Ubuntu Manpage: knot.conf - Knot DNS configuration file

NAME

       knot.conf - Knot DNS configuration file

DESCRIPTION

       Configuration files for Knot DNS use simplified YAML format. Simplified means that not all
       of the features are supported.

       For the description of configuration items, we have to declare a meaning of the  following
       symbols:

       • INT – Integer

       • STR – Textual string

       • HEXSTR – Hexadecimal string (with 0x prefix)

       • BOOL – Boolean value (on/off or true/false)

       • TIME  –  Number  of seconds, an integer with possible time multiplier suffix (s ~ 1, m ~
         60, h ~ 3600 or d ~ 24 * 3600)

       • SIZE – Number of bytes, an integer with possible size multiplier suffix  (B  ~  1,  K  ~
         1024, M ~ 1024^2 or G ~ 1024^3)

       • BASE64 – Base64 encoded string

       • ADDR – IPv4 or IPv6 address

       • DNAME – Domain name

       • ... – Multi-valued item, order of the values is preserved

       • [ ] – Optional value

       • | – Choice

       The  configuration  consists of several fixed sections and optional module sections. There
       are 16 fixed sections (module, server, xdp, control, log, statistics, database,  keystore,
       key,  remote,  remotes,  acl,  submission,  policy,  template, zone).  Module sections are
       prefixed with the mod- prefix (e.g. mod-stats).

       Most of the sections (e.g. zone) are sequences of settings  blocks.  Each  settings  block
       begins  with  a  unique  identifier,  which can be used as a reference from other sections
       (such an identifier must be defined in advance).

       A multi-valued item can be specified either as a YAML sequence:

          address: [10.0.0.1, 10.0.0.2]

       or as more single-valued items each on an extra line:

          address: 10.0.0.1
          address: 10.0.0.2

       If an item value contains spaces or other special characters, it is necessary  to  enclose
       such a value within double quotes " ".

COMMENTS

       A  comment  begins  with  a  #  character  and  is  ignored  during processing.  Also each
       configuration section or sequence block allows a permanent comment using the comment  item
       which is stored in the server beside the configuration.

INCLUDING CONFIGURATION

       Another  configuration file or files, matching a pattern, can be included at the top level
       in the current file.

          include: STR

   include
       A path or a matching pattern specifying one or more files that are included at  the  place
       of the include option position in the configuration.  If the path is not absolute, then it
       is considered to be relative to the current file. The pattern can be an  arbitrary  string
       meeting  POSIX  glob requirements, e.g. dir/*.conf. Matching files are processed in sorted
       order.

       Default: not set

MODULE SECTION

       Dynamic modules loading configuration.

       NOTE:
          If configured with non-empty `--with-moduledir=path` parameter, all shared  modules  in
          this directory will be automatically loaded.

          module:
            - id: STR
              file: STR

   id
       A module identifier in the form of the mod- prefix and module name suffix.

   file
       A path to a shared library file with the module implementation.

       WARNING:
          If  the path is not absolute, the library is searched in the set of system directories.
          See man dlopen for more details.

       Default: ${libdir}/knot/modules-${version}/module_name.so  (or  ${path}/module_name.so  if
       configured with --with-moduledir=path)

SERVER SECTION

General options related to the server.

server:
identity: [STR]
version: [STR]
nsid: [STR|HEXSTR]
rundir: STR
user: STR[:STR]
pidfile: STR
udp-workers: INT
tcp-workers: INT
background-workers: INT
async-start: BOOL
tcp-idle-timeout: TIME
tcp-io-timeout: INT
tcp-remote-io-timeout: INT
tcp-max-clients: INT
tcp-reuseport: BOOL
tcp-fastopen: BOOL
quic-max-clients: INT
quic-outbuf-max-size: SIZE
quic-idle-close-timeout: TIME
remote-pool-limit: INT
remote-pool-timeout: TIME
remote-retry-delay: TIME
socket-affinity: BOOL
udp-max-payload: SIZE
udp-max-payload-ipv4: SIZE
udp-max-payload-ipv6: SIZE
key-file: STR
cert-file: STR
edns-client-subnet: BOOL
answer-rotation: BOOL
automatic-acl: BOOL
proxy-allowlist: ADDR[/INT] | ADDR-ADDR ...
dbus-event: none | running | zone-updated | ksk-submission | dnssec-invalid ...
dbus-init-delay: TIME
listen: ADDR[@INT] ...

CAUTION:
When you change configuration parameters dynamically or via configuration file reload,
some parameters in the Server section require restarting the Knot server so that the
changes take effect. See below for the details.

identity
An identity of the server returned in the response to the query for TXT record id.server.
or hostname.bind. in the CHAOS class (RFC 4892). Set to an empty value to disable.

Default: FQDN hostname

version
A version of the server software returned in the response to the query for TXT record
version.server. or version.bind. in the CHAOS class (RFC 4892). Set to an empty value to
disable.

Default: server version

nsid
A DNS name server identifier (RFC 5001). Set to an empty value to disable.

Default: FQDN hostname at the moment of the daemon start

rundir
A path for storing run-time data (PID file, unix sockets, etc.).

Depending on the usage of this parameter, its change may require restart of the Knot
server to take effect.

Default: ${localstatedir}/run/knot (configured with --with-rundir=path)

user
A system user with an optional system group (user:group) under which the server is run
after starting and binding to interfaces. Linux capabilities are employed if supported.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

Default: root:root

pidfile
A PID file location.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

Default: rundir/knot.pid

udp-workers
A number of UDP workers (threads) used to process incoming queries over UDP.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

Default: equal to the number of online CPUs

tcp-workers
A number of TCP workers (threads) used to process incoming queries over TCP.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

Default: equal to the number of online CPUs, default value is at least 10

background-workers
A number of workers (threads) used to execute background operations (zone loading, zone
updates, etc.).

