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 supported commands
and the available options and their arguments.
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 key_id 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:
-cconfig-file
Use config-file as the configuration file instead of the default /etc/rndc.conf.
-kkey-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 commands sent to the
server if the config-file does not exist.
-sserver
The server argument is the name or address of the server that 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 option statement of the configuration file is used.
-pport
Send commands to TCP port port instead of BIND 9's default control channel port, 953.
-V
Enable verbose logging.
-ykeyid
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 key_id without using the configuration file.
Several error messages could be clearer.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: