Configuring /etc/rndc.conf

The key is the most important statement in /etc/rndc.conf.

key "<key-name>" {
 algorithm hmac-md5;
 secret "<key-value>";
};

The <key-name> and <key-value> should be exactly the same as their settings in /etc/named.conf.

To match the keys specified in the target server's /etc/named.conf, add the following lines to /etc/rndc.conf.

options {
 default-server  localhost;
 default-key     "<key-name>";
};

This directive sets a global default key. However, the rndc configuration file can also specify different keys for different servers, as in the following example:

server localhost {
 key  "<key-name>";
};

Make sure that only the root user can read or write to the /etc/rndc.conf file.

For more information about the /etc/rndc.conf file, refer to the rndc.conf man page.