
NAMED(8)                FreeBSD System Manager's Manual               NAMED(8)

NAME
     named - Internet domain name server (DNS)

SYNOPSIS
     NAMED [-d debuglevel] [-p port#] [-(b|c) config_file] [-f -q -r -v] [-u
           user_name] [-g group_name] [-t directory] [-w directory]
           [config_file]

DESCRIPTION
     Named is the Internet domain name server.  See RFC's 1033, 1034, and 1035
     for more information on the Internet name-domain system.  Without any ar-
     guments, named will read the default configuration file /etc/named.conf,
     read any initial data, and listen for queries.  A config_file argument
     given at the end of the command line will override any config_file speci-
     fied by using the ``-b'' or ``-c'' flags.

     NOTE: Several of named's options, and much more of its behaviour, can be
     controlled in the configuration file.  Please refer to the configuration
     file guide included with this BIND distribution for further information.

     Options are:

     -d debuglevel
                 Print debugging information.  The debuglevel is a number de-
                 termines the level of messages printed.  If negative,
                 debuglevel is set to ``1''.

                 NOTE: The new debugging framework is considerably more so-
                 phisticated than it was in older versions of NAMED. The con-
                 figuration file's ``logging'' statement allows for multiple,
                 distinct levels of debugging for each of a large set of cate-
                 gories of events (such as queries, transfers in or out,
                 etc.).  Please refer to the configuration file guide included
                 with this BIND distribution for further information about
                 these extensive new capabilities.

     -p port#    Use the specified remote port number; this is the port number
                 to which NAMED will send queries.  The default value is the
                 standard port number, i.e., the port number returned by get-
                 servbyname(3) for service ``domain''.

                 NOTE: Previously, the syntax ``-p port#[/localport#]'' was
                 supported; the first port was that used when contacting
                 remote servers, and the second one was the service port bound
                 by the local instance of NAMED. The current usage is equiva-
                 lent to the old usage without the localport# specified; this
                 functionality can be specified with the ``listen-on'' clause
                 of the configuration file's ``options'' statement.

     -(b|c) config_file
                 Use an alternate config_file; this argument is overridden by
                 any config_file which is specified at the end of the command
                 line.  The default value is /etc/named.conf.

     -f          Run this process in the foreground; don't fork(2) and daemo-
                 nize.  (The default is to daemonize.)

     -q          Trace all incoming queries if NAMED has been compiled with
                 QRYLOG defined.

                 NOTE: This option is deprecated in favor of the ``queries''
                 logging category of the configuration file's ``logging''
                 statement; for more information, please refer to the configu-
                 ration file guide included with this distribution of BIND.

     -r          Turns recursion off in the server.  Answers can come only
                 from local (primary or secondary) zones.  This can be used on
                 root servers.  The default is to use recursion.

                 NOTE: This option can be overridden by and is deprecated in
                 favor of the ``recursion'' clause of the configuration file's
                 ``options'' statement.

     -v          Report the version and exit.

     -u user_name
                 Specifies the user the server should run as after it initial-
                 izes.  The value specified may be either a username or a nu-
                 meric user id.  If the ``-g'' flag is not specified, then the
                 group id used will be the primary group of the user specified
                 (initgroups() is called, so all of the user's groups will be
                 available to the server).

     -g group_name
                 Specifies the group the server should run as after it ini-
                 tializes.  The value specified may be either a groupname or a
                 numeric group id.

     -t directory
                 Specifies the directory the server should chroot() into as
                 soon as it is finshed processing command line arguments.

     -w directory
                 Sets the working directory of the server.  The ``directory''
                 clause of the configuration file's ``options'' statement
                 overrides any value specified on the command line.  The de-
                 fault working directory is the current directory (``.'').

     Any additional argument is taken as the name of the configuration file,
     for compatibility with older implementations; as noted above, this argu-
     ment overrides any config_file specified by the use of the ``-b'' or
     ``-c'' flags.  If no further argument is given, then the default configu-
     ration file is used (/etc/named.conf).

   Master File Format
     The master file consists of control information and a list of resource
     records for objects in the zone of the forms:

           $INCLUDE <filename> <opt_domain>
           $ORIGIN <domain>
           $TTL <ttl>
           <domain> <opt_ttl> <opt_class> <type> <resource_record_data>

     where:

     domain        is ``.'' for root, ``@'' for the current origin, or a stan-
                   dard domain name. If domain is a standard domain name that
                   does not end with ``.'', the current origin is appended to
                   the domain. Domain names ending with ``.'' are unmodified.

     opt_domain    This field is used to define an origin for the data in an
                   included file.  It is equivalent to placing an $ORIGIN
                   statement before the first line of the included file.  The
                   field is optional.  Neither the opt_domain field nor
                   $ORIGIN statements in the included file modify the current
                   origin for this file.

     ttl           A integer number that sets the default time-to-live for fu-

                   ture records without an explicit ttl.

     opt_ttl       An optional integer number for the time-to-live field.  If
                   not set the ttl is taken from the last $TTL statement.  If
                   no $TTL statement has occured then the SOA minimum value is
                   used and a warning is generated.

     opt_class     The object address type; currently only one type is sup-
                   ported, IN, for objects connected to the DARPA Internet.

     type          This field contains one of the following tokens; the data
                   expected in the resource_record_data field is in parenthe-
                   ses:

                         A          a host address (dotted-quad IP address)

                         NS         an authoritative name server (domain)

                         MX         a mail exchanger (domain), preceded by a
                                    preference value (0..32767), with lower
                                    numeric values representing higher logical
                                    preferences.

