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24 <body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="refentry" lang="en">
25 <a name="man.named"></a><div class="titlepage"></div>
26 <div class="refnamediv">
28 <p><span class="application">named</span> — Internet domain name server</p>
30 <div class="refsynopsisdiv">
32 <div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">named</code> [<code class="option">-4</code>] [<code class="option">-6</code>] [<code class="option">-c <em class="replaceable"><code>config-file</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-d <em class="replaceable"><code>debug-level</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-f</code>] [<code class="option">-g</code>] [<code class="option">-m <em class="replaceable"><code>flag</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-n <em class="replaceable"><code>#cpus</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-p <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-s</code>] [<code class="option">-t <em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-u <em class="replaceable"><code>user</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-v</code>] [<code class="option">-x <em class="replaceable"><code>cache-file</code></em></code>]</p></div>
34 <div class="refsect1" lang="en">
35 <a name="id2543452"></a><h2>DESCRIPTION</h2>
36 <p><span><strong class="command">named</strong></span>
37 is a Domain Name System (DNS) server,
38 part of the BIND 9 distribution from ISC. For more
39 information on the DNS, see RFCs 1033, 1034, and 1035.
42 When invoked without arguments, <span><strong class="command">named</strong></span>
44 read the default configuration file
45 <code class="filename">/etc/named.conf</code>, read any initial
46 data, and listen for queries.
49 <div class="refsect1" lang="en">
50 <a name="id2543477"></a><h2>OPTIONS</h2>
51 <div class="variablelist"><dl>
52 <dt><span class="term">-4</span></dt>
54 Use IPv4 only even if the host machine is capable of IPv6.
55 <code class="option">-4</code> and <code class="option">-6</code> are mutually
58 <dt><span class="term">-6</span></dt>
60 Use IPv6 only even if the host machine is capable of IPv4.
61 <code class="option">-4</code> and <code class="option">-6</code> are mutually
64 <dt><span class="term">-c <em class="replaceable"><code>config-file</code></em></span></dt>
66 Use <em class="replaceable"><code>config-file</code></em> as the
67 configuration file instead of the default,
68 <code class="filename">/etc/named.conf</code>. To
69 ensure that reloading the configuration file continues
70 to work after the server has changed its working
71 directory due to to a possible
72 <code class="option">directory</code> option in the configuration
73 file, <em class="replaceable"><code>config-file</code></em> should be
76 <dt><span class="term">-d <em class="replaceable"><code>debug-level</code></em></span></dt>
78 Set the daemon's debug level to <em class="replaceable"><code>debug-level</code></em>.
79 Debugging traces from <span><strong class="command">named</strong></span> become
80 more verbose as the debug level increases.
82 <dt><span class="term">-f</span></dt>
84 Run the server in the foreground (i.e. do not daemonize).
86 <dt><span class="term">-g</span></dt>
88 Run the server in the foreground and force all logging
89 to <code class="filename">stderr</code>.
91 <dt><span class="term">-m <em class="replaceable"><code>flag</code></em></span></dt>
93 Turn on memory usage debugging flags. Possible flags are
94 <em class="replaceable"><code>usage</code></em>,
95 <em class="replaceable"><code>trace</code></em>,
96 <em class="replaceable"><code>record</code></em>,
97 <em class="replaceable"><code>size</code></em>, and
98 <em class="replaceable"><code>mctx</code></em>.
99 These correspond to the ISC_MEM_DEBUGXXXX flags described in
100 <code class="filename"><isc/mem.h></code>.
102 <dt><span class="term">-n <em class="replaceable"><code>#cpus</code></em></span></dt>
104 Create <em class="replaceable"><code>#cpus</code></em> worker threads
105 to take advantage of multiple CPUs. If not specified,
106 <span><strong class="command">named</strong></span> will try to determine the
107 number of CPUs present and create one thread per CPU.
108 If it is unable to determine the number of CPUs, a
109 single worker thread will be created.
111 <dt><span class="term">-p <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></span></dt>
113 Listen for queries on port <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em>. If not
114 specified, the default is port 53.
