command> will try to determine the
number of CPUs present and create one thread per CPU.
If it is unable to determine the number of CPUs, a
single worker thread will be created.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-p <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Listen for queries on port <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>. If not
specified, the default is port 53.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-s</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Write memory usage statistics to <filename>stdout</filename> on exit.
</para>
<note>
<para>
This option is mainly of interest to BIND 9 developers
and may be removed or changed in a future release.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-S <replaceable class="parameter">#max-socks</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>named</command> to use up to
<replaceable class="parameter">#max-socks</replaceable> sockets.
</para>
<warning>
<para>
This option should be unnecessary for the vast majority
of users.
The use of this option could even be harmful because the
specified value may exceed the limitation of the
underlying system API.
It is therefore set only when the default configuration
causes exhaustion of file descriptors and the
operational environment is known to support the
specified number of sockets.
Note also that the actual maximum number is normally a little
fewer than the specified value because
<command>named</command> reserves some file descriptors
for its internal use.
</para>
</warning>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-t <replaceable class="parameter">directory</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>Chroot
to <replaceable class="parameter">directory</replaceable> after
processing the command line arguments, but before
reading the configuration file.
</para>
<warning>
<para>
This option should be used in conjunction with the
<option>-u</option> option, as chrooting a process
running as root doesn't enhance security on most
systems; the way <function>chroot(2)</function> is
defined allows a process with root privileges to
escape a chroot jail.
</para>
</warning>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-u <replaceable class="parameter">user</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>Setuid
to <replaceable class="parameter">user</replaceable> after completing
privileged operations, such as creating sockets that
listen on privileged ports.
</para>
<note>
<para>
On Linux, <command>named</command> uses the kernel's
capability mechanism to drop all root privileges
except the ability to <function>bind(2)</function> to
a
privileged port and set process resource limits.
Unfortunately, this means that the <option>-u</option>
option only works when <command>named</command> is
run
on kernel 2.2.18 or later, or kernel 2.3.99-pre3 or
later, since previous kernels did not allow privileges
to be retained after <function>setuid(2)</function>.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-v</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Report the version number and exit.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-V</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Report the version number and build options, and exit.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>-x <replaceable class="parameter">cache-file</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Load data from <replaceable class="parameter">cache-file</replaceable> into the
cache of the default view.
</para>
<warning>
<para>
This option must not be used. It is only of interest
to BIND 9 developers and may be removed or changed in a
future release.
</para>
</warning>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>SIGNALS</title>
<para>
In routine operation, signals should not be used to control
the nameserver; <command>rndc</command> should be used
instead.
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>SIGHUP</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Force a reload of the server.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>SIGINT, SIGTERM</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Shut down the server.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>
The result of sending any other signals to the server is undefined.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>CONFIGURATION</title>
<para>
The <command>named</command> configuration file is too complex
to describe in detail here. A complete description is provided
in the
<citetitle>BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual</citetitle>.
</para>
<para>
<command>named</command> inherits the <function>umask</function>
(file creation mode mask) from the parent process. If files
created by <command>named</command>, such as journal files,
need to have custom permissions, the <function>umask</function>
should be set explicitly in the script used to start the
<command>named</command> process.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>FILES</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><filename>/etc/named.conf</filename></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The default configuration file.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><filename>/var/run/named/named.pid</filename></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The default process-id file.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>SEE ALSO</title>
<para><citetitle>RFC 1033</citetitle>,
<citetitle>RFC 1034</citetitle>,
<citetitle>RFC 1035</citetitle>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>named-checkconf</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>named-checkzone</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>rndc</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>lwresd</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>named.conf</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citetitle>BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual</citetitle>.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>AUTHOR</title>
<para><corpauthor>Internet Systems Consortium</corpauthor>
</para>
</refsect1>
</refentry><!--
- Local variables:
- mode: sgml
- End:
-->