1unbound-control(8) unbound 1.7.3 unbound-control(8)
2
3
4
6 unbound-control, unbound-control-setup - Unbound remote server control
7 utility.
8
10 unbound-control [-hq] [-c cfgfile] [-s server] command
11
13 Unbound-control performs remote administration on the unbound(8) DNS
14 server. It reads the configuration file, contacts the unbound server
15 over SSL sends the command and displays the result.
16
17 The available options are:
18
19 -h Show the version and commandline option help.
20
21 -c cfgfile
22 The config file to read with settings. If not given the default
23 config file /etc/unbound/unbound.conf is used.
24
25 -s server[@port]
26 IPv4 or IPv6 address of the server to contact. If not given,
27 the address is read from the config file.
28
29 -q quiet, if the option is given it does not print anything if it
30 works ok.
31
33 There are several commands that the server understands.
34
35 start Start the server. Simply execs unbound(8). The unbound exe‐
36 cutable is searched for in the PATH set in the environment. It
37 is started with the config file specified using -c or the
38 default config file.
39
40 stop Stop the server. The server daemon exits.
41
42 reload Reload the server. This flushes the cache and reads the config
43 file fresh.
44
45 verbosity number
46 Change verbosity value for logging. Same values as verbosity
47 keyword in unbound.conf(5). This new setting lasts until the
48 server is issued a reload (taken from config file again), or the
49 next verbosity control command.
50
51 log_reopen
52 Reopen the logfile, close and open it. Useful for logrotation
53 to make the daemon release the file it is logging to. If you
54 are using syslog it will attempt to close and open the syslog
55 (which may not work if chrooted).
56
57 stats Print statistics. Resets the internal counters to zero, this can
58 be controlled using the statistics-cumulative config statement.
59 Statistics are printed with one [name]: [value] per line.
60
61 stats_noreset
62 Peek at statistics. Prints them like the stats command does, but
63 does not reset the internal counters to zero.
64
65 status Display server status. Exit code 3 if not running (the connec‐
66 tion to the port is refused), 1 on error, 0 if running.
67
68 local_zone name type
69 Add new local zone with name and type. Like local-zone config
70 statement. If the zone already exists, the type is changed to
71 the given argument.
72
73 local_zone_remove name
74 Remove the local zone with the given name. Removes all local
75 data inside it. If the zone does not exist, the command suc‐
76 ceeds.
77
78 local_data RR data...
79 Add new local data, the given resource record. Like local-data
80 config statement, except for when no covering zone exists. In
81 that case this remote control command creates a transparent zone
82 with the same name as this record. This command is not good at
83 returning detailed syntax errors.
84
85 local_data_remove name
86 Remove all RR data from local name. If the name already has no
87 items, nothing happens. Often results in NXDOMAIN for the name
88 (in a static zone), but if the name has become an empty nonter‐
89 minal (there is still data in domain names below the removed
90 name), NOERROR nodata answers are the result for that name.
91
92 local_zones
93 Add local zones read from stdin of unbound-control. Input is
94 read per line, with name space type on a line. For bulk addi‐
95 tions.
96
97 local_zones_remove
98 Remove local zones read from stdin of unbound-control. Input is
99 one name per line. For bulk removals.
100
101 local_datas
102 Add local data RRs read from stdin of unbound-control. Input is
103 one RR per line. For bulk additions.
104
105 local_datas_remove
106 Remove local data RRs read from stdin of unbound-control. Input
107 is one name per line. For bulk removals.
108
109 dump_cache
110 The contents of the cache is printed in a text format to stdout.
111 You can redirect it to a file to store the cache in a file.
112
113 load_cache
114 The contents of the cache is loaded from stdin. Uses the same
115 format as dump_cache uses. Loading the cache with old, or wrong
116 data can result in old or wrong data returned to clients. Load‐
117 ing data into the cache in this way is supported in order to aid
118 with debugging.
