NAME

named − Internet domain name server daemon

SYNTAX

/usr/etc/named [ −d level# ] [ −p port# ] [ −b bootfile ]

DESCRIPTION

The named daemon is the Internet domain name server for the BIND service. Without any arguments, named reads the default boot file /etc/named.boot and any initial data from the BIND data base files. Named then listens for queries.

The boot file specifies where the BIND server is to get its initial data.  See EXAMPLE. 

The master data files consist of entries of the following form:

$include file
$origin domain
domain ttl addr-class entry-type resource-record-data

The include entry is useful for separating data into separate files. The origin entry is useful for placing more than one domain in a data file. It can also be used to set the reverse network number origin. The fields are:

fileThis is the name of the file to be included. 

domainThis is the domain name.  An at sign (@) signifies the current origin.  A name refers to the standard domain name.  If the domain name does not end with a period, the current origin is appended to the domain.  A domain name ending with a period is the complete BIND domain name (fully qualified) and thus does not get an extension appended to it. 

ttlThis field is an optional integer specifying the time to live.  If no time to live is specified, the default is obtained from the SOA entry. 

addr-classThis field is the object address type.  There are two types: IN for objects connected to the DARPA Internet, and ANY for all other networks.

entry-typeThis field can be any of the following.  The resource-record-data field, however, must correspond with the entry type:

AA host address

NSAn authoritative name server

MXA mail exchanger

CNAMEThe canonical name for an alias

SOAThe start of a zone of authority

MBA mailbox domain name

MGA mail group member

MRA mail rename domain name

NULLA null resource record

WKSA well know service description

PTRA domain name pointer

HINFOHost information

MINFOMailbox or mail list information

The following signals have the specified effect when sent to the server named process using the kill command:

SIGHUPCauses the server to read named.boot and reload database. 

SIGINTDumps the current data base and cache to /usr/tmp/named_dump.db.

SIGUSR1Turns on debugging.  Each time the SIGUSR1 signal is issued, the debug level increments by one. 

SIGUSR2Turns off debugging completely. 

OPTIONS

−b bootfileNames of the boot file.  If no boot file is specified, the default is /etc/named.boot.

−d level#Prints debugging information.  A number after the −d option determines the level of messages printed.  It is a good idea to run the named daemon with the −d option in the background.

−p port#Specifies the port number.  The default is the standard port number listed in the /etc/services file.

EXAMPLE

The following is an example of a boot file:

;
;     boot file for name server
;
; type     domain                 source file or host
;
primary    cities.us              named.db
primary    2.10.in-addr.arpa      named.rev
primary    0.0.127.in-addr.arpa   named.local
secondary  cc.cities.us           10.2.0.78 128.32.0.10
; load the cache data last
cache       .                     named.ca

Entries beginning with a semicolon are comment lines. In this example, the first line that is not a comment specifies that this system is the primary authoritative BIND server for the domain cities.us. This line also specifies that the file named.db contains authoritative data for the cities.us domain. Domain names in the file named.db are relative to the origin, such as cities.us in the preceding example.

The second and third non-comment entries (beginning with primary) show the in-addr.arpa domain in reverse order. This allows address to name mapping.

The fourth non-comment line specifies that all authoritative data under cc.cities.us is to be transferred from the primary master server at IP address 10.2.0.78 to the secondary server. If the transfer fails, the secondary server will then try the master server at address 128.32.0.10. There can be up to 10 IP addresses listed.

The cache entry specifies that the data in named.ca is to be placed in the cache. This would include well known data such as the locations of root domain servers.

FILES

/etc/named.bootName server configuration boot file

/etc/named.pidProcess ID number

/usr/tmp/named.runDebug output

/usr/tmp/named_dump.dbDump of the BIND server’s database

SEE ALSO

kill(1), gethostbyname(3N), signal(3c), resolver(3), resolver(5)
Guide to the BIND Service

Maintenance