named.boot(4tcp)


named.boot -- file required to initialize the named daemon

Synopsis

[directory pathname]
[include pathname]
[primary[/class] zonename zonefile]
[secondary[/class] zonename address... [filename]
[stub zonename address... [filename]]
cache . pathname
[bogusns address...]
[sortlist address...]
[xfrnets network[&netmask]... | address[&netmask]...]
[forwarders address...]
[options [forward-only] [no-fetch-glue] [no-recursion] [query-log]]
[limit datasize size]
[limit transfers-in number]
[limit transfers-per-ns number]
[check-names primary|secondary|response fail|warn|ignore]

Description

The boot file for named(1Mtcp) contains information about where the name server is to get its initial data. Lines in the boot file cannot be continued on subsequent lines.

The following directives are recognized:

bogusns address...
Do not send queries to the specified name server IP addresses. This is useful when you know that some popular server has bad data in a zone or cache and you want to avoid contamination while the problem is being fixed.

cache . pathname
Specify that the data in the file pathname is to be placed in the cache. Its main use is to specify the root domain servers. Only one cache directive should be specified. The root.cache file should be retrieved periodically from ftp://ftp.rs.internic.netdomain/named.root/ or using the command dig . ns because the list of root servers changes periodically.

check-names primary|secondary|response fail|warn|ignore
Check names in primary or secondary zone files, or in any response received during a recursive search (for example, those that would be forwarded back to a firewalled requester). For each type, named can be told to:

fail
For primary and secondary, do not load a zone. For response, do not cache or forward a message.

warn
Write a warning message to the system log.

ignore
Overlook a bad name and process it as normal.
Hostnames are considered good if they conform to RFC 952; for example, they must not contain an underscore character ``_''. Other names are considered good if they consist only of printable ASCII characters.

directory pathname
Change the working directory to the specified pathname. All subsequent relative pathnames given in the boot file or dependent files will be assumed to have been specified relative to this directory. This is important for the correct processing of $INCLUDE and zone files.

forwarders address...
Specify the addresses of servers that will accept recursive queries from other servers. If the boot file specifies one or more forwarders, then the server will send all queries for data not in the cache to the forwarders first. Each forwarder will be asked in turn until an answer is returned or the list is exhausted. If no answer is forthcoming from a forwarder, the server will continue as it would have without the forwarders line unless options forward-only has been specified. The forwarding facility is useful for causing a large cache to be generated on a master server, and to reduce traffic on links to outside servers. It can also be used to allow servers that do not have direct access to the Internet, to act as though they do.

include pathname
Include the contents of the file specified by pathname. This is useful if you administer many zones, or if you have logical groupings of zones which are maintained by different people.

limit datasize size
Set the maximum process data size that the kernel enforces. size can be scaled by postfixing k, m, or g to indicate kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes respectively. The default value of size is 2048m (2048MB).

limit transfers-in number
Set the maximum number of named-xfer(1Mtcp) which named can spawn at any one time.

limit transfers-per-ns number
Set the maximum number of zone transfers that can be simultaneously initiated to a remote name server.

max-fetch number
Deprecated, use limit transfers-in instead.

options specifier...
Change the behavior of named using one or more of the following specifiers:

forward-only
Only query forwarders. This option is normally used on machines that wish to run a name server but which, for physical or administrative reasons, cannot be given access to the Internet. They must have access to a host that does have access to the Internet.

no-fetch-glue
Keep named from fetching missing glue when constructing the ``additional data'' section of a response. This can be used in conjunction with the no-recursion specifier to prevent the cache from growing in size or becoming corrupted.

no-recursion
Cause named to answer with a referral rather than the actual data whenever it receives a query for a name for which it is not authoritative. This is used to stop an authoritative server's cache becoming polluted with non-authoritative data. Do not set this option on a name server that is listed in any host's /etc/resolv.conf file.

query-log
Log all queries via syslog. Be warned that this can create a lot of data.
Inverse query pseudosupport (options fake-iquery) is not supported.

primary[/class] zonename zonefile
Specify that this machine is primary for the zone zonename. zonefile is the hosts database file for the zone. For more information about the format of zonefile, see named.hosts(4tcp), named.rev(4tcp), named.local(4tcp), and named.soa(4tcp).

