All Authoritative Server settings
All PowerDNS Authoritative Server settings are listed here, excluding those that
originate from backends, which are documented in the relevant chapters. These
settings can be set inside pdns.conf
or on the commandline when invoking the
pdns
binary.
You can use +=
syntax to set some variables incrementally, but this requires
you to have at least one non-incremental setting for the variable to act as base
setting. This is mostly useful for include-dir
directive.
For boolean settings, specifying the name of the setting without a value means
yes
.
allow-axfr-ips
- IP ranges, separated by commas
- Default: 127.0.0.0/8,::1
If set, only these IP addresses or netmasks will be able to perform AXFR.
allow-dns-update-from
- IP ranges, separated by commas
Allow DNS updates from these IP ranges.
allow-recursion
- IP ranges, separated by commas
By specifying allow-recursion
, recursion can be restricted to netmasks
specified. The default is to allow recursion from everywhere. Example:
allow-recursion=198.51.100.0/24, 10.0.0.0/8, 192.0.2.4
.
also-notify
- IP adresses, separated by commas
When notifying a domain, also notify these nameservers. Example:
also-notify=192.0.2.1, 203.0.113.167
. The IP adresses listed in also-notify
always receive a notification. Even if they do not match the list in
only-notify
.
any-to-tcp
- Boolean
- Default: no
- Available since: 3.3
Answer questions for the ANY and RRSIG types on UDP with a truncated packet that refers the remote server to TCP. Useful for mitigating reflection attacks.
cache-ttl
- Integer
- Default: 20
Seconds to store packets in the PacketCache. See "Packet Cache".
carbon-ourname
- String
- Default: the hostname of the server
- Available since: 3.3.1
If sending carbon updates, if set, this will override our hostname. See "PowerDNS Metrics".
carbon-server
- IP Address
- Available since: 3.3.1
Send all available metrics to this server via the carbon protocol, which is used by graphite and metronome. See "PowerDNS Metrics".
carbon-interval
- Integer
- Default: 30
- Available since: 3.3.1
If sending carbon updates, this is the interval between them in seconds. See "PowerDNS Metrics".
chroot
- Path
If set, chroot to this directory for more security. See "Security settings & considerations".
config-dir
- Path
Location of configuration directory (pdns.conf
). Usually /etc/powerdns
, but
this depends on SYSCONFDIR
during compile-time.
config-name
- String
Name of this virtual configuration - will rename the binary image. See "Virtual hosting".
control-console
Debugging switch - don't use.
daemon
- Boolean
- Default: no
Operate as a daemon.
default-ksk-algorithms
- String
- Default: rsasha256
The algorithm that should be used for the KSK when running
pdnssec secure-zone
.
Must be one of:
- rsamd5
- dh
- dsa
- ecc
- rsasha1
- dsa-nsec3-sha1
- rsasha1-nsec3-sha1
- rsasha256
- rsasha512
- ecc-gost
- ecdsap256sha256
- ecdsap384sha384
default-ksk-size
- Integer
- Default: whichever is default for
default-ksk-algorithms
The default keysize for the KSK generated with
pdnssec secure-zone
.
default-soa-name
- String
- Default: a.misconfigured.powerdns.server
Name to insert in the SOA record if none set in the backend.
default-soa-mail
- String
Mail address to insert in the SOA record if none set in the backend.
default-ttl
- Integer
- Default: 3600
TTL to use when none is provided.
default-zsk-algorithms
- String
- Default: rsasha256
The algorithm that should be used for the ZSK when running
pdnssec secure-zone
.