116 <dt><span class="term">-s</span></dt>
119 Write memory usage statistics to <code class="filename">stdout</code> on exit.
121 <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
122 <h3 class="title">Note</h3>
124 This option is mainly of interest to BIND 9 developers
125 and may be removed or changed in a future release.
129 <dt><span class="term">-t <em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em></span></dt>
132 to <em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em> after
133 processing the command line arguments, but before
134 reading the configuration file.
136 <div class="warning" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
137 <h3 class="title">Warning</h3>
139 This option should be used in conjunction with the
140 <code class="option">-u</code> option, as chrooting a process
141 running as root doesn't enhance security on most
142 systems; the way <code class="function">chroot(2)</code> is
143 defined allows a process with root privileges to
144 escape a chroot jail.
148 <dt><span class="term">-u <em class="replaceable"><code>user</code></em></span></dt>
151 to <em class="replaceable"><code>user</code></em> after completing
152 privileged operations, such as creating sockets that
153 listen on privileged ports.
155 <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
156 <h3 class="title">Note</h3>
158 On Linux, <span><strong class="command">named</strong></span> uses the kernel's
159 capability mechanism to drop all root privileges
160 except the ability to <code class="function">bind(2)</code> to
162 privileged port and set process resource limits.
163 Unfortunately, this means that the <code class="option">-u</code>
164 option only works when <span><strong class="command">named</strong></span> is
166 on kernel 2.2.18 or later, or kernel 2.3.99-pre3 or
167 later, since previous kernels did not allow privileges
168 to be retained after <code class="function">setuid(2)</code>.
172 <dt><span class="term">-v</span></dt>
174 Report the version number and exit.
176 <dt><span class="term">-x <em class="replaceable"><code>cache-file</code></em></span></dt>
179 Load data from <em class="replaceable"><code>cache-file</code></em> into the
180 cache of the default view.
182 <div class="warning" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
183 <h3 class="title">Warning</h3>
185 This option must not be used. It is only of interest
186 to BIND 9 developers and may be removed or changed in a
193 <div class="refsect1" lang="en">
194 <a name="id2543864"></a><h2>SIGNALS</h2>
196 In routine operation, signals should not be used to control
197 the nameserver; <span><strong class="command">rndc</strong></span> should be used
200 <div class="variablelist"><dl>
201 <dt><span class="term">SIGHUP</span></dt>
203 Force a reload of the server.
205 <dt><span class="term">SIGINT, SIGTERM</span></dt>
207 Shut down the server.
211 The result of sending any other signals to the server is undefined.
214 <div class="refsect1" lang="en">
215 <a name="id2543912"></a><h2>CONFIGURATION</h2>
217 The <span><strong class="command">named</strong></span> configuration file is too complex
218 to describe in detail here. A complete description is provided
220 <em class="citetitle">BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual</em>.
223 <div class="refsect1" lang="en">
224 <a name="id2543929"></a><h2>FILES</h2>
225 <div class="variablelist"><dl>
226 <dt><span class="term"><code class="filename">/etc/named.conf</code></span></dt>
228 The default configuration file.
230 <dt><span class="term"><code class="filename">/var/run/named.pid</code></span></dt>
232 The default process-id file.
236 <div class="refsect1" lang="en">
237 <a name="id2543969"></a><h2>SEE ALSO</h2>
238 <p><em class="citetitle">RFC 1033</em>,
239 <em class="citetitle">RFC 1034</em>,
240 <em class="citetitle">RFC 1035</em>,
241 <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">named-checkconf</span>(8)</span>,
242 <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">named-checkzone</span>(8)</span>,
243 <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">rndc</span>(8)</span>,
244 <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">lwresd</span>(8)</span>,
245 <span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">named.conf</span>(5)</span>,
246 <em class="citetitle">BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual</em>.
249 <div class="refsect1" lang="en">
250 <a name="id2544039"></a><h2>AUTHOR</h2>
251 <p><span class="corpauthor">Internet Systems Consortium</span>