A class other than IN (Internet) such as HS (Hesiod) may be specified by appending ``/HS'' to primary.

secondary[/class] zonename address... [filename]
Designate this machine as secondary for the zone zonename and lists the IP addresses of up to 10 name servers which have data for the zone. At least one of these servers will be primary. When a zone transfer is performed, the name servers are tried in the order listed. filename is the backup file containing transferred zone data. The name server will load the zone from this backup file if the name servers are unreachable. The file is updated whenever a new copy of the zone data is received by zone transfer from one of the servers. If no filename is given, a temporary file will be used and will be deleted after each successful zone transfer. This is not recommended since it is a needless waste of bandwidth.

A class other than IN (Internet) such as HS (Hesiod) may be specified by appending ``/HS'' to secondary.

slave
Deprecated, use options forward-only instead.

sortlist address...
Indicate network addresses that are to be reported before other network addresses. Address queries from hosts on the same network as the name server will receive responses with local network addresses listed first, then addresses in the order given in the sort list, then any other addresses. This allows preference to be expressed between IP addresses reported for multihomed hosts.

stub zonename address... [filename]
Designate this machine as a stub server for the subzone zonename. A primary name server for a zone can be configured as a stub server for its child zones (subzones) rather than as a secondary server. A stub server only asks name servers in its child zones to transfer SOA and NS records. It the holds these records as non-authoritative data.

The fields have the same meaning as for the secondary directive. The IP addresses point to the name servers for the child zone, and must include at least its primary name server. See named.hosts(4tcp) and named.soa(4tcp) for more information.

tcplist network[&netmask]... | address[&netmask]...
Deprecated, use xfrnets instead.

xfrnets network[&netmask]... | address[&netmask]...
Implement primitive access control. The name server will only answer zone transfer requests from hosts which are on the listed networks or network IP addresses. A netmask may be specified if the default netmask for the given IP address would not be correct.

Files

/etc/inet/named.boot
default boot file for named

References

named(1Mtcp), named-xfer(1Mtcp), named.hosts(4tcp), named.local(4tcp), named.rev(4tcp), named.soa(4tcp), root.cache(4tcp)

Standard Resource Record Format in RFC 1035

Information about Hesiod may be obtained from ftp://athena-dist.mit.edu/pub/ATHENA

Examples

An example named.boot file for a primary name server:
   ; Boot file for primary name server 
   ; 
   directory   /etc/inet/named.d 
   ; 
   ; type      domain                    source file or host 
   ; 
   primary     volga.mynet.COM           db.mynet.COM 
   primary     16.172.in-addr.arpa       db.16.172 
   primary     0.0.127.in-addr.arpa      db.local 
   cache       .                         db.cache 
An example named.boot file for a secondary name server:
   ; Boot file for secondary name server 
   ; 
   directory   /etc/inet/named.d 
   ; 
   ; type       domain                    source file or host 
   ; 
   secondary    mynet.COM                 172.16.118.1 db.mynet.COM 
   secondary    16.172.in-addr.arpa       172.16.118.1 db.16.172 
   primary      0.0.127.in-addr.arpa      db.local 
   cache        .                         db.cache 
An example named.boot file for a caching-only name server:
   ; Boot file for caching-only name server 
   ; 
   directory    /etc/inet/named.d 
   ; 
   ; type       domain			source file or host 
   ; 
   primary      0.0.127.in-addr.arpa	db.local 
   cache        .				db.cache 
This example boot file shows a machine with a mixed configuration:
   ; Boot file for a mixed configuration name server 
   ; 
   directory      /etc/inet/named.d 
   ; 
   ; set up cache with hints for root domain servers 
   ; 
   cache     .			 db.cache 
   ; 
   ; type     domain		 source file or host 
   ; 
   primary    Berkeley.EDU  	 db.berkeley.EDU 
   primary    32.128.IN-ADDR.ARPA   db.32.128 
   ; 
   primary    0.0.127.IN-ADDR.ARPA	 db.local 
   ; 
   ; type     domain		 name servers                 backup file 
   ; 
   secondary  CC.Berkeley.EDU       128.32.137.8   128.32.137.3  db.cc.Berkeley.EDU 
   secondary  6.32.128.IN-ADDR.ARPA 128.32.137.8   128.32.137.3  db.6.32.128 
   ; 
   ; other configuration 
   ; 
   forwarders 10.0.0.78 10.2.0.78 
   options	   forward-only query-log 
   ; 
   limit      transfers-in 10 
   limit      datasize 64M 
This name server has the following named configuration: In these examples, the db.local file need only contain a PTR record for localhost:
   1	IN  PTR		localhost. 

30 January 1998
© 1998 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. All rights reserved.