Must be one of:
- rsamd5
- dh
- dsa
- ecc
- rsasha1
- dsa-nsec3-sha1
- rsasha1-nsec3-sha1
- rsasha256
- rsasha512
- ecc-gost
- ecdsap256sha256
- ecdsap384sha384
default-zsk-size
- Integer
- Default: whichever is default for
default-zsk-algorithms
The default keysize for the ZSK generated with
pdnssec secure-zone
.
direct-dnskey
- Boolean
- Default: no
Read additional ZSKs from the records table/your BIND zonefile. If not set, DNSKEY recornds in the zonefiles are ignored.
disable-axfr
- Boolean
- Default: no
Do not allow zone transfers.
disable-axfr-rectify
- Boolean
- Default: no
Disable the rectify step during an outgoing AXFR. Only required for regression testing.
disable-tcp
- Boolean
- Default: no
Do not listen to TCP queries. Breaks RFC compliance.
distributor-threads
- Integer
- Default: 3
Number of Distributor (backend) threads to start per receiver thread. See "Authoritative Server Performance".
do-ipv6-additional-processing
- Boolean
- Default: yes
Perform AAAA additional processing. This sends AAAA records in the ADDITIONAL section when sending a referral.
edns-subnet-option-number
- Integer
- Removed in 3.4.
If edns-subnet-processing
is enabled, this option
allows the user to override the option number.
edns-subnet-processing
- Boolean
- Default: no
Enables EDNS subnet processing, for backends that support it.
entropy-source
- Path
- Default: /dev/urandom
Entropy source file to use.
experimental-api-readonly
- Boolean
- Default: no
- Available since: 3.4
Disallow data modification through the json API when set.
experimental-api-key
- String
- Available since: 3.4.1
experimental-api-key REST API Static authentication key (required for API use)
experimental-dname-processing
- Boolean
- Default: no
Synthesise CNAME records from DNAME records as required. This approximately doubles query load. Do not combine with DNSSEC!
experimental-dnsupdate
- Boolean
- Default: no
Enable/Disable DNS update (RFC2136) support.
forward-dnsupdates
- Boolean
- Default: no
Forward DNS updates sent to a slave to the master.
guardian
- Boolean
- Default: no
Run within a guardian process. See "Guardian".
help
Provide a helpful message
include-dir
- Path
Directory to scan for additional config files. All files that end with .conf are
loaded in order using POSIX
as locale.
launch
- Backend names, separated by commas
Which backends to launch and order to query them in. See "Modules & Backends".
lazy-recursion
- Boolean
- Default: yes
- Removed in: 3.2
Check local data first before recursing. See "Recursion".
load-modules
- Path
Load this module - supply absolute or relative path. See "Modules & Backends".
local-address
- IPv4 Addresses, separated by commas or whitespace
- Default: 0.0.0.0
Local IP address to which we bind. It is highly advised to bind to specific interfaces and not use the default 'bind to any'. This causes big problems if you have multiple IP addresses. Unix does not provide a way of figuring out what IP address a packet was sent to when binding to any.
local-address-nonexist-fail
- Boolean
- Default: no
Fail to start if one or more of the local-address
's do not
exist on this server.
local-ipv6
- IPv6 Addresses, separated by commas or whitespace
- Default: ::
Local IPv6 address to which we bind. It is highly advised to bind to specific interfaces and not use the default 'bind to any'. This causes big problems if you have multiple IP addresses.
local-ipv6-nonexist-fail
- Boolean
- Default: no
Fail to start if one or more of the local-ipv6
addresses do not
exist on this server.
local-port
- Integer
- Default: 53
The port on which we listen. Only one port possible.
log-dns-details
- Boolean
- Default: no
If set to 'no', informative-only DNS details will not even be sent to syslog, improving performance. Available from 2.5 and onwards.
logging-facility
If set to a digit, logging is performed under this LOCAL facility. See "Operational logging using syslog". Available from 1.99.9 and onwards. Do not pass names like 'local0'!
loglevel
- Integer
- Default: 4
Amount of logging. Higher is more. Do not set below 3
log-dns-queries
- Boolean
- Default: no
Tell PowerDNS to log all incoming DNS queries. This will lead to a lot of
logging! Only enable for debugging! Set loglevel
to at least 5
to see the logs.
lua-prequery-script
- Path
Lua script to run before answering a query. This is a feature used internally for regression testing. The API of this functionality is not guaranteed to be stable, and is in fact likely to change.
master
- Boolean
- Default: yes
Turn on master support.
max-cache-entries
- Integer
- Default: 1000000
Maximum number of cache entries. 1 million (the default) will generally suffice for most installations.
