NAMED(8)			     BIND9			      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] [-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.

       -V
	   Report the version number and build options, 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.

       named inherits the umask (file creation mode mask) from the parent
       process. If files created by named, such as journal files, need to have
       custom permissions, the umask should be set explicitly in the script
       used to start the named process.

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

       /var/run/named/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 © 2004-2009 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
       Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2003 Internet Software Consortium.

BIND9				 May 21, 2009			      NAMED(8)

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