119
120 lookup name
121 Print to stdout the name servers that would be used to look up
122 the name specified.
123
124 flush name
125 Remove the name from the cache. Removes the types A, AAAA, NS,
126 SOA, CNAME, DNAME, MX, PTR, SRV and NAPTR. Because that is fast
127 to do. Other record types can be removed using flush_type or
128 flush_zone.
129
130 flush_type name type
131 Remove the name, type information from the cache.
132
133 flush_zone name
134 Remove all information at or below the name from the cache. The
135 rrsets and key entries are removed so that new lookups will be
136 performed. This needs to walk and inspect the entire cache, and
137 is a slow operation. The entries are set to expired in the
138 implementation of this command (so, with serve-expired enabled,
139 it'll serve that information but schedule a prefetch for new
140 information).
141
142 flush_bogus
143 Remove all bogus data from the cache.
144
145 flush_negative
146 Remove all negative data from the cache. This is nxdomain
147 answers, nodata answers and servfail answers. Also removes bad
148 key entries (which could be due to failed lookups) from the
149 dnssec key cache, and iterator last-resort lookup failures from
150 the rrset cache.
151
152 flush_stats
153 Reset statistics to zero.
154
155 flush_requestlist
156 Drop the queries that are worked on. Stops working on the
157 queries that the server is working on now. The cache is unaf‐
158 fected. No reply is sent for those queries, probably making
159 those users request again later. Useful to make the server
160 restart working on queries with new settings, such as a higher
161 verbosity level.
162
163 dump_requestlist
164 Show what is worked on. Prints all queries that the server is
165 currently working on. Prints the time that users have been
166 waiting. For internal requests, no time is printed. And then
167 prints out the module status. This prints the queries from the
168 first thread, and not queries that are being serviced from other
169 threads.
170
171 flush_infra all|IP
172 If all then entire infra cache is emptied. If a specific IP
173 address, the entry for that address is removed from the cache.
174 It contains EDNS, ping and lameness data.
175
176 dump_infra
177 Show the contents of the infra cache.
178
179 set_option opt: val
180 Set the option to the given value without a reload. The cache
181 is therefore not flushed. The option must end with a ':' and
182 whitespace must be between the option and the value. Some val‐
183 ues may not have an effect if set this way, the new values are
184 not written to the config file, not all options are supported.
185 This is different from the set_option call in libunbound, where
186 all values work because unbound has not been initialized.
187
188 The values that work are: statistics-interval, statistics-cumu‐
189 lative, do-not-query-localhost, harden-short-bufsize,
190 harden-large-queries, harden-glue, harden-dnssec-stripped,
191 harden-below-nxdomain, harden-referral-path, prefetch,
192 prefetch-key, log-queries, hide-identity, hide-version, iden‐
193 tity, version, val-log-level, val-log-squelch, ignore-cd-flag,
194 add-holddown, del-holddown, keep-missing, tcp-upstream,
195 ssl-upstream, max-udp-size, ratelimit, ip-ratelimit,
196 cache-max-ttl, cache-min-ttl, cache-max-negative-ttl.
197
198 get_option opt
199 Get the value of the option. Give the option name without a
200 trailing ':'. The value is printed. If the value is "", noth‐
201 ing is printed and the connection closes. On error 'error ...'
202 is printed (it gives a syntax error on unknown option). For
203 some options a list of values, one on each line, is printed.
204 The options are shown from the config file as modified with
205 set_option. For some options an override may have been taken
206 that does not show up with this command, not results from e.g.
207 the verbosity and forward control commands. Not all options
208 work, see list_stubs, list_forwards, list_local_zones and
209 list_local_data for those.
210
211 list_stubs
212 List the stub zones in use. These are printed one by one to the
213 output. This includes the root hints in use.
214
215 list_forwards
216 List the forward zones in use. These are printed zone by zone
217 to the output.