max-ent-entries
- Integer
- Default: 100000
Maximum number of empty non-terminals to add to a zone. This is a protection measure to avoid database explosion due to long names.
max-nsec3-iterations
- Integer
- Default: 500
Limit the number of NSEC3 hash iterations
max-queue-length
- Integer
- Default: 5000
If this many packets are waiting for database attention, consider the situation hopeless and respawn.
max-signature-cache-entries
- Integer
- Default: 2^64 (on 64-bit systems)
Maximum number of signatures cache entries
max-tcp-connections
- Integer
- Default: 10
Allow this many incoming TCP DNS connections simultaneously.
module-dir
- Path
Directory for modules. See "Modules and Backends".
Default depends on PKGLIBDIR
during compile-time.
negquery-cache-ttl
- Integer
- Default: 60
Seconds to store queries with no answer in the Query Cache. See "Query Cache".
no-config
- Boolean
- Default: no
Do not attempt to read the configuration file.
no-shuffle
- Boolean
- Default: no
Do not attempt to shuffle query results, used for regression testing.
overload-queue-length
- Integer
- Default: 0 (disabled)
If this many packets are waiting for database attention, answer any new questions strictly from the packet cache.
reuseport
- Boolean
- Default: No
On Linux 3.9 and some BSD kernels the SO_REUSEPORT
option allows each
receiver-thread to open a new socket on the same port which allows for much
higher performance on multi-core boxes. Setting this option will enable use of
SO_REUSEPORT
when available and seamlessly fall back to a single socket when
it is not available. A side-effect is that you can start multiple servers on the
same IP/port combination which may or may not be a good idea. You could use this
to enable transparent restarts, but it may also mask configuration issues and
for this reason it is disabled by default.
security-poll-suffix
- String
- Default: secpoll.powerdns.com.
- Available since: 3.4.1
Domain name from which to query security update notifications
server-id
- String
- Default: The hostname of the server
This is the server ID that will be returned on an EDNS NSID query.
only-notify
- IP Ranges, separated by commas or whitespace
- Default: 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0
Only send AXFR NOTIFY to these IP addresses or netmasks. The default is to
notify the world. The IP addresses or netmasks in also-notify
or ALSO-NOTIFY metadata always receive AXFR NOTIFY.
out-of-zone-additional-processing
- Boolean
- Default: no
Do out of zone additional processing. This means that if a malicious user adds a '.com' zone to your server, it is not used for other domains and will not contaminate answers. Do not enable this setting if you run a public DNS service with untrusted users.
pipebackend-abi-version
- Integer
- Default: 1
ABI version to use for the pipe backend. See "PipeBackend protocol".
prevent-self-notification
- Boolean
- Default: yes
- Available since: 3.3
PowerDNS Authoritative Server attempts to not send out notifications to itself in master mode. In very complicated situations we could guess wrong and not notify a server that should be notified. In that case, set prevent-self-notification to "no".
query-cache-ttl
- Integer
- Default: 20
Seconds to store queries with an answer in the Query Cache. See "Query Cache".
query-local-address
- IPv4 Address
- Default: 0.0.0.0
The IP address to use as a source address for sending queries. Useful if you have multiple IPs and PowerDNS is not bound to the IP address your operating system uses by default for outgoing packets.
query-local-address6
- IPv6 Address
- Default: ::
Source IP address for sending IPv6 queries.
query-logging
- Boolean
- Default: no
Boolean, hints to a backend that it should log a textual representation of queries it performs. Can be set at runtime.
queue-limit
- Integer
- Default: 1500
Maximum number of milliseconds to queue a query. See "Authoritative Server Performance".
receiver-threads
- Integer
- Default: 1
Number of receiver (listening) threads to start. See "Authoritative Server Performance" for tuning details.
recursive-cache-ttl
- Integer
- Default: 10
Seconds to store recursive packets in the PacketCache. See "Packet Cache".
recursor
- IP Address
If set, recursive queries will be handed to the recursor specified here. See "Recursion".
retrieval-threads
- Integer
- Default: 2
Number of AXFR slave threads to start.
