RNDC(8)                              BIND9                             RNDC(8)



NAME
       rndc - name server control utility

SYNOPSIS
       rndc [-b source-address] [-c config-file] [-k key-file] [-s server]
            [-p port] [-V] [-y key_id] {command}

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

       rndc communicates with the name server over a TCP connection, sending
       commands authenticated with digital signatures. In the current versions
       of rndc and named, the only supported authentication algorithm is
       HMAC-MD5, which uses a shared secret on each end of the connection.
       This 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 key_id known to the server.

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

OPTIONS
       -b source-address
           Use source-address as the source address for the connection to the
           server. Multiple instances are permitted to allow setting of both
           the IPv4 and IPv6 source addresses.

       -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 will be used to authenticate commands sent
           to the server if the config-file does not exist.

       -s server
           server is the name or address of the server which matches a server
           statement 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 rndc configuration file will
           be used.

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

       -V
           Enable verbose logging.

       -y key_id
           Use the key key_id from the configuration file.  key_id must be
           known by named with the same algorithm and secret string in order
           for control message validation to succeed. If no key_id 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. Note that the configuration file contains shared secrets
           which 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
       rndc does not yet support all the commands of the BIND 8 ndc utility.

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

       Several error messages could be clearer.

SEE ALSO
       rndc.conf(5), rndc-confgen(8), named(8), named.conf(5), ndc(8), BIND 9
       Administrator Reference Manual.

AUTHOR
       Internet Systems Consortium

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2004, 2005, 2007 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc.
       ("ISC")
       Copyright (C) 2000, 2001 Internet Software Consortium.



BIND9                            June 30, 2000                         RNDC(8)
