System Administration Commands                           rndc(1M)



NAME
     rndc - name server control utility

SYNOPSIS
     rndc [-V] [-c config-file] [-k key-file] [-s server]
          [-p port] [-y keyid] command


DESCRIPTION
     The rndc utility controls the operation of a name server. It
     supersedes  the  ndc  utility  that was provided in previous
     BIND releases. If rndc  is  invoked  with  no  command  line
     options  or arguments, it prints a short summary of the sup-
     ported commands and the available options  and  their  argu-
     ments.


     The rndc utility communicates with the name  server  over  a
     TCP  connection, sending commands authenticated with digital
     signatures. The only supported authentication  algorithm  in
     the  current  versions  of  rndc  and named(1M) is HMAC-MD5,
     which uses a shared secret on each end  of  the  connection.
     This  algorithm  provides  TSIG-style authentication for the
     command request and the name server's response. All commands
     sent  over  the  channel must be signed by a keyid known to
     the server.


     The rndc utility reads a configuration file to determine how
     to contact the name server and decide what algorithm and key
     it should use.

OPTIONS
     The following options are supported:

     -c config-file    Use config-file as the configuration  file
                       instead of the default /etc/rndc.conf.


     -k key-file       Use key-file as the key  file  instead  of
                       the  default,  /etc/rndc.key.  The  key in
                       /etc/rndc.key is used to authenticate com-
                       mands  sent  to  the server if the config-
                       file does not exist.


     -s server         The server argument is the name or address
                       of the server that matches a server state-
                       ment in the configuration file  for  rndc.
                       If  no  server  is supplied on the command
                       line, the host named by the default-server
                       clause  in  the  options  statement of the



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System Administration Commands                           rndc(1M)



                       rndc configuration file is used.


     -p port           Send commands to TCP port port instead  of
                       BIND  9's  default  control  channel port,
                       953.


     -V                Enable verbose logging.


     -y keyid         Use the key keyid from the  configuration
                       file. The keyid argument must be known by
                       named with the same algorithm  and  secret
                       string  for  control message validation to
                       succeed. If no keyid is  specified,  rndc
                       will  first  look  for a key clause in the
                       server statement of the server being used,
                       or  if  no server statement is present for
                       that host, then the default-key clause  of
                       the  options  statement. The configuration
                       file contains shared secrets that are used
                       to  send authenticated control commands to
                       name servers. It should therefore not have
                       general read or write access.



     For the complete set of commands supported by rndc, see  the
     BIND  9  Administrator  Reference Manual or run rndc without
     arguments to see its help message.

LIMITATIONS
     The rndc utility does not support all the  commands  of  the
     BIND 8 ndc utility.


     There is no way to provide the shared secret  for  a  keyid
     without using the configuration file.


     Several error messages could be clearer.

ATRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:









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System Administration Commands                           rndc(1M)



     
           ATRIBUTE TYPE               ATRIBUTE VALUE       
    
     Availability                 SUNWbind                    
    
     Interface Stability          External                    
    


SEE ALSO
     named(1M), rndc-confgen(1M), rndc.conf(4), attributes(5)


     BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual









































SunOS 5.11          Last change: 24 Dec 2008                    3