Provided by: dnsdist_1.0.0~alpha2-1_amd64 
NAME
dnsdist - tool to balance DNS queries over downstream servers
SYNOPSIS
dnsdist [OPTION]... ADDRESS...
DESCRIPTION
dnsdist receives DNS queries and relays them to one or more downstream servers. It subsequently sends
back responses to the original requestor.
dnsdist operates over TCP and UDP, and strives to deliver very high performance over both.
Currently, queries are sent to the downstream server with the least outstanding queries. This
effectively implies load balancing, making sure that slower servers get less queries.
If a reply has not come in after a few seconds, it is removed from the queue, but in the short term,
timeouts do cause a server to get less traffic.
IPv4 and IPv6 operation can be mixed and matched, in other words, queries coming in over IPv6 could be
forwarded to IPv4 and vice versa.
dnsdist is scriptable in Lua, see the dnsdist documentation for more information on this.
SCOPE
dnsdist does not 'think' about DNS, and does not perform any kind of caching, nor is it aware of the
quality of the answers it is relaying.
dnsdist assumes that each query leads to exactly one response, which is true for all DNS except for AXFR,
which is therefore not supported.
The goal for dnsdist is to remain simple. If more powerful loadbalancing is required, dedicated hardware
or software is recommended. Linux Virtual Server for example is often mentioned.
OPTIONS
-a,--acl NETMASK
Add NETMASK to the ACL.
-C,--config FILE
Load configuration from FILE.
-c,--client
Operate as a client, connect to dnsdist.
-d,--daemon
Operate as a daemon.
-e,--execute CMD
Connect to dnsdist and execute CMD.
-h,--help
Display a helpful message and exit.
-l,--local ADDRESS
Bind to ADDRESS, Supply as many addresses (using multiple --local statements) to listen on as
required. Specify IPv4 as 0.0.0.0:53 and IPv6 as [::]:53.
--supervised
Run in foreground, but do not spawn a console. Use this switch to run dnsdist inside a supervisor
(use with e.g. systemd and daemontools).
-p,--pidfile FILE
Write a pidfile to FILE, works only with --daemon.
-u,--uid UID
Change the process user to UID after binding sockets. UID can be a name or number.
-g,--gid GID
Change the process group to GID after binding sockets. GID Can be a name or number.
-V,--version
Show the dnsdist version and exit.
ADDRESS
Any number of downstream DNS servers, in the same syntax as used with --local. If the port is not
specified, 53 is used.
BUGS
Right now, the TCP support has some rather arbitrary limits.
RESOURCES
Website: http://dnsdist.org
AUTHORS
PowerDNS.com BV.
2013 DNSDIST(1)