bind/doc/man/bin/named.8

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.\" $Id: named.8,v 1.2 2000/06/28 02:51:46 jim Exp $
.\"
.Dd Jun 30, 2000
.Dt NAMED 8
.Os BIND9 9
.ds vT BIND9 Programmer's Manual
.Sh NAME
.Nm named
.Nd Internet domain name server (DNS)
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm named
.Op Fl c Ar config-file
.Op Fl d Ar debuglevel
.Op Fl f g s
.Op Fl n Ar #cpus
.Op Fl p Ar port#
.Op Fl t Ar directory
.Op Fl u Ar user-id
.Op Fl x Ar cache-file
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm named
is the ISC implementation of an Internet domain name server.
See RFCs 1033, 1034, and 1035 for more information on the Internet
domain name system.
For historical reasons, the ISC's DNS software is known as BIND -
Berkeley Internet Nameserver Distribution - because it was originally
supplied with BSD
.Ux
releases.
.Pp
Without any arguments,
.Nm named
will read the default configuration file
.Pa /etc/named.conf ,
read any initial data, and listen for queries.
It is also possible to use the BIND9 name server
as a lightweight resolver server
.Nm lwresd .
However when operating as a lightweight resolver server,
.Nm named
is functionally and logically distinct from a
conventional name server.
More information can be found in 
.Xr lwresd 8 .
.Pp
Although some command-line options can be used with
.Nm named ,
the name server's behaviour is controlled by its configuration file, 
.Pa /etc/named.conf .
Refer to the BIND9 Administrator Reference Manual for further details.
.Pp
The options to
.Nm named
are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl c
use
.Ar config-file
as the configuration file instead of the default,
.Pa /etc/resolv.conf .
.It Fl d
set the daemon's debug level to
.Ar debuglevel .
Debugging traces from
.Nm named
become more verbose as the debug level increases.
.It Fl f
run
.Nm named
in the foreground.
.It Fl g
also runs the name server in the foreground, but
logs to
.Dv stderr .
.It Fl n
create threads that use
.Ar #cpus
CPUs if the hardware and software permits this.
When
.Ar #cpus
is set to zero,
.Nm named
will try to determine the number of CPUs present and use 1 if this
attempt fails.
.It Fl p
listen for queries on  port
.Ar port#
instead of the default port number, 53.
.It Fl s
write memory usage statistics to
.Dv stdout
on exit.
This option is only of interest
to BIND9 developers and may be removed or changed in a future release.
.It Fl t
tells
.Nm named
to chroot() to
.Ar directory
immediately after reading its config file.
.It Fl u
run
.Nm named
as UID
.Ar user-id .
.Nm named
will change its UID after it has
carried out any privileged operations, such as writing the PID file
or creating a socket that listens on port number 53.
.It Fl x
load DNS data from
.Ar cache-file .
This option must not be used.
It is only of interest
to BIND9 developers and may be removed or changed in a future release.
.El
.Sh SIGNALS
In routine operation, signals should not be used to \*qcontrol\*q the
name server.
.Nm rndc
should be used instead.
Sending the name server a
.Dv SIGHUP
signal forces a reload of the server.
A
.Dv SIGINT
or
.Dv SIGTERM
signal can be used to gracefully shut down the server.
With the exception of
.Dv SIGPIPE
which
.Nm named
uses internally, sending any other signals to the name server
will have an undefined outcome.
The most likely result will be for the name server to terminate.
It could hang because an internal deadlock was created when the name
server took delivery of the signal.
.\".Sh CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT
.\".Nm named 's
.\"configuration file is too complex to describe in detail here.
.\"A complete description is provided in the BIND9 Administrator
.\"Reference Manual.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width  /var/run/named.pid -compact
.It Pa /etc/named.conf
default configuration file
.It Pa /var/run/named.pid
default process-id file
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr RFC1033 ,
.Xr RFC1034 ,
.Xr RFC1035 ,
.Xr named.conf 5 ,
.Xr zonefile 5 ,
.Xr rndc 8 ,
.Xr lwresd 8 ,
BIND9 Administrator Reference Manual, June 2000.