Index for Section 8

Alphabetical listing for N

Bottom of page

NAMED(8)
NAME
  named - Internet domain name server

SYNOPSIS
  named [-4] [-6] [-c config-file] [-d debug-level] [-f] [-g] [-n #cpus]
	[-p port] [-s] [-t directory] [-u user] [-v] [-x cache-file]

DESCRIPTION
  named 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.

  When invoked without arguments, named will read the default configuration
  file /etc/named.conf, read any initial data, and listen for queries.

OPTIONS
  -4 Use IPv4 only even if the host machine is capable of IPv6.	 -4 and -6
     are mutually exclusive.

  -6 Use IPv6 only even if the host machine is capable of IPv4.	 -4 and -6
     are mutually exclusive.

  -c config-file
     Use config-file as the configuration file instead of the default,
     /etc/named.conf. To ensure that reloading the configuration file
     continues to work after the server has changed its working directory due
     to to a possible directory option in the configuration file, config-file
     should be an absolute pathname.

  -d debug-level
     Set the daemon's debug level to debug-level. Debugging traces from named
     become more verbose as the debug level increases.

  -f Run the server in the foreground (i.e. do not daemonize).

  -g Run the server in the foreground and force all logging to stderr.

  -n #cpus
     Create #cpus worker threads to take advantage of multiple CPUs. If not
     specified, named 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.

  -p port
     Listen for queries on port port. If not specified, the default is port
     53.

  -s Write memory usage statistics to stdout on exit.
     Note: This option is mainly of interest to BIND 9 developers and may be
     removed or changed in a future release.

  -t directory
     chroot() to directory after processing the command line arguments, but
     before reading the configuration file.
     Warning: This option should be used in conjunction with the -u option,
     as chrooting a process running as root doesn't enhance security on most
     systems; the way chroot() is defined allows a process with root
     privileges to escape a chroot jail.

  -u user
     setuid() to user after completing privileged operations, such as
     creating sockets that listen on privileged ports.
     Note: On Linux, named uses the kernel's capability mechanism to drop all
     root privileges except the ability to bind() to a privileged port and
     set process resource limits. Unfortunately, this means that the -u
     option only works when named 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 setuid().

  -v Report the version number and exit.

  -x cache-file
     Load data from cache-file into the cache of the default view.
     Warning: 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.

SIGNALS
  In routine operation, signals should not be used to control the nameserver;
  rndc should be used instead.

  SIGHUP
     Force a reload of the server.

  SIGINT, SIGTERM
     Shut down the server.

  The result of sending any other signals to the server is undefined.

CONFIGURATION
  The named configuration file is too complex to describe in detail here. A
  complete description is provided in the BIND 9 Administrator Reference
  Manual.

FILES
  /etc/named.conf
     The default configuration file.

  /var/run/named.pid
     The default process-id file.

SEE ALSO
  RFC 1033, RFC 1034, RFC 1035, rndc(8), lwresd(8), named.conf(5), BIND 9
  Administrator Reference Manual.

AUTHOR
  Internet Systems Consortium

COPYRIGHT
  Copyright (C) 2004-2006 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")

Index for Section 8

Alphabetical listing for N

Top of page