<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN"> <!--Converted with LaTeX2HTML 96.1-c (Feb 29, 1996) by Nikos Drakos (nikos@cbl.leeds.ac.uk), CBLU, University of Leeds --> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Running named</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY LANG="EN"> <A HREF="node1.html"><IMG WIDTH=65 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="contents" SRC="contents_motif.gif"></A> <BR> <B> Next:</B> <A HREF="node87.html">The named.boot File</A> <B>Up:</B> <A HREF="node80.html">Name Service and Resolver </A> <B> Previous:</B> <A HREF="node85.html">Resolver Robustness</A> <BR> <P> <H1><A NAME="SECTION008200000">Running named</A></H1> The program that provides domain name service on most machines is usually called named (pronounced <em>name-dee</em>). This is a server program originally developed for BSD providing name service to clients, and possibly to other name servers. The version currently used on most installations seems to be BIND-4.8.3. The new version, BIND-4.9.3, is being Beta-tested at the moment, and should be available on soon. <P> This section requires some understanding of the way the Domain Name System works. If the following discussion is all Greek to you, you may want to re-read chapter-<A HREF="node23.html#tcpip"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="gif" SRC="cross_ref_motif.gif"></A>, which has some more information on the basics of DNS. <P> <A NAME="3688"></A> named is usually started at system boot time, and runs until the machine goes down again. It takes its information from a configuration file called /etc/named.boot, and various files that contain data mapping domain names to addresses and the like. The latter are called <em>zone files</em>. The formats and semantics of these files will be explained in the following section. <P> To run named, simply enter <pre> # /usr/sbin/named </pre> at the prompt. named will come up, read the named.boot file and any zone files specified therein. It writes its process id to /var/run/named.pid in ASCII, downloads any zone files from primary servers, if necessary, and starts listening on port 53 for DNS queries.<A HREF="footnode.html#3689"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="gif" SRC="foot_motif.gif"></A> <P> <BR> <HR> <UL> <LI> <A HREF="node87.html#SECTION008210000">The named.boot File</A> <LI> <A HREF="node88.html#SECTION008220000">The DNS Database Files</A> <LI> <A HREF="node89.html#SECTION008230000">Writing the Master Files</A> <LI> <A HREF="node90.html#SECTION008240000">Verifying the Name Server Setup</A> <LI> <A HREF="node91.html#SECTION008250000">Other Useful Tools</A> </UL> <BR> <HR> <P><ADDRESS> <I>Andrew Anderson <BR> Thu Mar 7 23:22:06 EST 1996</I> </ADDRESS> </BODY> </HTML>