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

Default: equal to the number of online CPUs, default value is at most 10

async-start
If enabled, server doesn't wait for the zones to be loaded and starts responding
immediately with SERVFAIL answers until the zone loads.

Default: off

tcp-idle-timeout
Maximum idle time (in seconds) between requests on an inbound TCP connection. It means if
there is no activity on an inbound TCP connection during this limit, the connection is
closed by the server.

Minimum: 1

Default: 10

tcp-io-timeout
Maximum time (in milliseconds) to receive or send one DNS message over an inbound TCP
connection. It means this limit applies to normal DNS queries and replies, incoming DDNS,
and outgoing zone transfers. The timeout is measured since some data is already available
for processing. Set to 0 for infinity.

Default: 500 (milliseconds)

CAUTION:
In order to reduce the risk of Slow Loris attacks, it's recommended setting this limit
as low as possible on public servers.

tcp-remote-io-timeout
Maximum time (in milliseconds) to receive or send one DNS message over an outbound TCP
connection which has already been established to a configured remote server. It means
this limit applies to incoming zone transfers, sending NOTIFY, DDNS forwarding, and DS
check or push. This timeout includes the time needed for a network round-trip and for a
query processing by the remote. Set to 0 for infinity.

Default: 5000 (milliseconds)

tcp-reuseport
If enabled, each TCP worker listens on its own socket and the OS kernel socket load
balancing is employed using SO_REUSEPORT (or SO_REUSEPORT_LB on FreeBSD). Due to the lack
of one shared socket, the server can offer higher response rate processing over TCP.
However, in the case of time-consuming requests (e.g. zone transfers of a TLD zone),
enabled reuseport may result in delayed or not being responded client requests. So it is
advisable to use this option on secondary servers.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

Default: off

tcp-fastopen
If enabled, use TCP Fast Open for outbound TCP communication (client side): incoming zone
transfers, sending NOTIFY, and DDNS forwarding. This mode simplifies TCP handshake and can
result in better networking performance. TCP Fast Open for inbound TCP communication
(server side) isn't affected by this configuration as it's enabled automatically if
supported by OS.

NOTE:
The TCP Fast Open support must also be enabled on the OS level:

• Linux/macOS: ensure kernel parameter net.ipv4.tcp_fastopen is 2 or 3 for server side,
and 1 or 3 for client side.

• FreeBSD: ensure kernel parameter net.inet.tcp.fastopen.server_enable is 1 for server
side, and net.inet.tcp.fastopen.client_enable is 1 for client side.

Default: off

quic-max-clients
A maximum number of QUIC clients connected in parallel.

XDP SECTION

Various options related to XDP listening, especially TCP.

xdp:
listen: STR[@INT] | ADDR[@INT] ...
udp: BOOL
tcp: BOOL
quic: BOOL
quic-port: INT
quic-log: BOOL
tcp-max-clients: INT
tcp-inbuf-max-size: SIZE
tcp-outbuf-max-size: SIZE
tcp-idle-close-timeout: TIME
tcp-idle-reset-timeout: TIME
tcp-resend-timeout: TIME
route-check: BOOL

CAUTION:
When you change configuration parameters dynamically or via configuration file reload,
some parameters in the XDP section require restarting the Knot server so that the
changes take effect.

listen
One or more network device names (e.g. ens786f0) on which the Mode XDP is enabled.
Alternatively, an IP address can be used instead of a device name, but the server will
still listen on all addresses belonging to the same interface! Optional port
specification (default is 53) can be appended to each device name or address using @
separator.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

CAUTION:
If XDP workers only process regular DNS traffic over UDP, it is strongly recommended to
also listen on the addresses which are intended to offer the DNS service, at least to
fulfil the DNS requirement for working TCP.

Default: not set

udp
If enabled, DNS over UDP is processed with XDP workers.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

Default: on

tcp
If enabled, DNS over TCP traffic is processed with XDP workers.

The TCP stack limitations:

• Congestion control is not implemented.

• Lost packets that do not contain TCP payload may not be resend.

• Not optimized for transfers of non-trivial zones.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

Default: off

quic
If enabled, DNS over QUIC is processed with XDP workers.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

Default: off

quic-port
DNS over QUIC will listen on the interfaces configured by listen, but on different port,
configured by this option.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

Default: 853

quic-log
Triggers extensive logging of all QUIC protocol internals for every connection.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

Default: off

tcp-max-clients
A maximum number of TCP clients connected in parallel.

Minimum: 1024

Default: 1000000 (one million)

tcp-inbuf-max-size
Maximum cumulative size of memory used for buffers of incompletely received messages.

Minimum: 1M (1 MiB)

Default: 100M (100 MiB)

tcp-outbuf-max-size
Maximum cumulative size of memory used for buffers of unACKed sent messages.

Minimum: 1M (1 MiB)

Default: 100M (100 MiB)

tcp-idle-close-timeout
Time in seconds, after which any idle connection is gracefully closed.

Minimum: 1

Default: 10

tcp-idle-reset-timeout
Time in seconds, after which any idle connection is forcibly closed.

Minimum: 1

Default: 20

tcp-resend-timeout
Resend outgoing data packets (with DNS response payload) if not ACKed before this timeout.

Minimum: 1

Default: 5

route-check
If enabled, routing information from the operating system is considered when processing
every incoming DNS packet received over the XDP interface:

• If the outgoing interface of the corresponding DNS response differs from the incoming
one, the packet is processed normally by UDP/TCP workers (XDP isn't used).

