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21<title>lwresd</title>
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24<body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="refentry" lang="en">
25<a name="id2463721"></a><div class="titlepage"></div>
26<div class="refnamediv">
27<h2>Name</h2>
28<p><span class="application">lwresd</span> &#8212; lightweight resolver daemon</p>
29</div>
30<div class="refsynopsisdiv">
31<h2>Synopsis</h2>
32<div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">lwresd</code>  [<code class="option">-C <em class="replaceable"><code>config-file</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-d <em class="replaceable"><code>debug-level</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-f</code>] [<code class="option">-g</code>] [<code class="option">-i <em class="replaceable"><code>pid-file</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-n <em class="replaceable"><code>#cpus</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-P <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-p <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-s</code>] [<code class="option">-t <em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-u <em class="replaceable"><code>user</code></em></code>] [<code class="option">-v</code>]</p></div>
33</div>
34<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
35<a name="id2525920"></a><h2>DESCRIPTION</h2>
36<p>
37	<span><strong class="command">lwresd</strong></span> is the daemon providing name lookup
38	services to clients that use the BIND 9 lightweight resolver
39	library.  It is essentially a stripped-down, caching-only name
40	server that answers queries using the BIND 9 lightweight
41	resolver protocol rather than the DNS protocol.
42    </p>
43<p>
44	<span><strong class="command">lwresd</strong></span> listens for resolver queries on a
45	UDP port on the IPv4 loopback interface, 127.0.0.1.  This
46	means that <span><strong class="command">lwresd</strong></span> can only be used by
47	processes running on the local machine.  By default UDP port
48	number 921 is used for lightweight resolver requests and
49	responses.
50    </p>
51<p>
52	Incoming lightweight resolver requests are decoded by the
53	server which then resolves them using the DNS protocol.  When
54	the DNS lookup completes, <span><strong class="command">lwresd</strong></span> encodes
55	the answers in the lightweight resolver format and returns
56	them to the client that made the request.
57    </p>
58<p>
59	If <code class="filename">/etc/resolv.conf</code> contains any
60	<code class="option">nameserver</code> entries, <span><strong class="command">lwresd</strong></span>
61	sends recursive DNS queries to those servers.  This is similar
62	to the use of forwarders in a caching name server.  If no
63	<code class="option">nameserver</code> entries are present, or if
64	forwarding fails, <span><strong class="command">lwresd</strong></span> resolves the
65	queries autonomously starting at the root name servers, using
66	a built-in list of root server hints.
67    </p>
68</div>
69<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
70<a name="id2525969"></a><h2>OPTIONS</h2>
71<div class="variablelist"><dl>
72<dt><span class="term">-C <em class="replaceable"><code>config-file</code></em></span></dt>
73<dd><p>
74		Use <em class="replaceable"><code>config-file</code></em> as the
75		configuration file instead of the default,
76		<code class="filename">/etc/resolv.conf</code>.
77          </p></dd>
78<dt><span class="term">-d <em class="replaceable"><code>debug-level</code></em></span></dt>
79<dd><p>
80		Set the daemon's debug level to <em class="replaceable"><code>debug-level</code></em>.
81		Debugging traces from <span><strong class="command">lwresd</strong></span> become
82		more verbose as the debug level increases.
83          </p></dd>
84<dt><span class="term">-f</span></dt>
85<dd><p>
86		Run the server in the foreground (i.e. do not daemonize).
87          </p></dd>
88<dt><span class="term">-g</span></dt>
89<dd><p>
90		Run the server in the foreground and force all logging
91		to <code class="filename">stderr</code>.
92          </p></dd>
93<dt><span class="term">-n <em class="replaceable"><code>#cpus</code></em></span></dt>
94<dd><p>
95		Create <em class="replaceable"><code>#cpus</code></em> worker threads
96		to take advantage of multiple CPUs.  If not specified,
97		<span><strong class="command">lwresd</strong></span> will try to determine the
98		number of CPUs present and create one thread per CPU.
99		If it is unable to determine the number of CPUs, a
100		single worker thread will be created.
101          </p></dd>
102<dt><span class="term">-P <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></span></dt>
103<dd><p>
104		Listen for lightweight resolver queries on port
105		<em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em>.  If
106		not specified, the default is port 921.
107          </p></dd>
108<dt><span class="term">-p <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></span></dt>
109<dd><p>
110		Send DNS lookups to port <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em>.  If not
111		specified, the default is port 53.  This provides a
112		way of testing the lightweight resolver daemon with a
113		name server that listens for queries on a non-standard
114		port number.
115          </p></dd>
116<dt><span class="term">-s</span></dt>
117<dd>
118<p>
119		Write memory usage statistics to <code class="filename">stdout</code>
120		on exit.
121          </p>
122<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
123<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
124<p>
125		This option is mainly of interest to BIND 9 developers
126		and may be removed or changed in a future release.
127	    </p>
128</div>
129</dd>
130<dt><span class="term">-t <em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em></span></dt>
131<dd>
132<p>
133		<code class="function">chroot()</code> to <em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em> after
134		processing the command line arguments, but before
135		reading the configuration file.
136          </p>
137<div class="warning" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
138<h3 class="title">Warning</h3>
139<p>
140		This option should be used in conjunction with the
141		<code class="option">-u</code> option, as chrooting a process
142		running as root doesn't enhance security on most
143		systems; the way <code class="function">chroot()</code> is
144		defined allows a process with root privileges to
145		escape a chroot jail.
146	    </p>
147</div>
148</dd>
149<dt><span class="term">-u <em class="replaceable"><code>user</code></em></span></dt>
150<dd><p>
151		<code class="function">setuid()</code> to <em class="replaceable"><code>user</code></em> after completing
152		privileged operations, such as creating sockets that
153		listen on privileged ports.
154          </p></dd>
155<dt><span class="term">-v</span></dt>
156<dd><p>
157		Report the version number and exit.
158          </p></dd>
159</dl></div>
160</div>
161<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
162<a name="id2526237"></a><h2>FILES</h2>
163<div class="variablelist"><dl>
164<dt><span class="term"><code class="filename">/etc/resolv.conf</code></span></dt>
165<dd><p>
166		The default configuration file.
167          </p></dd>
168<dt><span class="term"><code class="filename">/var/run/lwresd.pid</code></span></dt>
169<dd><p>
170		The default process-id file.
171          </p></dd>
172</dl></div>
173</div>
174<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
175<a name="id2526277"></a><h2>SEE ALSO</h2>
176<p>
177	<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">named</span>(8)</span>,
178	<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">lwres</span>(3)</span>,
179	<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">resolver</span>(5)</span>.
180    </p>
181</div>
182<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
183<a name="id2526315"></a><h2>AUTHOR</h2>
184<p>
185	<span class="corpauthor">Internet Systems Consortium</span>
186    </p>
187</div>
188</div></body>
189</html>
190