named(8) System Manager's Manual named(8)
Name
named - Internet name domain server daemon
Syntax
/usr/etc/named [ -d level# ] [ -p port# ] [ -b bootfile ][ -n ][ -a type.version ]
Description
The daemon is the Internet domain name server for the BIND/Hesiod service. Without any arguments, reads the default boot file and any ini-
tial data from the BIND/Hesiod data base files. then listens for queries.
The boot file specifies where the BIND/Hesiod server is to get its initial data. See the Example section.
The master data files consist of entries of the following form:
$include file
$origin domain
domain ttl addr-class entry-type resource-record-data
The entry is useful for separating data into separate files. The entry is useful for placing more than one domain in a data file. It can
also be used to set the reverse network number origin. The fields are:
file This is the name of the file to be included.
domain This is the domain name. An at sign (@) signifies the current origin. A name refers to the standard domain name. If the
domain name does not end with a period, the current origin is appended to the domain. A domain name ending with a period is
the complete BIND domain name (fully qualified) and thus does not get an extension appended to it.
ttl This field is an optional integer specifying the time to live. If no time to live is specified, the default is obtained from
the SOA entry.
addr-class This field is the object class type. There are three classes:
IN Objects connected to the DARPA Internet
HS Hesiod naming service data
ANY All classes
entry-type The most common entries for this field are listed below. The field, however, must correspond with the entry type:
A Host address
CNAME Canonical name for an alias
HINFO Host information
MX Mail exchanger
NS Authoritative name server
PTR Domain name pointer
SOA Start of a zone of authority
TXT Hesiod text
WKS Well-known service description
The following signals have the specified effect when sent to the server process using the command:
SIGXFSZ Causes the server to reload only the databases that have changed.
SIGHUP Causes the server to read and reload database.
SIGINT Dumps the current data base and cache to
SIGIOT Dumps statistics to
SIGUSR1 Turns on debugging. Each time the SIGUSR1 signal is issued, the debug level increments by one. Debugging information is
dumped to
SIGUSR2 Turns off debugging.
Options
-b bootfile Names of the boot file. If no boot file is specified, the default is
-d level# Prints debugging information. A number after the -d option determines the level of messages printed. It is a good idea to
run the daemon with the -d option in the background.
-p port# Specifies the port number. The default is the standard port number listed in the file.
-n Runs in network safe mode. All HS class queries sent over the network are authenticated. Non-authenticated queries for HS
information from hosts other than local host are not answered. Non-authenticated requests for zone transfers are ignored.
-a type.version
Specifies the default authentication type. When authenticated queries are formed, needs to know what type of authentication
to use. The type parameter specifies the form of authentication. The version parameter specifies the version of the type to
use. The supported forms of authentication are:
type Kerberos
version One
Examples
The following is an example of a boot file:
;
; boot file for name server
;
; type domain source file or host
;
primary cities.us hosts.db
;
primary 2.10.in-addr.arpa hosts.rev
;
primary 0.0.127.in-addr.arpa named.local
;
secondary cc.cities.us 10.2.0.78 128.32.0.10
;
; load the cache data last
cache . named.ca
Entries beginning with a semicolon are comment lines. In this example, the first line that is not a comment specifies that this system is
the primary authoritative BIND server for the domain This line also specifies that the file contains authoritative data for the domain.
Domain names in the file are relative to the origin, such as in the preceding example.
The second and third non-comment entries (beginning with show the domain in reverse order. This allows address to name mapping.
The fourth non-comment line specifies that all authoritative data under is to be transferred from the primary master server at IP address
to the secondary server. If the transfer fails, the secondary server will then try the master server at address There can be up to 10 IP
addresses listed.
The cache entry specifies that the data in is to be placed in the cache. This would include well known data such as the locations of root
domain servers.
Files
Name server configuration boot file
Process ID number
Debug output
Dump of the BIND server's cache
See Also
kill(1), signal(3c), resolver(3), hesiod.conf(5), resolv.conf(5)
Guide to the BIND/Hesiod Service
named(8)