• If the destination address is blackholed, unreachable, or prohibited, the DNS packet is
dropped without any response.

• The destination MAC address and possible VLAN tag for the response are taken from the
routing system.

If disabled, symmetrical routing is applied. It means that the query source MAC address is
used as a response destination MAC address. Possible VLAN tag is preserved.

Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.

NOTE:
This mode requires forwarding enabled on the loopback interface (sysctl -w
net.ipv4.conf.lo.forwarding=1 and sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.lo.forwarding=1). If
forwarding is disabled, all incoming DNS packets are dropped!

Only VLAN 802.1Q is supported.

Default: off

CONTROL SECTION

       Configuration of the server control interface.

          control:
              listen: STR
              timeout: TIME

   listen
       A UNIX socket path where the server listens for control commands.

       Default: rundir/knot.sock

   timeout
       Maximum time (in seconds) the control socket operations can take.  Set to 0 for infinity.

       Default: 5

LOG SECTION

Server can be configured to log to the standard output, standard error output, syslog (or
systemd journal if systemd is enabled) or into an arbitrary file.

There are 6 logging severity levels:

• critical – Non-recoverable error resulting in server shutdown.

• error – Recoverable error, action should be taken.

• warning – Warning that might require user action.

• notice – Server notice or hint.

• info – Informational message.

• debug – Debug or detailed message.

In the case of a missing log section, warning or more serious messages will be logged to
both standard error output and syslog. The info and notice messages will be logged to
standard output.

target
A logging output.

Possible values:

• stdout – Standard output.

• stderr – Standard error output.

• syslog – Syslog or systemd journal.

• file_name – A specific file.

With syslog target, syslog service is used. However, if Knot DNS has been compiled with
systemd support and operating system has been booted with systemd, systemd journal is used
for logging instead of syslog.

server
Minimum severity level for messages related to general operation of the server to be
logged.

Default: not set

control
Minimum severity level for messages related to server control to be logged.

Default: not set

zone
Minimum severity level for messages related to zones to be logged.

Default: not set

any
Minimum severity level for all message types to be logged.

Default: not set

STATS SECTION

       Periodic server statistics dumping.

          statistics:
              timer: TIME
              file: STR
              append: BOOL

   timer
       A period after which all available statistics metrics will by written to the file.

       Default: not set

   file
       A file path of statistics output in the YAML format.

       Default: rundir/stats.yaml

   append
       If enabled, the output will be appended to the file instead of file replacement.

       Default: off

DATABASE SECTION

Configuration of databases for zone contents, DNSSEC metadata, or event timers.

database:
storage: STR
journal-db: STR
journal-db-mode: robust | asynchronous
journal-db-max-size: SIZE
kasp-db: STR
kasp-db-max-size: SIZE
timer-db: STR
timer-db-max-size: SIZE
catalog-db: str
catalog-db-max-size: SIZE

storage
A data directory for storing journal, KASP, and timer databases.

Default: ${localstatedir}/lib/knot (configured with --with-storage=path)

journal-db
An explicit specification of the persistent journal database directory. Non-absolute path
(i.e. not starting with /) is relative to storage.

Default: storage/journal

journal-db-mode
Specifies journal LMDB backend configuration, which influences performance and durability.

Possible values:

• robust – The journal database disk synchronization ensures database durability but is
generally slower.

• asynchronous – The journal database disk synchronization is optimized for better
performance at the expense of lower database durability in the case of a crash. This
mode is recommended on secondary servers with many zones.

Default: robust

journal-db-max-size
The hard limit for the journal database maximum size. There is no cleanup logic in journal
to recover from reaching this limit. Journal simply starts refusing changes across all
zones. Decreasing this value has no effect if it is lower than the actual database file
size.

It is recommended to limit journal-max-usage per-zone instead of journal-db-max-size in
most cases. Please keep this value larger than the sum of all zones' journal usage limits.
See more details regarding journal behaviour.

NOTE:
This value also influences server's usage of virtual memory.

Default: 20G (20 GiB), or 512M (512 MiB) for 32-bit

kasp-db
An explicit specification of the KASP database directory. Non-absolute path (i.e. not
starting with /) is relative to storage.

Default: storage/keys

kasp-db-max-size
The hard limit for the KASP database maximum size.

NOTE:
This value also influences server's usage of virtual memory.

Default: 500M (500 MiB)

timer-db
An explicit specification of the persistent timer database directory. Non-absolute path
(i.e. not starting with /) is relative to storage.

Default: storage/timers

timer-db-max-size
The hard limit for the timer database maximum size.

NOTE:
This value also influences server's usage of virtual memory.

Default: 100M (100 MiB)

catalog-db
An explicit specification of the zone catalog database directory. Only useful if
catalog-zones are enabled. Non-absolute path (i.e. not starting with /) is relative to
storage.

Default: storage/catalog

catalog-db-max-size
The hard limit for the catalog database maximum size.

NOTE:
This value also influences server's usage of virtual memory.

Default: 20G (20 GiB), or 512M (512 MiB) for 32-bit

KEYSTORE SECTION

       DNSSEC keystore configuration.

          keystore:
            - id: STR
              backend: pem | pkcs11
              config: STR
              key-label: BOOL

   id
       A keystore identifier.

   backend
       A key storage backend type.

       Possible values:

       • pem – PEM files.

       • pkcs11 – PKCS #11 storage.

       Default: pem

   config
       A backend specific configuration. A directory with PEM files (the path can be specified as
       a  relative  path to kasp-db) or a configuration string for PKCS #11 storage (<pkcs11-url>
       <module-path>).

