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21 <refentry id="man.named">
23 <date>February 20, 2014</date>
27 <refentrytitle><application>named</application></refentrytitle>
28 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
29 <refmiscinfo>BIND9</refmiscinfo>
33 <refname><application>named</application></refname>
34 <refpurpose>Internet domain name server</refpurpose>
48 <holder>Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")</holder>
54 <holder>Internet Software Consortium.</holder>
60 <command>named</command>
61 <arg><option>-4</option></arg>
62 <arg><option>-6</option></arg>
63 <arg><option>-c <replaceable class="parameter">config-file</replaceable></option></arg>
64 <arg><option>-d <replaceable class="parameter">debug-level</replaceable></option></arg>
65 <arg><option>-E <replaceable class="parameter">engine-name</replaceable></option></arg>
66 <arg><option>-f</option></arg>
67 <arg><option>-g</option></arg>
68 <arg><option>-m <replaceable class="parameter">flag</replaceable></option></arg>
69 <arg><option>-n <replaceable class="parameter">#cpus</replaceable></option></arg>
70 <arg><option>-p <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></option></arg>
71 <arg><option>-s</option></arg>
72 <arg><option>-S <replaceable class="parameter">#max-socks</replaceable></option></arg>
73 <arg><option>-t <replaceable class="parameter">directory</replaceable></option></arg>
74 <arg><option>-U <replaceable class="parameter">#listeners</replaceable></option></arg>
75 <arg><option>-u <replaceable class="parameter">user</replaceable></option></arg>
76 <arg><option>-v</option></arg>
77 <arg><option>-V</option></arg>
78 <arg><option>-x <replaceable class="parameter">cache-file</replaceable></option></arg>
83 <title>DESCRIPTION</title>
84 <para><command>named</command>
85 is a Domain Name System (DNS) server,
86 part of the BIND 9 distribution from ISC. For more
87 information on the DNS, see RFCs 1033, 1034, and 1035.
90 When invoked without arguments, <command>named</command>
92 read the default configuration file
93 <filename>/etc/named.conf</filename>, read any initial
94 data, and listen for queries.
99 <title>OPTIONS</title>
106 Use IPv4 only even if the host machine is capable of IPv6.
107 <option>-4</option> and <option>-6</option> are mutually
117 Use IPv6 only even if the host machine is capable of IPv4.
118 <option>-4</option> and <option>-6</option> are mutually
125 <term>-c <replaceable class="parameter">config-file</replaceable></term>
128 Use <replaceable class="parameter">config-file</replaceable> as the
129 configuration file instead of the default,
130 <filename>/etc/named.conf</filename>. To
131 ensure that reloading the configuration file continues
132 to work after the server has changed its working
133 directory due to to a possible
134 <option>directory</option> option in the configuration
135 file, <replaceable class="parameter">config-file</replaceable> should be
136 an absolute pathname.
142 <term>-d <replaceable class="parameter">debug-level</replaceable></term>
145 Set the daemon's debug level to <replaceable class="parameter">debug-level</replaceable>.
146 Debugging traces from <command>named</command> become
147 more verbose as the debug level increases.
153 <term>-E <replaceable class="parameter">engine-name</replaceable></term>
156 Use a crypto hardware (OpenSSL engine) for the crypto operations
157 it supports, for instance re-signing with private keys from
158 a secure key store. When compiled with PKCS#11 support
159 <replaceable class="parameter">engine-name</replaceable>
160 defaults to pkcs11, the empty name resets it to no engine.
169 Run the server in the foreground (i.e. do not daemonize).
178 Run the server in the foreground and force all logging
179 to <filename>stderr</filename>.
185 <term>-m <replaceable class="parameter">flag</replaceable></term>
188 Turn on memory usage debugging flags. Possible flags are
189 <replaceable class="parameter">usage</replaceable>,
190 <replaceable class="parameter">trace</replaceable>,
191 <replaceable class="parameter">record</replaceable>,
192 <replaceable class="parameter">size</replaceable>, and
193 <replaceable class="parameter">mctx</replaceable>.
194 These correspond to the ISC_MEM_DEBUGXXXX flags described in
195 <filename><isc/mem.h></filename>.
201 <term>-n <replaceable class="parameter">#cpus</replaceable></term>
204 Create <replaceable class="parameter">#cpus</replaceable> worker threads
205 to take advantage of multiple CPUs. If not specified,
206 <command>named</command> will try to determine the
207 number of CPUs present and create one thread per CPU.
208 If it is unable to determine the number of CPUs, a
209 single worker thread will be created.