218
219 list_insecure
220 List the zones with domain-insecure.
221
222 list_local_zones
223 List the local zones in use. These are printed one per line
224 with zone type.
225
226 list_local_data
227 List the local data RRs in use. The resource records are
228 printed.
229
230 insecure_add zone
231 Add a domain-insecure for the given zone, like the statement in
232 unbound.conf. Adds to the running unbound without affecting the
233 cache contents (which may still be bogus, use flush_zone to
234 remove it), does not affect the config file.
235
236 insecure_remove zone
237 Removes domain-insecure for the given zone.
238
239 forward_add [+i] zone addr ...
240 Add a new forward zone to running unbound. With +i option also
241 adds a domain-insecure for the zone (so it can resolve inse‐
242 curely if you have a DNSSEC root trust anchor configured for
243 other names). The addr can be IP4, IP6 or nameserver names,
244 like forward-zone config in unbound.conf.
245
246 forward_remove [+i] zone
247 Remove a forward zone from running unbound. The +i also removes
248 a domain-insecure for the zone.
249
250 stub_add [+ip] zone addr ...
251 Add a new stub zone to running unbound. With +i option also
252 adds a domain-insecure for the zone. With +p the stub zone is
253 set to prime, without it it is set to notprime. The addr can be
254 IP4, IP6 or nameserver names, like the stub-zone config in
255 unbound.conf.
256
257 stub_remove [+i] zone
258 Remove a stub zone from running unbound. The +i also removes a
259 domain-insecure for the zone.
260
261 forward [off | addr ... ]
262 Setup forwarding mode. Configures if the server should ask
263 other upstream nameservers, should go to the internet root name‐
264 servers itself, or show the current config. You could pass the
265 nameservers after a DHCP update.
266
267 Without arguments the current list of addresses used to forward
268 all queries to is printed. On startup this is from the for‐
269 ward-zone "." configuration. Afterwards it shows the status.
270 It prints off when no forwarding is used.
271
272 If off is passed, forwarding is disabled and the root name‐
273 servers are used. This can be used to avoid to avoid buggy or
274 non-DNSSEC supporting nameservers returned from DHCP. But may
275 not work in hotels or hotspots.
276
277 If one or more IPv4 or IPv6 addresses are given, those are then
278 used to forward queries to. The addresses must be separated
279 with spaces. With '@port' the port number can be set explicitly
280 (default port is 53 (DNS)).
281
282 By default the forwarder information from the config file for
283 the root "." is used. The config file is not changed, so after
284 a reload these changes are gone. Other forward zones from the
285 config file are not affected by this command.
286
287 ratelimit_list [+a]
288 List the domains that are ratelimited. Printed one per line
289 with current estimated qps and qps limit from config. With +a
290 it prints all domains, not just the ratelimited domains, with
291 their estimated qps. The ratelimited domains return an error
292 for uncached (new) queries, but cached queries work as normal.
293
294 ip_ratelimit_list [+a]
295 List the ip addresses that are ratelimited. Printed one per
296 line with current estimated qps and qps limit from config. With
297 +a it prints all ips, not just the ratelimited ips, with their
298 estimated qps. The ratelimited ips are dropped before checking
299 the cache.
300
301 list_auth_zones
302 List the auth zones that are configured. Printed one per line
303 with a status, indicating if the zone is expired and current
304 serial number.
305
306 view_list_local_zones view
307 list_local_zones for given view.
308
309 view_local_zone view name type
310 local_zone for given view.
311
312 view_local_zone_remove view name
313 local_zone_remove for given view.
314
315 view_list_local_data view
316 list_local_data for given view.
317
318 view_local_data view RR data...
319 local_data for given view.
320
321 view_local_data_remove view name
322 local_data_remove for given view.
323
325 The unbound-control program exits with status code 1 on error, 0 on
326 success.
327
329 The setup requires a self-signed certificate and private keys for both
330 the server and client. The script unbound-control-setup generates
331 these in the default run directory, or with -d in another directory.
