Command Line Options

An rndc command takes the following form:

rndc <options> <command> <command-options> 

When executing rndc on a properly configured localhost, the following commands are available:

• halt - Stops the named service immediately.

• querylog - Logs all queries made to this nameserver.
• refresh - Refreshes the nameserver's database.
• reload - Reloads the zone files but keeps all other previously cached responses. This command also allows changes to zone files without losing all stored name resolutions.

  If changes made only affect a specific zone, reload only that specific zone by adding the name of the zone after the reload command.

• stats - Dumps the current named statistics to the /var/named/named.stats file.
• stop - Stops the server gracefully, saving any dynamic update and Incremental Zone Transfers (IXFR) data before exiting.

Occasionally, it may be necessary to override the default settings in the /etc/rndc.conf file. The following options are available:

• -c <configuration-file> - Specifies the alternate location of a configuration file.

• -p <port-number> - Specifies a port number to use for the rndc connection other than the default port 953.
• -s <server> - Specifies a server other than the default-server listed in /etc/rndc.conf.
• -y <key-name> - Specifies a key other than the default-key option in /etc/rndc.conf.

Additional information about these options can be found in the rndc man page.