       NOTE:
          Example configuration string for PKCS #11:

              "pkcs11:token=knot;pin-value=1234 /usr/lib64/pkcs11/libsofthsm2.so"

       Default: kasp-db/keys

   key-label
       If enabled in combination with the PKCS #11 backend, generated keys  are  labeled  in  the
       form <zone_name> KSK|ZSK.

       Default: off

KEY SECTION

       Shared TSIG keys used to authenticate communication with the server.

          key:
            - id: DNAME
              algorithm: hmac-md5 | hmac-sha1 | hmac-sha224 | hmac-sha256 | hmac-sha384 | hmac-sha512
              secret: BASE64

   id
       A key name identifier.

       NOTE:
          This  value  MUST  be  exactly  the  same  as  the name of the TSIG key on the opposite
          primary/secondary server(s).

   algorithm
       A TSIG key algorithm. See TSIG Algorithm Numbers.

       Possible values:

       • hmac-md5

       • hmac-sha1

       • hmac-sha224

       • hmac-sha256

       • hmac-sha384

       • hmac-sha512

       Default: not set

   secret
       Shared key secret.

       Default: not set

REMOTE SECTION

Definitions of remote servers for outgoing connections (source of a zone transfer, target
for a notification, etc.).

remote:
- id: STR
address: ADDR[@INT] ...
via: ADDR[@INT] ...
key: key_id
block-notify-after-transfer: BOOL
no-edns: BOOL
automatic-acl: BOOL

id
A remote identifier.

address
An ordered list of destination IP addresses which are used for communication with the
remote server. The addresses are tried in sequence until the remote is reached. Optional
destination port (default is 53) can be appended to the address using @ separator.

Default: not set

NOTE:
If the remote is contacted and it refuses to perform requested action, no more
addresses will be tried for this remote.

via
An ordered list of source IP addresses. The first address with the same family as the
destination address is used as a source address for communication with the remote. This
option can help if the server listens on more addresses. Optional source port (default is
random) can be appended to the address using @ separator.

Default: not set

key
A reference to the TSIG key which is used to authenticate the communication with the
remote server.

Default: not set

block-notify-after-transfer
When incoming AXFR/IXFR from this remote (as a primary server), suppress sending NOTIFY
messages to all configured secondary servers.

Default: off

no-edns
If enabled, no OPT record (EDNS) is inserted to outgoing requests to this remote server.
This mode is necessary for communication with some broken implementations (e.g. Windows
Server 2016).

Default: off

automatic-acl
If enabled, some authorized operations for the remote are automatically allowed based on
the context:

• Incoming NOTIFY is allowed from the remote if it's configured as a primary server for
the zone.

• Outgoing zone transfer is allowed to the remote if it's configured as a NOTIFY target
for the zone.

Automatic ACL rules are evaluated before explicit zone ACL configuration.

NOTE:
This functionality requires global activation via automatic-acl in the server section.

Default: on

REMOTES SECTION

       Definitions of groups of remote servers. Remote grouping can simplify the configuration.

          remotes:
            - id: STR
              remote: remote_id ...

   id
       A remote group identifier.

   remote
       An ordered list of references to remote server definitions.

       Default: not set

ACL SECTION

Access control list rule definitions. An ACL rule is a description of one or more
authorized operations (zone transfer request, zone change notification, and dynamic DNS
update) which are allowed to be processed or denied.

id
An ACL rule identifier.

address
An ordered list of IP addresses, network subnets, or network ranges. The query's source
address must match one of them. If this item is not set, address match is not required.

Default: not set

key
An ordered list of references to TSIG keys. The query must match one of them. If this item
is not set, transaction authentication is not used.

Default: not set

remote
An ordered list of references remote and remotes. The query must match one of the remotes.
Specifically, one of the remote's addresses and remote's TSIG key if configured must
match.

NOTE:
This option cannot be specified along with the address or key option at one ACL item.

Default: not set

action
An ordered list of allowed (or denied) actions.

Possible values:

• query – Allow regular DNS query. As normal queries are always allowed, this action is
only useful in combination with TSIG key.

• notify – Allow incoming notify (NOTIFY).

• transfer – Allow zone transfer (AXFR, IXFR).

• update – Allow zone updates (DDNS).

Default: query

deny
If enabled, instead of allowing, deny the specified action, address, key, or combination
if these items. If no action is specified, deny all actions.

Default: off

update-type
A list of allowed types of Resource Records in a zone update. Every record in an update
must match one of the specified types.

Default: not set

update-owner
This option restricts possible owners of Resource Records in a zone update by comparing
them to either the TSIG key identity, the current zone name, or to a list of domain names
given by the update-owner-name option. The comparison method is given by the
update-owner-match option.

Possible values:

• key — The owner of each updated RR must match the identity of the TSIG key if used.

• name — The owner of each updated RR must match at least one name in the
update-owner-name list.

• zone — The owner of each updated RR must match the current zone name.

Default: not set

update-owner-match
This option defines how the owners of Resource Records in an update are matched to the
domain name(s) set by the update-owner option.

Possible values:

• sub-or-equal — The owner of each RR in an update must either be equal to or be a
subdomain of at least one domain name set by update-owner.

• equal — The owner of each updated RR must be equal to at least one domain name set by
update-owner.

• sub — The owner of each updated RR must be a subdomain of, but MUST NOT be equal to at
least one domain name set by update-owner.

Default: sub-or-equal

update-owner-name
A list of allowed owners of RRs in a zone update used with update-owner set to name. Every
listed owner name which is not FQDN (i.e. it doesn't end in a dot) is considered as if it
was appended with the target zone name. Such a relative owner name specification allows
better ACL rule reusability across multiple zones.