332 If you change the access control permissions on the key files you can
333 decide who can use unbound-control, by default owner and group but not
334 all users. Run the script under the same username as you have config‐
335 ured in unbound.conf or as root, so that the daemon is permitted to
336 read the files, for example with:
337 sudo -u unbound unbound-control-setup
338 If you have not configured a username in unbound.conf, the keys need
339 read permission for the user credentials under which the daemon is
340 started. The script preserves private keys present in the directory.
341 After running the script as root, turn on control-enable in
342 unbound.conf.
343
345 The stats command shows a number of statistic counters.
346
347 threadX.num.queries
348 number of queries received by thread
349
350 threadX.num.queries_ip_ratelimited
351 number of queries rate limited by thread
352
353 threadX.num.cachehits
354 number of queries that were successfully answered using a cache
355 lookup
356
357 threadX.num.cachemiss
358 number of queries that needed recursive processing
359
360 threadX.num.dnscrypt.crypted
361 number of queries that were encrypted and successfully decapsu‐
362 lated by dnscrypt.
363
364 threadX.num.dnscrypt.cert
365 number of queries that were requesting dnscrypt certificates.
366
367 threadX.num.dnscrypt.cleartext
368 number of queries received on dnscrypt port that were cleartext
369 and not a request for certificates.
370
371 threadX.num.dnscrypt.malformed
372 number of request that were neither cleartext, not valid
373 dnscrypt messages.
374
375 threadX.num.prefetch
376 number of cache prefetches performed. This number is included
377 in cachehits, as the original query had the unprefetched answer
378 from cache, and resulted in recursive processing, taking a slot
379 in the requestlist. Not part of the recursivereplies (or the
380 histogram thereof) or cachemiss, as a cache response was sent.
381
382 threadX.num.zero_ttl
383 number of replies with ttl zero, because they served an expired
384 cache entry.
385
386 threadX.num.recursivereplies
387 The number of replies sent to queries that needed recursive pro‐
388 cessing. Could be smaller than threadX.num.cachemiss if due to
389 timeouts no replies were sent for some queries.
390
391 threadX.requestlist.avg
392 The average number of requests in the internal recursive pro‐
393 cessing request list on insert of a new incoming recursive pro‐
394 cessing query.
395
396 threadX.requestlist.max
397 Maximum size attained by the internal recursive processing
398 request list.
399
400 threadX.requestlist.overwritten
401 Number of requests in the request list that were overwritten by
402 newer entries. This happens if there is a flood of queries that
403 recursive processing and the server has a hard time.
404
405 threadX.requestlist.exceeded
406 Queries that were dropped because the request list was full.
407 This happens if a flood of queries need recursive processing,
408 and the server can not keep up.
409
410 threadX.requestlist.current.all
411 Current size of the request list, includes internally generated
412 queries (such as priming queries and glue lookups).
413
414 threadX.requestlist.current.user
415 Current size of the request list, only the requests from client
416 queries.
417
418 threadX.recursion.time.avg
419 Average time it took to answer queries that needed recursive
420 processing. Note that queries that were answered from the cache
421 are not in this average.
422
423 threadX.recursion.time.median
424 The median of the time it took to answer queries that needed
425 recursive processing. The median means that 50% of the user
426 queries were answered in less than this time. Because of big
427 outliers (usually queries to non responsive servers), the aver‐
428 age can be bigger than the median. This median has been calcu‐
429 lated by interpolation from a histogram.
430
431 threadX.tcpusage
432 The currently held tcp buffers for incoming connections. A spot
433 value on the time of the request. This helps you spot if the
434 incoming-num-tcp buffers are full.
435
436 total.num.queries
437 summed over threads.
438
439 total.num.cachehits
440 summed over threads.
441
442 total.num.cachemiss
443 summed over threads.
444
445 total.num.dnscrypt.crypted
446 summed over threads.
447
448 total.num.dnscrypt.cert
449 summed over threads.
