SYNOPSIS

       rndc [-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 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

       -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 option statement of the 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 keyid
          Use the key keyid from the configuration file.  keyid must be known
          by named with the same algorithm and secret string in order 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. Note
          that the configuration file contains shared secrets which are used

SEE ALSO

       rndc.conf(5), named(8), named.conf(5) ndc(8), BIND 9 Administrator
       Reference Manual.

AUTHOR

       Internet Systems Consortium

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2004, 2005 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")



BIND9                            June 30, 2000                         RNDC(8)