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5 - Copyright (C) 2004, 2005 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
6 - Copyright (C) 2000, 2001 Internet Software Consortium.
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21 <!-- $Id: rndc.conf.docbook,v 1.4.206.4 2005/05/12 21:36:04 sra Exp $ -->
25 <date>June 30, 2000</date>
29 <refentrytitle><filename>rndc.conf</filename></refentrytitle>
30 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
31 <refmiscinfo>BIND9</refmiscinfo>
38 <holder>Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")</holder>
43 <holder>Internet Software Consortium.</holder>
48 <refname><filename>rndc.conf</filename></refname>
49 <refpurpose>rndc configuration file</refpurpose>
54 <command>rndc.conf</command>
59 <title>DESCRIPTION</title>
61 <filename>rndc.conf</filename> is the configuration file
62 for <command>rndc</command>, the BIND 9 name server control
63 utility. This file has a similar structure and syntax to
64 <filename>named.conf</filename>. Statements are enclosed
65 in braces and terminated with a semi-colon. Clauses in
66 the statements are also semi-colon terminated. The usual
67 comment styles are supported:
73 C++ style: // to end of line
76 Unix style: # to end of line
79 <filename>rndc.conf</filename> is much simpler than
80 <filename>named.conf</filename>. The file uses three
81 statements: an options statement, a server statement
85 The <option>options</option> statement contains three clauses.
86 The <option>default-server</option> clause is followed by the
87 name or address of a name server. This host will be used when
88 no name server is given as an argument to
89 <command>rndc</command>. The <option>default-key</option>
90 clause is followed by the name of a key which is identified by
91 a <option>key</option> statement. If no
92 <option>keyid</option> is provided on the rndc command line,
93 and no <option>key</option> clause is found in a matching
94 <option>server</option> statement, this default key will be
95 used to authenticate the server's commands and responses. The
96 <option>default-port</option> clause is followed by the port
97 to connect to on the remote name server. If no
98 <option>port</option> option is provided on the rndc command
99 line, and no <option>port</option> clause is found in a
100 matching <option>server</option> statement, this default port
101 will be used to connect.
104 After the <option>server</option> keyword, the server statement
105 includes a string which is the hostname or address for a name
106 server. The statement has two possible clauses:
107 <option>key</option> and <option>port</option>. The key name must
108 match the name of a key statement in the file. The port number
109 specifies the port to connect to.
112 The <option>key</option> statement begins with an identifying
113 string, the name of the key. The statement has two clauses.
114 <option>algorithm</option> identifies the encryption algorithm
115 for <command>rndc</command> to use; currently only HMAC-MD5 is
116 supported. This is followed by a secret clause which contains
117 the base-64 encoding of the algorithm's encryption key. The
118 base-64 string is enclosed in double quotes.
121 There are two common ways to generate the base-64 string for the
122 secret. The BIND 9 program <command>rndc-confgen</command> can
123 be used to generate a random key, or the
124 <command>mmencode</command> program, also known as
125 <command>mimencode</command>, can be used to generate a base-64
126 string from known input. <command>mmencode</command> does not
127 ship with BIND 9 but is available on many systems. See the
128 EXAMPLE section for sample command lines for each.
133 <title>EXAMPLE</title>
137 default-server localhost;
138 default-key samplekey;
147 secret "c3Ryb25nIGVub3VnaCBmb3IgYSBtYW4gYnV0IG1hZGUgZm9yIGEgd29tYW4K";
152 In the above example, <command>rndc</command> will by default use
153 the server at localhost (127.0.0.1) and the key called samplekey.
154 Commands to the localhost server will use the samplekey key, which
155 must also be defined in the server's configuration file with the
156 same name and secret. The key statement indicates that samplekey
157 uses the HMAC-MD5 algorithm and its secret clause contains the
158 base-64 encoding of the HMAC-MD5 secret enclosed in double quotes.
161 To generate a random secret with <command>rndc-confgen</command>:
164 <userinput>rndc-confgen</userinput>
167 A complete <filename>rndc.conf</filename> file, including the
168 randomly generated key, will be written to the standard
169 output. Commented out <option>key</option> and
170 <option>controls</option> statements for
171 <filename>named.conf</filename> are also printed.
174 To generate a base-64 secret with <command>mmencode</command>:
177 <userinput>echo "known plaintext for a secret" | mmencode</userinput>
182 <title>NAME SERVER CONFIGURATION</title>
184 The name server must be configured to accept rndc connections and
185 to recognize the key specified in the <filename>rndc.conf</filename>
186 file, using the controls statement in <filename>named.conf</filename>.
187 See the sections on the <option>controls</option> statement in the
188 BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual for details.
193 <title>SEE ALSO</title>
196 <refentrytitle>rndc</refentrytitle>
197 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
200 <refentrytitle>rndc-confgen</refentrytitle>
201 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
204 <refentrytitle>mmencode</refentrytitle>
205 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
207 <citetitle>BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual</citetitle>.
212 <title>AUTHOR</title>
214 <corpauthor>Internet Systems Consortium</corpauthor>