Default: not set

SUBMISSION SECTION

       Parameters of KSK submission checks.

          submission:
            - id: STR
              parent: remote_id | remotes_id ...
              check-interval: TIME
              timeout: TIME
              parent-delay: TIME

   id
       A submission identifier.

   parent
       A list of references remote and remotes to parent's DNS servers to be checked for presence
       of  corresponding  DS  records  in  the  case  of  KSK submission. All of them must have a
       corresponding DS for the rollover to continue. If none is specified, the rollover must  be
       pushed forward manually.

       Default: not set

       TIP:
          A DNSSEC-validating resolver can be set as a parent.

   check-interval
       Interval  for  periodic  checks of DS presence on parent's DNS servers, in the case of the
       KSK submission.

       Default: 1h (1 hour)

   timeout
       After this time period  (in  seconds)  the  KSK  submission  is  automatically  considered
       successful,  even  if all the checks were negative or no parents are configured.  Set to 0
       for infinity.

       Default: 0

   parent-delay
       After successful parent DS check, wait for this period  before  continuing  the  next  key
       roll-over step. This delay shall cover the propagation delay of update in the parent zone.

       Default: 0

POLICY SECTION

DNSSEC policy configuration.

policy:
- id: STR
keystore: keystore_id
manual: BOOL
single-type-signing: BOOL
algorithm: rsasha1 | rsasha1-nsec3-sha1 | rsasha256 | rsasha512 | ecdsap256sha256 | ecdsap384sha384 | ed25519 | ed448
ksk-size: SIZE
zsk-size: SIZE
ksk-shared: BOOL
dnskey-ttl: TIME
zone-max-ttl: TIME
ksk-lifetime: TIME
zsk-lifetime: TIME
delete-delay: TIME
propagation-delay: TIME
rrsig-lifetime: TIME
rrsig-refresh: TIME
rrsig-pre-refresh: TIME
reproducible-signing: BOOL
nsec3: BOOL
nsec3-iterations: INT
nsec3-opt-out: BOOL
nsec3-salt-length: INT
nsec3-salt-lifetime: TIME
signing-threads: INT
ksk-submission: submission_id
ds-push: remote_id | remotes_id ...
cds-cdnskey-publish: none | delete-dnssec | rollover | always | double-ds
cds-digest-type: sha256 | sha384
dnskey-management: full | incremental
offline-ksk: BOOL
unsafe-operation: none | no-check-keyset | no-update-dnskey | no-update-nsec | no-update-expired ...

id
A policy identifier.

keystore
A reference to a keystore holding private key material for zones.

Default: an imaginary keystore with all default values

NOTE:
A configured keystore called "default" won't be used unless explicitly referenced.

manual
If enabled, automatic key management is not used.

Default: off

single-type-signing
If enabled, Single-Type Signing Scheme is used in the automatic key management mode.

Default: off (module onlinesign has default on)

algorithm
An algorithm of signing keys and issued signatures. See DNSSEC Algorithm Numbers.

Possible values:

• rsasha1

• rsasha1-nsec3-sha1

• rsasha256

• rsasha512

• ecdsap256sha256

• ecdsap384sha384

• ed25519

• ed448

NOTE:
Ed25519 algorithm is only available if compiled with GnuTLS 3.6.0+.

Ed448 algorithm is only available if compiled with GnuTLS 3.6.12+ and Nettle 3.6+.

Default: ecdsap256sha256

ksk-size
A length of newly generated KSK or CSK keys.

Default: 2048 (rsa*), 256 (ecdsap256), 384 (ecdsap384), 256 (ed25519), 456 (ed448)

zsk-size
A length of newly generated ZSK keys.

Default: see default for ksk-size

ksk-shared
If enabled, all zones with this policy assigned will share one or more KSKs. More KSKs
can be shared during a KSK rollover.

WARNING:
As the shared KSK set is bound to the policy id, renaming the policy breaks this
connection and new shared KSK set is initiated when a new KSK is needed.

Default: off

dnskey-ttl
A TTL value for DNSKEY records added into zone apex.

NOTE:
Has influence over ZSK key lifetime.

WARNING:
Ensure all DNSKEYs with updated TTL are propagated before any subsequent DNSKEY
rollover starts.

Default: zone SOA TTL

zone-max-ttl
Declare (override) maximal TTL value among all the records in zone.

NOTE:
It's generally recommended to override the maximal TTL computation by setting this
explicitly whenever possible. It's required for DNSSEC Offline KSK and really
reasonable when records are generated dynamically (e.g. by a module).

Default: computed after zone is loaded

ksk-lifetime
A period between KSK activation and the next rollover initiation.

NOTE:
KSK key lifetime is also influenced by propagation-delay, dnskey-ttl, and KSK
submission delay.

Zero (aka infinity) value causes no KSK rollover as a result.

This applies for CSK lifetime if single-type-signing is enabled.

Default: 0

zsk-lifetime
A period between ZSK activation and the next rollover initiation.

NOTE:
More exactly, this period is measured since a ZSK is activated, and after this, a new
ZSK is generated to replace it within following roll-over.

ZSK key lifetime is also influenced by propagation-delay and dnskey-ttl

Zero (aka infinity) value causes no ZSK rollover as a result.

Default: 30d (30 days)

delete-delay
Once a key (KSK or ZSK) is rolled-over and removed from the zone, keep it in the KASP
database for at least this period before deleting it completely. This might be useful in
some troubleshooting cases when resurrection is needed.

Default: 0

propagation-delay
An extra delay added for each key rollover step. This value should be high enough to cover
propagation of data from the primary server to all secondary servers, as well as the
duration of signing routine itself and possible outages in signing and propagation
infrastructure. In other words, this delay should ensure that within this period of time
after planned change of the key set, all public-facing secondaries will already serve new
DNSKEY RRSet for sure.

