Commands Reference, Volume 4

named9 Daemon

Purpose

Internet domain name server.

Syntax

named9 [ -c config-file ] [ -d debug-level ] [ -f ] [ -g ] [ -n #cpus ] [ -p port ] [ -s ] [ -v ] [ -x cache-file ]

Description

named9 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/named.conf, read any initial data, and listen for queries.

Flags

-cconfig-file	Use config-file as the configuration file instead of the default, /etc/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, config-file should be an absolute pathname.
-ddebug-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.
-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.
-pport	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.
-v	Report the version number and exit.
-x cache-file	Load data from cache-file into the cache of the default view. Attention: This option must not be used. It is only of interest to BIND 9 developers.

Signals

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

SIGHUP	Forces a reload of the server.
SIGINT, SIGTERM	Shut down the server.

The result of sending any other signals to the server is undefined.

Configuration

A complete description of the named9 configuration file is provided in the BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual.

Files

/usr/sbin/named9	Contains the named9 daemon.
/etc/named.conf	The default configuration file.
/etc/named.pid	The default process-id file.

Related Information

The named4, and named8 daemons.

The named.conf file format,

RFC 1033, RFC 1034, RFC 1035, rndc(8), and lwresd(8).

The BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual.