


NAMED(8)                                                 NAMED(8)


NAME
       named - Internet domain name server

SYNOPSIS
       named [-4] [-6] [-c config-file] [-d debug-level] [-f]
             [-g] [-i pid-file] [-m flag] [-n #cpus] [-p port]
             [-s] [-t directory] [-u user] [-v] [-x cache-file]

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 fork into two
       processes for privilege separation, chroot(2) to
       /var/named, read the default configuration file
       /var/named/etc/named.conf, read any initial data, and lis-
       ten for queries. The privileged process will communicate
       with the child and bind(2) to privileged ports on its
       behalf. See CAVEATS section below.

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 con-
              figuration file, config-file should be an absolute
              pathname.

       -d debug-level
              Set the daemon's debug level to debug-level. Debug-
              ging traces from named become more verbose as the
              debug level increases.

       -f     Run the server in the foreground (i.e. do not dae-
              monize).

       -g     Run the server in the foreground and force all log-
              ging to stderr.

       -m flag
              Turn on memory usage debugging flags. Possible
              flags are usage, trace, record, size, and mctx.
              These correspond to the ISC_MEM_DEBUGXXXX flags
              described in <isc/mem.h>.




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NAMED(8)                                                 NAMED(8)


       -i pid-file
              Specifies the file that contains the process ID of
              named. The default is /var/run/named.pid.

       -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 cre-
              ated.

       -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 configura-
              tion 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(2) is defined allows a process with
              root privileges to escape a chroot jail.

       -u user
              Setuid to user after completing privileged opera-
              tions, 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(2) 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 privi-
              leges to be retained after setuid(2).

       -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.





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NAMED(8)                                                 NAMED(8)


SIGNALS
       In routine operation, signals should not be used to con-
       trol 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.

CAVEATS
        named runs privilege separated for binding the privileged
       ports after an interface or address change. The privileged
       process will only allow named to bind(2) to default ports.
       Make sure you use unprivileged (>1024) ports if you change
       any of the default ports in named's configuration or on
       the command-line.

FILES
       /etc/named.conf
              The default configuration file.

       /var/run/named.pid
              The default process-id file.

SEE ALSO
       RFC 1033, RFC 1034, RFC 1035, named-checkconf(8),
       named-checkzone(8), rndc(8), lwresd(8), named.conf(5),
       BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual.

AUTHOR
       Internet Systems Consortium


















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