NOTE:
Has influence over ZSK key lifetime.

Default: 1h (1 hour)

rrsig-lifetime
A validity period of newly issued signatures.

NOTE:
The RRSIG's signature inception time is set to 90 minutes in the past. This time period
is not counted to the signature lifetime.

Default: 14d (14 days)

rrsig-refresh
A period how long at least before a signature expiration the signature will be refreshed,
in order to prevent expired RRSIGs on secondary servers or resolvers' caches.

Default: propagation-delay + zone-max-ttl

rrsig-pre-refresh
A period how long at most before a signature refresh time the signature might be
refreshed, in order to refresh RRSIGs in bigger batches on a frequently updated zone
(avoid re-sign event too often).

Default: 1h (1 hour)

reproducible-signing
For ECDSA algorithms, generate RRSIG signatures deterministically (RFC 6979). Besides
better theoretical cryptographic security, this mode allows significant speed-up of
loading signed (by the same method) zones. However, the zone signing is a bit slower.

Default: off

nsec3
Specifies if NSEC3 will be used instead of NSEC.

Default: off

nsec3-iterations
A number of additional times the hashing is performed.

Default: 0

nsec3-opt-out
If set, NSEC3 records won't be created for insecure delegations. This speeds up the zone
signing and reduces overall zone size.

WARNING:
NSEC3 with the Opt-Out bit set no longer works as a proof of non-existence in this
zone.

Default: off

nsec3-salt-length
A length of a salt field in octets, which is appended to the original owner name before
hashing.

Default: 8

nsec3-salt-lifetime
A validity period of newly issued salt field.

Zero value means infinity.

Special value -1 triggers re-salt every time when active ZSK changes. This optimizes the
number of big changes to the zone.

Default: 30d (30 days)

signing-threads
When signing zone or update, use this number of threads for parallel signing.

Those are extra threads independent of Background workers.

NOTE:
Some steps of the DNSSEC signing operation are not parallelized.

Default: 1 (no extra threads)

ksk-submission
A reference to submission section holding parameters of KSK submission checks.

Default: not set

ds-push
Optional references remote and remotes to authoritative DNS server of the parent's zone.
The remote server must be configured to accept DS record updates via DDNS. Whenever a CDS
record in the local zone is changed, the corresponding DS record is sent as a dynamic
update (DDNS) to the parent DNS server. All previous DS records are deleted within the
DDNS message. It's possible to manage both child and parent zones by the same Knot DNS
server.

NOTE:
This feature requires cds-cdnskey-publish not to be set to none.

NOTE:
The mentioned change to CDS record usually means that a KSK roll-over is running and
the new key being rolled-in is in "ready" state already for the period of
propagation-delay.

NOTE:
Module Onlinesign doesn't support DS push.

Default: not set

cds-cdnskey-publish
Controls if and how shall the CDS and CDNSKEY be published in the zone.

Possible values:

• none – Never publish any CDS or CDNSKEY records in the zone.

• delete-dnssec – Publish special CDS and CDNSKEY records indicating turning off DNSSEC.

• rollover – Publish CDS and CDNSKEY records for ready and not yet active KSK (submission
phase of KSK rollover).

• always – Always publish one CDS and one CDNSKEY records for the current KSK.

• double-ds – Always publish up to two CDS and two CDNSKEY records for ready and/or active
KSKs.

NOTE:
If the zone keys are managed manually, the CDS and CDNSKEY rrsets may contain more
records depending on the keys available.

WARNING:
The double-ds value does not trigger double-DS roll-over method. That method is only
supported when performed manually, with unset ksk-submission.

Default: rollover

cds-digest-type
Specify digest type for published CDS records.

Default: sha256

dnskey-management
Specify how the DNSKEY, CDNSKEY, and CDS RRSets at the zone apex are handled when
(re-)signing the zone.

Possible values:

• full – Upon every zone (re-)sign, delete all unknown DNSKEY, CDNSKEY, and CDS records
and keep just those that are related to the zone keys stored in the KASP database.

• incremental – Keep unknown DNSKEY, CDNSKEY, and CDS records in the zone, and modify
server-managed records incrementally by employing changes in the KASP database.

NOTE:
Prerequisites for incremental:

• The Offline KSK isn't supported.

• The delete-delay is long enough to cover possible daemon shutdown (e.g. due to server
maintenance).

• Avoided manual deletion of keys with keymgr.

Otherwise there might remain some DNSKEY records in the zone, belonging to deleted
keys.

Default: full

offline-ksk
Specifies if Offline KSK feature is enabled.

Default: off

unsafe-operation
Turn off some DNSSEC safety features.

Possible values:

• none – Nothing disabled.

• no-check-keyset – Don't check active keys in present algorithms. This may lead to
violation of RFC 4035#section-2.2.

• no-update-dnskey – Don't maintain/update DNSKEY, CDNSKEY, and CDS records in the zone
apex according to KASP database. Juste leave them as they are in the zone.

• no-update-nsec – Don't maintain/update NSEC/NSEC3 chain. Leave all the records as they
are in the zone.

• no-update-expired – Don't update expired RRSIGs.

Multiple values may be specified.

WARNING:
This mode is intended for DNSSEC experts who understand the corresponding consequences.

Default: none

TEMPLATE SECTION

       A template is shareable zone  settings,  which  can  simplify  configuration  by  reducing
       duplicates.  A  special  default  template  (with  the default identifier) can be used for
       global zone configuration or as an implicit configuration if a zone doesn't  have  another
       template specified.

          template:
            - id: STR
              global-module: STR/STR ...
              # All zone options (excluding 'template' item)

       NOTE:
          If  an  item  is explicitly specified both in the referenced template and the zone, the
          template item value is overridden by the zone item value.

   id
       A template identifier.

   global-module
       An  ordered  list  of  references  to  query  modules  in  the  form  of  module_name   or
       module_name/module_id. These modules apply to all queries.

