BIND 9 Commands, Files, Tools, and Options

Some commands, files, tools, and options have remained the same in BIND 9 as they were in BIND 8. However, some have been modified and others have been added. This section describes many of the commands, files, tools, and options in BIND 9 and the new or modified behavior associated with each item.

BIND 9 Tools and Configuration Files

The following BIND 9.x tools are available with the Solaris operating system.

named

nsupdate

rndc

dnssec-keygen

nslookup

dig

dnssec-makekeyset

dnssec-signkey

dnssec-signzone

named-checkconf

named-checkzone

rndc-confgen

host

The following BIND 9.x configuration file is supported in Solaris 10 and Solaris Express Developer Edition releases.

/etc/rndc.conf

Comparison of BIND 8 and BIND 9 Commands and Files

The table below compares BIND 8 and BIND 9 commands and configuration files.

BIND 8 Command	BIND 9.x Replacement
`dnskeygen`(1M)	`dnssec-keygen`(1M)
`ndc`(1M)	`rndc`(1M)
`named-bootconf`(1M)	NONE NEEDED
`nsupdate`(1M)	`nsupdate`(1M)
`nslookup`(1M)	`nslookup`(1M)
`named-xfer`(1M)	NONE NEEDED
`in.named`(1M)	`named`(1M)
`named.conf`(4)	`named.conf`¹
`dig`(1M)	`dig`(1M)

¹A detailed named.conf man page is not included with BIND 9.2.4. The named.conf Options includes a summary of the named.conf options that are supported in BIND 9.2.4.

Descriptions of Command and Option Changes

All incompatibles listed below are BIND 8 features and interfaces that are not supported in the equivalent BIND 9 binary. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of the options, command line options, or features for any BIND 9.x binary.

Command	Option Changes
`in.named`(1M)	Some DNS name server `in.named` command line options are not supported. In the BIND 9.x name server, the `-g` group_name, `-q`, `-r` and `-w` directory options are not supported, and `-c` config_file replaces the BIND 8.x `-b` config_file. See the `named` man page for further details.
`dnssec-keygen`(1M)	`dnskeygen` in BIND 8.x, used to generate keys, and `dnssec-keygen` from BIND 9.x, have no common options. See the `dnssec-keygen` man page for further details.
`rndc`(1M)	`ndc` in BIND 8.x and `rndc` in BIND 9.x are significantly different. They share no common options and unlike `ndc`, `rndc` needs a configuration file in `/etc/rndc.conf in order to run`. See man pages for `rndc`, `rndc.conf`, and `rndc-confgen` for further details.
`nsupdate`(1M)	In BIND 9.x, the syntax of the `-k` option changes in `nsupdate`. Instead of `-k` keydir::keyname, the syntax is now `k` keyfile. The only other difference is that whereas a blank line was used to signal sending the input to the server, an explicit `send` subcommand is now used to do the same. See the `nsupdate` man page for further details.
`nslookup`(1M)	The following options are unsupported in the 9.x version of BIND: `help`, `host server`, `set ignoretc`, `set noignoretc`, `set srch[list]=N1[/N2/.../N6]`, `set ro[ot]=host`, `root`, `finger [USER]`, `ls [opt] DOMAIN [> FILE]`
`named.conf`(4)	A detailed `named.conf` man page is not included with BIND 9.2.4. Several options are unsupported, not implemented, or have changed defaults. For a list of the option changes and a summary of all `named.conf` options that are supported in BIND 9.2.4, see The `named.conf` Options.