named-xfer(1Mtcp)

named-xfer -- Internet domain name server zone-transfer utility

Synopsis

named-xfer -f db_file -s serial -z zone [ -d debuglevel ] [ -l logfile ]
[ -p port | -P port ] [ -q ] [ -S ] [ -t tracefile ] address...

Description

named-xfer implements the zone-transfer function of the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). See RFC 1035 for more information on DNS.

Since zone transfers are frequently time-consuming, named-xfer handles them asynchronously so that named(1Mtcp) can continue processing queries.

named-xfer understands the following options:

-d debuglevel: Prints debugging information. The debuglevel determines the level of messages printed.
-f db_file: Specifies the name of the file into which the transferred zone should be dumped when it is received from the primary server.
-l logfile: Specifies a log file for debugging messages. The default is /usr/tmp/xfer.ddt. Note that this only applies if -d is also specified.
-p port: Specifies a different port number. The default is the standard port number as returned by getservbyname for the ``service domain''.
-P port: Specifies a different port number as for -p, but the value of port is expected to be in network byte-order.
-q: Causes syslog output to be suppressed. Normally named-xfer will record errors via the syslog(3G) mechanism.
-s serial: Specifies the serial number of our current copy of this zone. If the SOA RR does not have a serial number higher than this, the transfer is aborted.
-S: Performs a restricted zone transfer of only the SOA, NS records and glue A records for the zone. The SOA record will not be loaded by named but will be used to determine when to verify the NS records. See the stub directive in named.boot(4tcp) for more information. Normally named-xfer will record errors via the syslog(3G) mechanism.
-t tracefile: Specifies a trace file which contains a protocol trace of the zone transfer. This option is useful for debugging the name server.
-z zone: Specifies the name of the zone to be transferred.

One or more Internet addresses of name servers must be specified in dotted-quad notation, for example, ``128.212.65.67''. named-xfer will attempt to transfer the specified zone from each server whose address is listed until it succeeds.

Files

/usr/tmp/xfer.ddt: default debugging output file

Usage

named-xfer is normally run by named. There should be no need to run it by hand except when debugging a problem with DNS.

Exit codes

named-xfer returns one of the following status values:

0: The zone is up-to-date.
1: The zone transfer succeeded.
2: No server was reachable or all connections timed out.
3: Some other failure occurred. This is logged in the system log unless the -q option was present.

References

named.boot(4tcp), syslog(3G)

RFC 974, RFC 1032, RFC 1033, RFC 1034, RFC 1035, RFC 1123