       NOTE:
          This option is only available in the default template.

       Default: not set

ZONE SECTION

Definition of zones served by the server.

zone:
- domain: DNAME
template: template_id
storage: STR
file: STR
master: remote_id | remotes_id ...
ddns-master: remote_id
notify: remote_id | remotes_id ...
acl: acl_id ...
provide-ixfr: BOOL
semantic-checks: BOOL | soft
zonefile-sync: TIME
zonefile-load: none | difference | difference-no-serial | whole
journal-content: none | changes | all
journal-max-usage: SIZE
journal-max-depth: INT
zone-max-size : SIZE
adjust-threads: INT
dnssec-signing: BOOL
dnssec-validation: BOOL
dnssec-policy: policy_id
ds-push: remote_id | remotes_id ...
zonemd-verify: BOOL
zonemd-generate: none | zonemd-sha384 | zonemd-sha512 | remove
serial-policy: increment | unixtime | dateserial
refresh-min-interval: TIME
refresh-max-interval: TIME
retry-min-interval: TIME
retry-max-interval: TIME
expire-min-interval: TIME
expire-max-interval: TIME
catalog-role: none | interpret | generate | member
catalog-template: template_id ...
catalog-zone: DNAME
catalog-group: STR
module: STR/STR ...

domain
A zone name identifier.

template
A reference to a configuration template.

Default: not set or default (if the template exists)

storage
A data directory for storing zone files.

Default: ${localstatedir}/lib/knot (configured with --with-storage=path)

file
A path to the zone file. Non-absolute path (i.e. not starting with /) is relative to
storage. It is also possible to use the following formatters:

• %c[N] or %c[N-M] – Means the Nth character or a sequence of characters beginning from
the Nth and ending with the Mth character of the textual zone name (see %s). The indexes
are counted from 0 from the left. All dots (including the terminal one) are considered.
If the character is not available, the formatter has no effect.

• %l[N] – Means the Nth label of the textual zone name (see %s). The index is counted from
0 from the right (0 ~ TLD). If the label is not available, the formatter has no effect.

• %s – Means the current zone name in the textual representation. The zone name doesn't
include the terminating dot (the result for the root zone is the empty string!).

• %% – Means the % character.

WARNING:
Beware of special characters which are escaped or encoded in the \DDD form where DDD is
corresponding decimal ASCII code.

Default: storage/%s.zone

master
An ordered list of references remote and remotes to zone primary servers (formerly known
as master servers).

Default: not set

ddns-master
A reference to zone primary master. If not specified, the first master server is used.

Default: not set

notify
An ordered list of references remote and remotes to secondary servers to which notify
message is sent if the zone changes.

Default: not set

acl
An ordered list of references to ACL rules which can allow or disallow zone transfers,
updates or incoming notifies.

Default: not set

provide-ixfr
If disabled, the server is forced to respond with AXFR to IXFR queries. If enabled, IXFR
requests are responded normally.

Default: on

semantic-checks
Selects if extra zone semantic checks are used or impacts of the mandatory checks.

There are several mandatory checks which are always enabled and cannot be turned off. An
error in a mandatory check causes the zone not to be loaded. Some of the mandatory checks
can be weakened by setting soft, when the zone isn't prevented from loading.

If enabled, extra checks are used. These checks don't prevent the zone from loading.

The mandatory checks are applied to zone files, zone transfers, and updates via control
interface. The extra checks are applied to zone files only!

Mandatory checks:

• Missing SOA record at the zone apex (RFC 1034)

Mandatory checks affected by the soft mode:

• An extra record exists together with a CNAME record except for RRSIG and NSEC (RFC 1034)

• Multiple CNAME records with the same owner exist (RFC 1034)

• DNAME record having a record under it (RFC 6672)

• Multiple DNAME records with the same owner exist (RFC 6672)

• NS record exists together with a DNAME record (RFC 6672)

Extra checks:

• Missing NS record at the zone apex

• Missing glue A or AAAA record

• Invalid DS or NSEC3PARAM record

• CDS or CDNSKEY inconsistency

• All other DNSSEC checks executed during dnssec-validation

NOTE:
The soft mode allows the refresh event to ignore a CNAME response to a SOA query
(malformed message) and triggers a zone bootstrap instead.

Default: off

zonefile-sync
The time after which the current zone in memory will be synced with a zone file on the
disk (see file). The server will serve the latest zone even after a restart using zone
journal, but the zone file on the disk will only be synced after zonefile-sync time has
expired (or after manual zone flush). This is applicable when the zone is updated via
IXFR, DDNS or automatic DNSSEC signing. In order to completely disable automatic zone file
synchronization, set the value to -1. In that case, it is still possible to force a manual
zone flush using the -f option.

NOTE:
If you are serving large zones with frequent updates where the immediate sync with a
zone file is not desirable, increase the value.

Default: 0 (immediate)

zonefile-load
Selects how the zone file contents are applied during zone load.

Possible values:

• none – The zone file is not used at all.

• difference – If the zone contents are already available during server start or reload,
the difference is computed between them and the contents of the zone file. This
difference is then checked for semantic errors and applied to the current zone contents.

• difference-no-serial – Same as difference, but the SOA serial in the zone file is
ignored, the server takes care of incrementing the serial automatically.

• whole – Zone contents are loaded from the zone file.

When difference is configured and there are no zone contents yet (cold start and no zone
contents in the journal), it behaves the same way as whole.

