NAMED_XFERNAMED-XFEMachTen Programmer’s MaNAMED_XFERNAMED-XFER(8)

NAME
named_xfernamed-xfer - ancillary agent for inbound zone
transfers

SYNOPSIS
named-xfer -z zone_to_transfer -f db_file -s serial_no [
-d debuglevel ] [ -l debug_log_file ] [ -t trace_file ] [
-p port# ] [ -S ] nameserver

DESCRIPTION
Named-xfer is an ancillary program executed by named(8) to
perform an inbound zone transfer. It is rarely executed
directly, and only by system administrators who are trying
to debug a zone transfer problem. See RFC’s 1033, 1034,
and 1035 for more information on the Internet name-domain
system.

Options are:

-z specifies the name of the zone to be transferred.

-f specifies the name of the file into which the zone
should be dumped when it is received from the pri-
mary server.

-s specifies the serial number of our current copy of
this zone. If the SOA RR we get from the primary
server does not have a serial number higher than
this, the transfer will be aborted.

-d Print debugging information. A number after the
‘‘d’’ determines the level of messages printed.

-l Specifies a log file for debugging messages. The
default is system- dependent but is usually in
/var/tmp or /usr/tmp. Note that this only applies
if -d is also specified.

-t Specifies a trace file which will contain a proto-
col trace of the zone transfer. This is probably
only of interest to people debugging the name
server itself.

-p Use a different port number. The default is the
standard port number as returned by getservby-
name(3) for service ‘‘domain’’.

-S Perform a restricted 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 ‘‘stubs’’ directive in named(8) for more infor-
mation.

Additional arguments are taken as name server addresses in
so-called ‘‘dotted-quad’’ syntax only; no host name are
allowed here. At least one address must be specified.
Any additional addresses will be tried in order if the
first one fails to transfer to us successfully.

SEE ALSO
named(8), resolver(3), resolver(5), hostname(7), RFC 882,
RFC 883, RFC 973, RFC 974, RFC 1033, RFC 1034, RFC 1035,
RFC 1123, Name Server Operations Guide for BIND

MachTen June 26, 1993 2