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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/namedb/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/namedb/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,  con-
	 fig-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 configura-
		tion  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  re-
		lease.

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 Man-
     ual.

     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  per-
     missions,	the  umask  should be set explicitly in the script used to start
     the named process.

FILES
     /etc/namedb/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) 2004-2009 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
     Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2003 Internet Software Consortium.

BIND9				  May 21, 2009				NAMED(8)
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