NAMED(8)                                                              NAMED(8)


NAME
     named - Internet domain name server

SYNOPSIS
     named [-4] [-6] [-c config-file] [-d debug-level] [-f] [-g] [-m flag]
           [-n #cpus] [-p port] [-s] [-S #max-socks] [-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 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.

     -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>.

     -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.

     -S #max-socks
         Allow named to use up to #max-socks sockets.
              Warning: This option should be unnecessary for the vast majority
              of users. The use of this option could even be harmful because
              the specified value may exceed the limitation of the underlying
              system API. It is therefore set only when the default
              configuration causes exhaustion of file descriptors and the
              operational environment is known to support the specified number
              of sockets. Note also that the actual maximum number is normally
              a little fewer than the specified value because named reserves
              some file descriptors for its internal use.

     -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(2) 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(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 privileges 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.


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.

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

COPYRIGHT
     Copyright c 2004-2008 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
     Copyright c 2000, 2001, 2003 Internet Software Consortium.


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