Provided by: bind9_9.18.12-1ubuntu1_amd64 bug

NAME

       named - Internet domain name server

SYNOPSIS

       named  [ [-4] | [-6] ] [-c config-file] [-C] [-d debug-level] [-D string] [-E engine-name]
       [-f] [-g] [-L logfile] [-M option] [-m flag] [-n #cpus] [-p port] [-s] [-t directory]  [-U
       #listeners] [-u user] [-v] [-V] [-X lock-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 RFC 1033, RFC 1034, and RFC 1035.

       When  invoked  without   arguments,   named   reads   the   default   configuration   file
       /etc/bind/named.conf, reads any initial data, and listens for queries.

OPTIONS

       -4     This  option  tells  named to use only IPv4, even if the host machine is capable of
              IPv6. -4 and -6 are mutually exclusive.

       -6     This option tells named to use only IPv6, even if the host machine  is  capable  of
              IPv4. -4 and -6 are mutually exclusive.

       -c config-file
              This option tells named to use config-file as its configuration file instead of the
              default, /etc/bind/named.conf.  To  ensure  that  the  configuration  file  can  be
              reloaded  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.

       -C     This option prints out the default built-in configuration and exits.

              NOTE:  This is for debugging purposes only and is not an accurate representation of
              the actual configuration used by named at runtime.

       -d debug-level
              This option sets the daemon's debug level to  debug-level.  Debugging  traces  from
              named become more verbose as the debug level increases.

       -D string
              This  option  specifies  a string that is used to identify a instance of named in a
              process listing. The contents of string are not examined.

       -E engine-name
              When applicable, this option  specifies  the  hardware  to  use  for  cryptographic
              operations, such as a secure key store used for signing.

              When  BIND  9  is  built  with  OpenSSL, this needs to be set to the OpenSSL engine
              identifier that drives the cryptographic accelerator  or  hardware  service  module
              (usually pkcs11).

       -f     This option runs the server in the foreground (i.e., do not daemonize).

       -g     This option runs the server in the foreground and forces all logging to stderr.

       -L logfile
              This option sets the log to the file logfile by default, instead of the system log.

       -M option
              This option sets the default (comma-separated) memory context options. The possible
              flags are:

              • fill: fill blocks of memory with tag values when they are allocated or freed,  to
                assist  debugging  of  memory problems; this is the implicit default if named has
                been compiled with --enable-developer.

              • nofill: disable the behavior enabled by fill; this is the implicit default unless
                named has been compiled with --enable-developer.

       -m flag
              This option turns 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
              This option creates #cpus worker threads to take advantage of multiple CPUs. If not
              specified, named tries to determine the number of  CPUs  present  and  creates  one
              thread  per  CPU.  If it is unable to determine the number of CPUs, a single worker
              thread is created.

       -p value
              This option specifies the port(s) on which the server will listen for  queries.  If
              value  is  of  the  form <portnum> or dns=<portnum>, the server will listen for DNS
              queries on portnum; if not not specified, the default is port 53. If  value  is  of
              the  form  tls=<portnum>,  the  server  will listen for TLS queries on portnum; the
              default is 853.  If value is of the form https=<portnum>, the  server  will  listen
              for  HTTPS  queries  on  portnum;  the  default  is  443.   If value is of the form
              http=<portnum>, the server will listen for HTTP queries on portnum; the default  is
              80.

       -s     This option writes 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
              This option is deprecated and no longer has any function.

       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  slightly  fewer  than  the  specified value, because named reserves some file
          descriptors for its internal use.

       -t directory
              This option tells named to 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  is  defined
          allows a process with root privileges to escape a chroot jail.

       -U #listeners
              This  option  tells named the number of #listeners worker threads to listen on, for
              incoming UDP packets on each address. If not specified, named calculates a  default
              value based on the number of detected CPUs: 1 for 1 CPU, and the number of detected
              CPUs minus one for machines with more than 1 CPU.  This cannot be  increased  to  a
              value  higher  than  the number of CPUs.  If -n has been set to a higher value than
              the number of detected CPUs, then -U may be increased as high as that value, but no
              higher.

       -u user
              This option sets the 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  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.

       -v     This option reports the version number and exits.

       -V     This option reports the version number,  build  options,  supported  cryptographics
              algorithms, and exits.

       -X lock-file
              This option acquires a lock on the specified file at runtime; this helps to prevent
              duplicate  named  instances  from  running  simultaneously.   Use  of  this  option
              overrides  the  lock-file option in named.conf. If set to none, the lock file check
              is disabled.

SIGNALS

       In routine operation, signals should not be used to control the nameserver; rndc should be
       used instead.

       SIGHUP This signal forces a reload of the server.

       SIGINT, SIGTERM
              These signals 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/bind/named.conf
              The default configuration file.

       /run/named.pid
              The default process-id file.

SEE ALSO

       RFC  1033,  RFC  1034,  RFC   1035,   named-checkconf(8),   named-checkzone(8),   rndc(8),
       named.conf(5), BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual.

AUTHOR

       Internet Systems Consortium

COPYRIGHT

       2023, Internet Systems Consortium