MAN page from Mandrake 9.X bind-utils-9.2.3-0.rc2.1mdk.i586.rpm

RESOLVER

Section: File Formats (5)
Index
BSD mandoc
BSD 4

NAME

resolver - resolver configuration file

SYNOPSIS

/etc/resolv.conf

DESCRIPTION

Theresolveris a set of routines in the C library(resolve(3))that provide access to the Internet Domain Name System.The resolver configuration file contains information that is readby the resolver routines the first time they are invoked by a process.The file is designed to be human readable and contains a list ofkeywords with values that provide various types of resolver information.

On a normally configured system, this file should not be necessary.The only name server to be queried will be on the local machine,the domain name is determined from the host name,and the domain search path is constructed from the domain name.

The different configuration directives are:

nameserver

Internet address (in dot notation) of a name server that the resolver should query. Up to MAXNS (see<resolv.h> name servers may be listed, one per keyword.If there are multiple servers, the resolver library queries them in the order listed.If no nameserver entries are present, the default is to use the name server on the local machine.(The algorithm used is to try a name server, and if the query times out,try the next, until out of name servers,then repeat trying all the name serversuntil a maximum number of retries are made).

domain

Local domain name.Most queries for names within this domain can use short namesrelative to the local domain.If no domain entry is present, the domain is determined from the local host name returned bygethostname(2);the domain part is taken to be everything after the first `.' Finally, if the host name does not contain a domain part, the rootdomain is assumed.

search

Search list for host-name lookup.The search list is normally determined from the local domain name;by default, it contains only the local domain name.This may be changed by listing the desired domain search pathfollowing the search keyword with spaces or tabs separating the names.Most resolver queries will be attempted using each componentof the search path in turn until a match is found.Note that this process may be slow and will generate a lot of networktraffic if the servers for the listed domains are not local,and that queries will time out if no server is availablefor one of the domains.

The search list is currently limited to six domainswith a total of 256 characters.

sortlist

Allows addresses returned by gethostbyname to be sorted.A sortlist is specified by IP address netmask pairs. The netmask isoptional and defaults to the natural netmask of the net. The IP addressand optional network pairs are separated by slashes. Up to 10 pairs maybe specified. For example:

sortlist 130.155.160.0/255.255.240.0 130.155.0.0

options

Allows certain internal resolver variables to be modified.The syntax iswhere option is one of the following:

debug: sets RES_DEBUG in Ft _res.options .
ndots: n: sets a threshold for the number of dots whichmust appear in a name given to Fn res_query (see resolver(3))before an initial absolute query will be made. The default forn is ``1 , ''meaning that if there are any dots in a name, the name will be tried first as an absolute name before any search listelements are appended to it.
timeout: n: sets the amount of time the resolver will wait for a response from a remotename server before retrying the query via a different name server. Measured inseconds, the default isRES_TIMEOUT(see<resolv.h> ).
attempts: n: sets the number of times the resolver will send a query to its name serversbefore giving up and returning an error to the calling application. Thedefault isRES_DFLRETRY(see<resolv.h> ).
rotate: setsRES_ROTATEinFt _res.options ,which causes round robin selection of nameservers from among those listed.This has the effect of spreading the query load among all listed servers,rather than having all clients try the first listed server first every time.
no-check-names: setsRES_NOCHECKNAMEinFt _res.options ,which disables the modern BIND checking of incoming host names and mail namesfor invalid characters such as underscore (_), non-ASCII, or control characters.
inet6: sets RES_USE_INET6in Ft _res.options .This has the effect of trying a AAAA query before an A query inside theFt gethostbynamefunction, and of mapping IPv4 responses in IPv6 ``tunnelled form'' if noAAAA records are found but an A record set exists.

The domain and search keywords are mutually exclusive.If more than one instance of these keywords is present,the last instance wins.

The search keyword of a system's resolv.conf file can beoverridden on a per-process basis by setting the environment variable``LOCALDOMAIN ''to a space-separated list of search domains.

The options keyword of a system's resolv.conf file can be amended on a per-process basis by setting the environment variable``RES_OPTIONS to a space-separated list of ''resolver options as explained above under options

The keyword and value must appear on a single line, and the keyword(e.g., nameserver ) must start the line. The value follows the keyword, separated by white space.

FILES

/etc/resolv.conf<resolv.h>