Default: whole

journal-content
Selects how the journal shall be used to store zone and its changes.

Possible values:

• none – The journal is not used at all.

• changes – Zone changes history is stored in journal.

• all – Zone contents and history is stored in journal.

Default: changes

journal-max-usage
Policy how much space in journal DB will the zone's journal occupy.

NOTE:
Journal DB may grow far above the sum of journal-max-usage across all zones, because of
DB free space fragmentation.

Default: 100M (100 MiB)

journal-max-depth
Maximum history length of the journal.

NOTE:
Zone-in-journal changeset isn't counted to the limit.

Minimum: 2

Default: 20

zone-max-size
Maximum size of the zone. The size is measured as size of the zone records in wire format
without compression. The limit is enforced for incoming zone transfers and dynamic
updates.

For incremental transfers (IXFR), the effective limit for the total size of the records in
the transfer is twice the configured value. However the final size of the zone must
satisfy the configured value.

Default: unlimited

adjust-threads
Parallelize internal zone adjusting procedures by using specified number of threads. This
is useful with huge zones with NSEC3. Speedup observable at server startup and while
processing NSEC3 re-salt.

Default: 1 (no extra threads)

dnssec-signing
If enabled, automatic DNSSEC signing for the zone is turned on.

Default: off

dnssec-validation
If enabled, the zone contents are validated for being correctly signed (including
NSEC/NSEC3 chain) with DNSSEC signatures every time the zone is loaded or changed
(including AXFR/IXFR).

When the validation fails, the zone being loaded or update being applied is cancelled with
an error, and either none or previous zone state is published.

List of DNSSEC checks:

• Every zone RRSet is correctly signed by at least one present DNSKEY.

• DNSKEY RRSet is signed by KSK.

• NSEC(3) RR exists for each name (unless opt-out) with correct bitmap.

• Every NSEC(3) RR is linked to the lexicographically next one.

The validation is not affected by dnssec-policy configuration, except for signing-threads
option, which specifies the number of threads for parallel validation.

Default: not set

NOTE:
Redundant or garbage NSEC3 records are ignored.

This mode is not compatible with dnssec-signing.

dnssec-policy
A reference to DNSSEC signing policy.

Default: an imaginary policy with all default values

NOTE:
A configured policy called "default" won't be used unless explicitly referenced.

ds-push
Per zone configuration of ds-push. This option overrides possible per policy option.

Default: not set

zonemd-verify
On each zone load/update, verify that ZONEMD is present in the zone and valid.

NOTE:
Zone digest calculation may take much time and CPU on large zones.

Default: off

zonemd-generate
On each zone update, calculate ZONEMD and put it into the zone.

Possible values:

• none – No action regarding ZONEMD.

• zonemd-sha384 – Generate ZONEMD using SHA384 algorithm.

• zonemd-sha512 – Generate ZONEMD using SHA512 algorithm.

• remove – Remove any ZONEMD from the zone apex.

Default: none

serial-policy
Specifies how the zone serial is updated after a dynamic update or automatic DNSSEC
signing. If the serial is changed by the dynamic update, no change is made.

Possible values:

• increment – The serial is incremented according to serial number arithmetic.

• unixtime – The serial is set to the current unix time.

• dateserial – The 10-digit serial (YYYYMMDDnn) is incremented, the first 8 digits match
the current iso-date.

NOTE:
If the resulting serial for unixtime or dateserial is lower than or equal to the
current serial (this happens e.g. when migrating from other policy or frequent
updates), the serial is incremented instead.

To avoid user confusion, use dateserial only if you expect at most 100 updates per day
per zone and unixtime only if you expect at most one update per second per zone.

Generated catalog zones use unixtime only.

Default: increment (unixtime for generated catalog zones)

refresh-min-interval
Forced minimum zone refresh interval (in seconds) to avoid flooding primary server.

Minimum: 2

Default: 2

refresh-max-interval
Forced maximum zone refresh interval (in seconds).

Default: not set

retry-min-interval
Forced minimum zone retry interval (in seconds) to avoid flooding primary server.

Minimum: 1

Default: 1

retry-max-interval
Forced maximum zone retry interval (in seconds).

Default: not set

expire-min-interval
Forced minimum zone expire interval (in seconds) to avoid flooding primary server.

Minimum: 3

Default: 3

expire-max-interval
Forced maximum zone expire interval (in seconds).

Default: not set

catalog-role
Trigger zone catalog feature. Possible values:

• none – Not a catalog zone.

• interpret – A catalog zone which is loaded from a zone file or XFR, and member zones
shall be configured based on its contents.

• generate – A catalog zone whose contents are generated according to assigned member
zones.

• member – A member zone that is assigned to one generated catalog zone.

Default: none

catalog-template
For the catalog member zones, the specified configuration template will be applied.

Multiple catalog templates may be defined. The first one is used unless the member zone
has the group property defined, matching another catalog template.

NOTE:
This option must be set if and only if catalog-role is interpret.

Nested catalog zones aren't supported. Therefore catalog templates can't use
catalog-template, catalog-role, catalog-zone, and catalog-group options.

Default: not set

catalog-zone
Assign this member zone to specified generated catalog zone.

NOTE:
This option must be set if and only if catalog-role is member.

The referenced catalog zone must exist and have catalog-role set to generate.

Default: not set

catalog-group
Assign this member zone to specified catalog group (configuration template).

NOTE:
This option has effect if and only if catalog-role is member.

Default: not set

module
An ordered list of references to query modules in the form of module_name or
module_name/module_id. These modules apply only to the current zone queries.

Default: not set

AUTHOR

       CZ.NIC Labs <https://www.knot-dns.cz>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2010–2023, CZ.NIC, z.s.p.o.