named

named
Prev	Manual pages	Next

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.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

The BIND named server is managed by the service management facility, under the service identifier: svc:/network/dns/named and thus can co-exist with the Solaris bundled bogus named.

This section describes additional attributes of named.

SMF Properties

When starting named from the service management facility, smf(4), named configuration is read from the service configuration repository. Use svcprop(1) to list the properties and svccfg(1m) to make changes.

The following application configuration properties are available to administrators:

options/server

Specifies the server executable to be used instead of the default server.

options/configuration_file

This property is the equivalent of the -c option.

options/ip_interfaces

This property is the equivalent of the -4 or -6 option.

options/listen_on_port

This property is the equivalent of the -p option.

options/debug_level

This property is the equivalent of the -d option.

options/threads

This property is the equivalent of the -n option.

options/chroot_dir

This property is the equivalent of the -t option.

When using this option, named is unable to disable itself when receiving rndc(1m) stop or halt commands. Instead, you must use the svcadm(1m) disable command.

In the event of a configuration error originating in one of the above SMF application options, named displays a message providing information about the error and the parameters that need correcting. The process then exits with exit code SMF_EXIT_ERR_CONFIG.

At startup, in the event of an error other than a configuration error, named exits with exit code SMF_EXIT_ERR_FATAL. Both of this code and SMF_EXIT_ERR_CONFIG cause the start method, smf_method(4), to place the service in the maintenance state, which can be observed with the svcs(1) command svcs -x.

In addition to the properties listed above, the following property can be used to invoke named as a user other than root:

start/user: This property is the equivalent of the -u option.

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.

AUTHOR

Internet Systems Consortium

Name

Synopsis