Name

named − Internet name domain server daemon

Syntax

/usr/etc/named [ −d level# ] [ −p port# ] [ −b bootfile ][ −n ][ −a type.version ]

Description

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

The boot file specifies where the BIND/Hesiod server is to get its initial data.  See the Example section. 

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 class type.  There are three classes:

INObjects connected to the DARPA Internet

HSHesiod naming service data

ANYAll classes

entry-typeThe most common entries for this field are listed below.  The resource-record-data field, however, must correspond with the entry type:

AHost address

CNAMECanonical name for an alias

HINFOHost information

MXMail exchanger

NSAuthoritative name server

PTRDomain name pointer

SOAStart of a zone of authority

TXTHesiod text

WKSWell-known service description

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

SIGXFSZCauses the server to reload only the databases that have changed. 

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

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

SIGIOTDumps named statistics to /var/tmp/named.stats.

SIGUSR1Turns on debugging.  Each time the SIGUSR1 signal is issued, the debug level increments by one.  Debugging information is dumped to /var/tmp/named.run.

SIGUSR2Turns off debugging. 

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.

−nRuns named in network safe mode.  All HS class queries sent over the network are authenticated.  Non-authenticated queries for HS information from hosts other than local host are not answered.  Non-authenticated requests for zone transfers are ignored.

−a type.version
Specifies the default authentication type.  When authenticated queries are formed, named needs to know what type of authentication to use.  The type parameter specifies the form of authentication.  The version parameter specifies the version of the type to use.  The supported forms of authentication are:

typeKerberos

versionOne

Examples

The following is an example of a boot file:

;
;     boot file for name server
;
; type     domain                 source file or host
;
primary    cities.us              hosts.db
;
primary    2.10.in-addr.arpa      hosts.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 hosts.db contains authoritative data for the cities.us domain. Domain names in the file hosts.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

/var/dss/namedb/named.boot
Name server configuration boot file

/etc/named.pid Process ID number

/var/tmp/named.run
Debug output

/var/tmp/named_dump.db
Dump of the BIND server’s cache

See Also

kill(1), signal(3c), resolver(3), hesiod.conf(5), resolv.conf(5)
Guide to the BIND/Hesiod Service