                         CNAME      the canonical name for an alias (domain)

                         SOA        marks the start of a zone of authority
                                    (domain of originating host, domain ad-
                                    dress of maintainer, a serial number and
                                    the following parameters in seconds: re-
                                    fresh, retry, expire and minimum TTL (see
                                    RFC 883 and RFC 2308)).

                         NULL       a null resource record (no format or data)

                         RP         a Responsible Person for some domain name
                                    (mailbox, TXT-referral)

                         PTR        a domain name pointer (domain)

                         HINFO      host information (cpu_type OS_type)

     Resource records normally end at the end of a line, but may be continued
     across lines between opening and closing parentheses.  Comments are in-
     troduced by semicolons and continue to the end of the line.

     NOTE: There are other resource record types not shown here.  You should
     consult the BIND Operations Guide (``BOG'') for the complete list.  Some
     resource record types may have been standardized in newer RFC's but not
     yet implemented in this version of BIND.

   SOA Record Format
     Each master zone file should begin with an SOA record for the zone.  An
     example SOA record is as follows:

     @       IN      SOA     ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU. rwh.ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU. (
                                     1989020501      ; serial
                                     10800   ; refresh
                                     3600    ; retry
                                     3600000 ; expire
                                     86400 ) ; minimum

     The SOA specifies a serial number, which should be incremented each time
     the master file is changed.  Note that the serial number can be given as
     a dotted number, but this is a very unwise thing to do since the transla-
     tion to normal integers is via concatenation rather than multiplication
     and addition.  You can spell out the year, month, day of month, and 0..99
     version number and still fit inside the unsigned 32-bit size of this
     field.  (It's true that we will have to rethink this strategy in the year
     4294, but we're not worried about it.)

     Secondary servers check the serial number at intervals specified by the
     refresh time in seconds; if the serial number changes, a zone transfer
     will be done to load the new data.  If a master server cannot be contact-
     ed when a refresh is due, the retry time specifies the interval at which
     refreshes should be attempted.  If a master server cannot be contacted
     within the interval given by the expire time, all data from the zone is
     discarded by secondary servers.  The minimum value is the cache time-to-
     live for negative answers (RFC 2308).

NOTES
     The boot file directives ``domain'' and ``suffixes'' have been obsoleted
     by a more useful, resolver-based implementation of suffixing for partial-
     ly-qualified domain names.  The prior mechanisms could fail under a num-
     ber of situations, especially when then local nameserver did not have
     complete information.

     The following signals have the specified effect when sent to the server
     process using the kill(1) command:

     SIGHUP    Causes server to read named.conf and reload the database.  If
               the server is built with the FORCED_RELOAD compile-time option,
               then SIGHUP will also cause the server to check the serial num-
               ber on all secondary zones; normally, the serial numbers are
               only checked at the SOA-specified intervals.

     SIGINT    Dumps the current data base and cache to
               ``/var/tmp/named_dump.db'' or the value of _PATH_DUMPFILE.

     SIGILL    Dumps statistics data into named.stats if the server is com-
               piled with -DSTATS. Statistics data is appended to the file.

     SIGSYS    Dumps the profiling data in /var/tmp if the server is compiled
               with profiling (server forks, chdirs and exits).

     SIGTERM   Saves any modified dynamic zones to the file system, and shuts
               down the server.

     SIGUSR1   Turns on debugging; each SIGUSR1 increments debug level.
               (SIGEMTon older systems without SIGUSR1.)

     SIGUSR2   Turns off debugging completely.   (SIGFPEon older systems
               without SIGUSR2.)

     SIGWINCH  Toggles logging of all incoming queries via syslog(8) (requires
               server to have been built with the QRYLOG option).

FILES
     /etc/named.conf                             default name server configu-
                                                 ration file
     /var/run/named.pid (_PATH_PIDFILE)          the process id
     /var/tmp/named_dump.db (_PATH_DUMPFILE)     dump of the name server
                                                 database
     /var/tmp/named.run (file: _PATH_DEBUG)      debug output
     /var/tmp/named.stats (file: _PATH_STATS)    nameserver statistics data

SEE ALSO
     gethostbyname(3),  hostname(7),  kill(1),  resolver(3),  resolver(5),
     signal(2),  RFC 882, RFC 883, RFC 973, RFC 974, RFC 1033, RFC 1034, RFC
     1035, RFC 1123, RFC 2308 ``Name Server Operations Guide for BIND''

4th Berkeley Distribution      February 1, 1996                              4