215 <term>-p <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></term>
218 Listen for queries on port <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>. If not
219 specified, the default is port 53.
228 Write memory usage statistics to <filename>stdout</filename> on exit.
232 This option is mainly of interest to BIND 9 developers
233 and may be removed or changed in a future release.
240 <term>-S <replaceable class="parameter">#max-socks</replaceable></term>
243 Allow <command>named</command> to use up to
244 <replaceable class="parameter">#max-socks</replaceable> sockets.
248 This option should be unnecessary for the vast majority
250 The use of this option could even be harmful because the
251 specified value may exceed the limitation of the
252 underlying system API.
253 It is therefore set only when the default configuration
254 causes exhaustion of file descriptors and the
255 operational environment is known to support the
256 specified number of sockets.
257 Note also that the actual maximum number is normally a little
258 fewer than the specified value because
259 <command>named</command> reserves some file descriptors
260 for its internal use.
267 <term>-t <replaceable class="parameter">directory</replaceable></term>
270 to <replaceable class="parameter">directory</replaceable> after
271 processing the command line arguments, but before
272 reading the configuration file.
276 This option should be used in conjunction with the
277 <option>-u</option> option, as chrooting a process
278 running as root doesn't enhance security on most
279 systems; the way <function>chroot(2)</function> is
280 defined allows a process with root privileges to
281 escape a chroot jail.
288 <term>-U <replaceable class="parameter">#listeners</replaceable></term>
291 Use <replaceable class="parameter">#listeners</replaceable>
292 worker threads to listen for incoming UDP packets on each
293 address. If not specified, <command>named</command> will
294 calculate a default value based on the number of detected
295 CPUs: 1 for 1 CPU, 2 for 2-4 CPUs, and the number of
296 detected CPUs divided by 2 for values higher than 4.
297 If <option>-n</option> has been set to a higher value than
298 the number of detected CPUs, then <option>-U</option> may
299 be increased as high as that value, but no higher.
305 <term>-u <replaceable class="parameter">user</replaceable></term>
308 to <replaceable class="parameter">user</replaceable> after completing
309 privileged operations, such as creating sockets that
310 listen on privileged ports.
314 On Linux, <command>named</command> uses the kernel's
315 capability mechanism to drop all root privileges
316 except the ability to <function>bind(2)</function> to
318 privileged port and set process resource limits.
319 Unfortunately, this means that the <option>-u</option>
320 option only works when <command>named</command> is
322 on kernel 2.2.18 or later, or kernel 2.3.99-pre3 or
323 later, since previous kernels did not allow privileges
324 to be retained after <function>setuid(2)</function>.
334 Report the version number and exit.
343 Report the version number and build options, and exit.
349 <term>-x <replaceable class="parameter">cache-file</replaceable></term>
352 Load data from <replaceable class="parameter">cache-file</replaceable> into the
353 cache of the default view.
357 This option must not be used. It is only of interest
358 to BIND 9 developers and may be removed or changed in a
370 <title>SIGNALS</title>
372 In routine operation, signals should not be used to control
373 the nameserver; <command>rndc</command> should be used
383 Force a reload of the server.
389 <term>SIGINT, SIGTERM</term>
392 Shut down the server.
400 The result of sending any other signals to the server is undefined.
406 <title>CONFIGURATION</title>
408 The <command>named</command> configuration file is too complex
409 to describe in detail here. A complete description is provided
411 <citetitle>BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual</citetitle>.
415 <command>named</command> inherits the <function>umask</function>
416 (file creation mode mask) from the parent process. If files
417 created by <command>named</command>, such as journal files,
418 need to have custom permissions, the <function>umask</function>
419 should be set explicitly in the script used to start the
420 <command>named</command> process.
431 <term><filename>/etc/named.conf</filename></term>
434 The default configuration file.
440 <term><filename>/var/run/named/named.pid</filename></term>
443 The default process-id file.
453 <title>SEE ALSO</title>
454 <para><citetitle>RFC 1033</citetitle>,
455 <citetitle>RFC 1034</citetitle>,
456 <citetitle>RFC 1035</citetitle>,
458 <refentrytitle>named-checkconf</refentrytitle>
459 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
462 <refentrytitle>named-checkzone</refentrytitle>
463 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
466 <refentrytitle>rndc</refentrytitle>
467 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
470 <refentrytitle>lwresd</refentrytitle>
471 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
474 <refentrytitle>named.conf</refentrytitle>
475 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
477 <citetitle>BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual</citetitle>.
482 <title>AUTHOR</title>
483 <para><corpauthor>Internet Systems Consortium</corpauthor>