450
451 total.num.dnscrypt.cleartext
452 summed over threads.
453
454 total.num.dnscrypt.malformed
455 summed over threads.
456
457 total.num.prefetch
458 summed over threads.
459
460 total.num.zero_ttl
461 summed over threads.
462
463 total.num.recursivereplies
464 summed over threads.
465
466 total.requestlist.avg
467 averaged over threads.
468
469 total.requestlist.max
470 the maximum of the thread requestlist.max values.
471
472 total.requestlist.overwritten
473 summed over threads.
474
475 total.requestlist.exceeded
476 summed over threads.
477
478 total.requestlist.current.all
479 summed over threads.
480
481 total.recursion.time.median
482 averaged over threads.
483
484 total.tcpusage
485 summed over threads.
486
487 time.now
488 current time in seconds since 1970.
489
490 time.up
491 uptime since server boot in seconds.
492
493 time.elapsed
494 time since last statistics printout, in seconds.
495
497 mem.cache.rrset
498 Memory in bytes in use by the RRset cache.
499
500 mem.cache.message
501 Memory in bytes in use by the message cache.
502
503 mem.cache.dnscrypt_shared_secret
504 Memory in bytes in use by the dnscrypt shared secrets cache.
505
506 mem.cache.dnscrypt_nonce
507 Memory in bytes in use by the dnscrypt nonce cache.
508
509 mem.mod.iterator
510 Memory in bytes in use by the iterator module.
511
512 mem.mod.validator
513 Memory in bytes in use by the validator module. Includes the key
514 cache and negative cache.
515
516 histogram.<sec>.<usec>.to.<sec>.<usec>
517 Shows a histogram, summed over all threads. Every element counts
518 the recursive queries whose reply time fit between the lower and
519 upper bound. Times larger or equal to the lowerbound, and
520 smaller than the upper bound. There are 40 buckets, with bucket
521 sizes doubling.
522
523 num.query.type.A
524 The total number of queries over all threads with query type A.
525 Printed for the other query types as well, but only for the
526 types for which queries were received, thus =0 entries are omit‐
527 ted for brevity.
528
529 num.query.type.other
530 Number of queries with query types 256-65535.
531
532 num.query.class.IN
533 The total number of queries over all threads with query class IN
534 (internet). Also printed for other classes (such as CH (CHAOS)
535 sometimes used for debugging), or NONE, ANY, used by dynamic
536 update. num.query.class.other is printed for classes 256-65535.
537
538 num.query.opcode.QUERY
539 The total number of queries over all threads with query opcode
540 QUERY. Also printed for other opcodes, UPDATE, ...
541
542 num.query.tcp
543 Number of queries that were made using TCP towards the unbound
544 server.
545
546 num.query.tcpout
547 Number of queries that the unbound server made using TCP outgo‐
548 ing towards other servers.
549
550 num.query.ipv6
551 Number of queries that were made using IPv6 towards the unbound
552 server.
553
554 num.query.flags.RD
555 The number of queries that had the RD flag set in the header.
556 Also printed for flags QR, AA, TC, RA, Z, AD, CD. Note that
557 queries with flags QR, AA or TC may have been rejected because
558 of that.
559
560 num.query.edns.present
561 number of queries that had an EDNS OPT record present.
562
563 num.query.edns.DO
564 number of queries that had an EDNS OPT record with the DO
565 (DNSSEC OK) bit set. These queries are also included in the
566 num.query.edns.present number.
567
568 num.query.ratelimited
569 The number of queries that are turned away from being send to
570 nameserver due to ratelimiting.
571
572 num.query.dnscrypt.shared_secret.cachemiss
573 The number of dnscrypt queries that did not find a shared secret
574 in the cache. The can be use to compute the shared secret
575 hitrate.
576
577 num.query.dnscrypt.replay
578 The number of dnscrypt queries that found a nonce hit in the
579 nonce cache and hence are considered a query replay.