send-root-referral
- Boolean or
lean
- Default: no
if set, PowerDNS will send out old-fashioned root-referrals when queried for domains for which it is not authoritative. Wastes some bandwidth but may solve incoming query floods if domains are delegated to you for which you are not authoritative, but which are queried by broken recursors. It is possible to specify 'lean' root referrals, which waste less bandwidth.
setgid
- String
If set, change group id to this gid for more security. See "Security settings & considerations".
setuid
- String
If set, change user id to this uid for more security. See "Security settings & considerations.
slave
- Boolean
- Default: no
Turn on slave support.
slave-cycle-interval
- Integer
- 60
Number of seconds to schedule slave up-to-date checks of domains whose status is unknown.
slave-renotify
- Boolean
- Default: no
This setting will make PowerDNS renotify the slaves after an AXFR is received from a master. This is useful when using when running a signing-slave.
signing-threads
- Integer
- Default: 3
Tell PowerDNS how many threads to use for signing. It might help improve signing speed by changing this number.
soa-expire-default
- Integer
- Default: 604800
Default SOA expire.
soa-minimum-ttl
- Integer
- Default: 3600
Default SOA minimum ttl.
soa-refresh-default
- Integer
- Default: 10800
Default SOA refresh.
soa-retry-default
- Integer
- Default: 3600
Default SOA retry.
soa-serial-offset
- Integer
- Removed in: 3.4
If your database contains single-digit SOA serials and you need to host .DE domains, this setting can help placate their 6-digit SOA serial requirements. Suggested value is to set this to 1000000 which adds 1000000 to all SOA Serials under that offset.
socket-dir
- Path
Where the controlsocket will live. The default depends on LOCALSTATEDIR
during
compile-time (usually /var/run
or /run
). See
"Controlsocket".
This path will also contain the pidfile for this instance of PowerDNS called
pdns.pid
by default. See config-name
and
Virtual Hosting how this can differ.
strict-rfc-axfrs
- Boolean
- Default: no
Perform strictly RFC-conforming AXFRs, which are slow, but may be necessary to placate some old client tools.
tcp-control-address
- IP Address
Address to bind to for TCP control.
tcp-control-port
- Integer
- Default: 53000
Port to bind to for TCP control.
tcp-control-range
- IP Ranges, separated by commas or whitespace
Limit TCP control to a specific client range.
tcp-control-secret
- String
Password for TCP control.
traceback-handler
- Boolean
- Default: yes
Enable the Linux-only traceback handler.
trusted-notification-proxy
- String
IP address of incoming notification proxy
udp-truncation-threshold
- Integer
- Default: 1680
EDNS0 allows for large UDP response datagrams, which can potentially raise performance. Large responses however also have downsides in terms of reflection attacks. Up till PowerDNS Authoritative Server 3.3, the truncation limit was set at 1680 bytes, regardless of EDNS0 buffer size indications from the client. Beyond 3.3, this setting makes our truncation limit configurable. Maximum value is 65535, but values above 4096 should probably not be attempted.
version-string
- Any of:
anonymous
,powerdns
,full
, String - Default: full
When queried for its version over DNS
(dig chaos txt version.bind @pdns.ip.address
), PowerDNS normally responds
truthfully. With this setting you can overrule what will be returned. Set the
version-string
to full
to get the default behaviour, to powerdns
to just
make it state served by PowerDNS - http://www.powerdns.com
. The anonymous
setting will return a ServFail, much like Microsoft nameservers do. You can set
this response to a custom value as well.
webserver
- Boolean
- Default: no
Start a webserver for monitoring. See "Performance Monitoring".
webserver-address
- IP Address
- Default: 127.0.0.1
IP Address of webserver to listen on. See "Performance Monitoring".
webserver-allow-from
- IP ranges, separated by commas or whitespace
Webserver access is only allowed from these subnets
webserver-password
- String
The plaintext password required for accessing the webserver. See "Performance Monitoring".
webserver-port
- Integer
- Default: 8001
The port where webserver to listen on. See "Performance Monitoring".
webserver-print-arguments
- Boolean
- Default: no
If the webserver should print arguments. See "Performance Monitoring".