580
581 num.answer.rcode.NXDOMAIN
582 The number of answers to queries, from cache or from recursion,
583 that had the return code NXDOMAIN. Also printed for the other
584 return codes.
585
586 num.answer.rcode.nodata
587 The number of answers to queries that had the pseudo return code
588 nodata. This means the actual return code was NOERROR, but
589 additionally, no data was carried in the answer (making what is
590 called a NOERROR/NODATA answer). These queries are also
591 included in the num.answer.rcode.NOERROR number. Common for
592 AAAA lookups when an A record exists, and no AAAA.
593
594 num.answer.secure
595 Number of answers that were secure. The answer validated cor‐
596 rectly. The AD bit might have been set in some of these
597 answers, where the client signalled (with DO or AD bit in the
598 query) that they were ready to accept the AD bit in the answer.
599
600 num.answer.bogus
601 Number of answers that were bogus. These answers resulted in
602 SERVFAIL to the client because the answer failed validation.
603
604 num.rrset.bogus
605 The number of rrsets marked bogus by the validator. Increased
606 for every RRset inspection that fails.
607
608 unwanted.queries
609 Number of queries that were refused or dropped because they
610 failed the access control settings.
611
612 unwanted.replies
613 Replies that were unwanted or unsolicited. Could have been ran‐
614 dom traffic, delayed duplicates, very late answers, or could be
615 spoofing attempts. Some low level of late answers and delayed
616 duplicates are to be expected with the UDP protocol. Very high
617 values could indicate a threat (spoofing).
618
619 msg.cache.count
620 The number of items (DNS replies) in the message cache.
621
622 rrset.cache.count
623 The number of RRsets in the rrset cache. This includes rrsets
624 used by the messages in the message cache, but also delegation
625 information.
626
627 infra.cache.count
628 The number of items in the infra cache. These are IP addresses
629 with their timing and protocol support information.
630
631 key.cache.count
632 The number of items in the key cache. These are DNSSEC keys,
633 one item per delegation point, and their validation status.
634
635 dnscrypt_shared_secret.cache.count
636 The number of items in the shared secret cache. These are pre‐
637 computed shared secrets for a given client public key/server
638 secret key pair. Shared secrets are CPU intensive and this cache
639 allows unbound to avoid recomputing the shared secret when mul‐
640 tiple dnscrypt queries are sent from the same client.
641
642 dnscrypt_nonce.cache.count
643 The number of items in the client nonce cache. This cache is
644 used to prevent dnscrypt queries replay. The client nonce must
645 be unique for each client public key/server secret key pair.
646 This cache should be able to host QPS * `replay window` interval
647 keys to prevent replay of a query during `replay window` sec‐
648 onds.
649
650 num.query.authzone.up
651 The number of queries answered from auth-zone data, upstream
652 queries. These queries would otherwise have been sent (with
653 fallback enabled) to the internet, but are now answered from the
654 auth zone.
655
656 num.query.authzone.down
657 The number of queries for downstream answered from auth-zone
658 data. These queries are from downstream clients, and have had
659 an answer from the data in the auth zone.
660
661 num.query.aggressive.NOERROR
662 The number of queries answered using cached NSEC records with
663 NODATA RCODE. These queries would otherwise have been sent to
664 the internet, but are now answered using cached data.
665
666 num.query.aggressive.NXDOMAIN
667 The number of queries answered using cached NSEC records with
668 NXDOMAIN RCODE. These queries would otherwise have been sent to
669 the internet, but are now answered using cached data.
670
672 /etc/unbound/unbound.conf
673 unbound configuration file.
674
675 /etc/unbound
676 directory with private keys (unbound_server.key and unbound_con‐
677 trol.key) and self-signed certificates (unbound_server.pem and
678 unbound_control.pem).
679
681 unbound.conf(5), unbound(8).
682
683
684
685NLnet Labs Jun 21, 2018 unbound-control(8)