1unbound-control(8) unbound 1.16.0 unbound-control(8)
2
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 The available options are:
18 -h Show the version and commandline option help.
20 -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 -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 -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 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 de‐
38 fault config file.
39 stop Stop the server. The server daemon exits.
41 reload Reload the server. This flushes the cache and reads the config
43 file fresh.
44 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 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 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 stats_noreset
62 Peek at statistics. Prints them like the stats command does, but
63 does not reset the internal counters to zero.
64 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 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 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 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.
83 local_data_remove name
85 Remove all RR data from local name. If the name already has no
86 items, nothing happens. Often results in NXDOMAIN for the name
87 (in a static zone), but if the name has become an empty nonter‐
88 minal (there is still data in domain names below the removed
89 name), NOERROR nodata answers are the result for that name.
90 local_zones
92 Add local zones read from stdin of unbound-control. Input is
93 read per line, with name space type on a line. For bulk addi‐
94 tions.
95 local_zones_remove
97 Remove local zones read from stdin of unbound-control. Input is
98 one name per line. For bulk removals.
99 local_datas
101 Add local data RRs read from stdin of unbound-control. Input is
102 one RR per line. For bulk additions.
103 local_datas_remove
105 Remove local data RRs read from stdin of unbound-control. Input
106 is one name per line. For bulk removals.
107 dump_cache
109 The contents of the cache is printed in a text format to stdout.
110 You can redirect it to a file to store the cache in a file.
111 load_cache
113 The contents of the cache is loaded from stdin. Uses the same
114 format as dump_cache uses. Loading the cache with old, or wrong
115 data can result in old or wrong data returned to clients. Load‐
116 ing data into the cache in this way is supported in order to aid
117 with debugging.
118 lookup name
120 Print to stdout the name servers that would be used to look up
121 the name specified.
122 flush name
124 Remove the name from the cache. Removes the types A, AAAA, NS,
125 SOA, CNAME, DNAME, MX, PTR, SRV and NAPTR. Because that is fast
126 to do. Other record types can be removed using flush_type or
127 flush_zone.
128 flush_type name type
130 Remove the name, type information from the cache.
131 flush_zone name
133 Remove all information at or below the name from the cache. The
134 rrsets and key entries are removed so that new lookups will be
135 performed. This needs to walk and inspect the entire cache, and
136 is a slow operation. The entries are set to expired in the im‐
137 plementation of this command (so, with serve-expired enabled,
138 it'll serve that information but schedule a prefetch for new in‐
139 formation).
140 flush_bogus
142 Remove all bogus data from the cache.
143 flush_negative
145 Remove all negative data from the cache. This is nxdomain an‐
146 swers, nodata answers and servfail answers. Also removes bad
147 key entries (which could be due to failed lookups) from the
148 dnssec key cache, and iterator last-resort lookup failures from
149 the rrset cache.
150 flush_stats
152 Reset statistics to zero.
153 flush_requestlist
155 Drop the queries that are worked on. Stops working on the
156 queries that the server is working on now. The cache is unaf‐
157 fected. No reply is sent for those queries, probably making
158 those users request again later. Useful to make the server
159 restart working on queries with new settings, such as a higher
160 verbosity level.
161 dump_requestlist
163 Show what is worked on. Prints all queries that the server is
164 currently working on. Prints the time that users have been
165 waiting. For internal requests, no time is printed. And then
166 prints out the module status. This prints the queries from the
167 first thread, and not queries that are being serviced from other
168 threads.
169 flush_infra all|IP
171 If all then entire infra cache is emptied. If a specific IP ad‐
172 dress, the entry for that address is removed from the cache. It
173 contains EDNS, ping and lameness data.
174 dump_infra
176 Show the contents of the infra cache.
177 set_option opt: val
179 Set the option to the given value without a reload. The cache
180 is therefore not flushed. The option must end with a ':' and
181 whitespace must be between the option and the value. Some val‐
182 ues may not have an effect if set this way, the new values are
183 not written to the config file, not all options are supported.
184 This is different from the set_option call in libunbound, where
185 all values work because Unbound has not been initialized.
186 The values that work are: statistics-interval, statistics-cumu‐
188 lative, do-not-query-localhost, harden-short-bufsize,
189 harden-large-queries, harden-glue, harden-dnssec-stripped,
190 harden-below-nxdomain, harden-referral-path, prefetch,
191 prefetch-key, log-queries, hide-identity, hide-version, iden‐
192 tity, version, val-log-level, val-log-squelch, ignore-cd-flag,
193 add-holddown, del-holddown, keep-missing, tcp-upstream, ssl-up‐
194 stream, max-udp-size, ratelimit, ip-ratelimit, cache-max-ttl,
195 cache-min-ttl, cache-max-negative-ttl.
196 get_option opt
198 Get the value of the option. Give the option name without a
199 trailing ':'. The value is printed. If the value is "", noth‐
200 ing is printed and the connection closes. On error 'error ...'
201 is printed (it gives a syntax error on unknown option). For
202 some options a list of values, one on each line, is printed.
203 The options are shown from the config file as modified with
204 set_option. For some options an override may have been taken
205 that does not show up with this command, not results from e.g.
206 the verbosity and forward control commands. Not all options
207 work, see list_stubs, list_forwards, list_local_zones and
208 list_local_data for those.
209 list_stubs
211 List the stub zones in use. These are printed one by one to the
212 output. This includes the root hints in use.
213 list_forwards
215 List the forward zones in use. These are printed zone by zone
216 to the output.
217 list_insecure
219 List the zones with domain-insecure.
220 list_local_zones
222 List the local zones in use. These are printed one per line
223 with zone type.
224 list_local_data
226 List the local data RRs in use. The resource records are
227 printed.
228 insecure_add zone
230 Add a domain-insecure for the given zone, like the statement in
231 unbound.conf. Adds to the running Unbound without affecting the
232 cache contents (which may still be bogus, use flush_zone to re‐
233 move it), does not affect the config file.
234 insecure_remove zone
236 Removes domain-insecure for the given zone.
237 forward_add [+i] zone addr ...
239 Add a new forward zone to running Unbound. With +i option also
240 adds a domain-insecure for the zone (so it can resolve inse‐
241 curely if you have a DNSSEC root trust anchor configured for
242 other names). The addr can be IP4, IP6 or nameserver names,
243 like forward-zone config in unbound.conf.
244 forward_remove [+i] zone
246 Remove a forward zone from running Unbound. The +i also removes
247 a domain-insecure for the zone.
248 stub_add [+ip] zone addr ...
250 Add a new stub zone to running Unbound. With +i option also
251 adds a domain-insecure for the zone. With +p the stub zone is
252 set to prime, without it it is set to notprime. The addr can be
253 IP4, IP6 or nameserver names, like the stub-zone config in un‐
254 bound.conf.
255 stub_remove [+i] zone
257 Remove a stub zone from running Unbound. The +i also removes a
258 domain-insecure for the zone.
259 forward [off | addr ... ]
261 Setup forwarding mode. Configures if the server should ask
262 other upstream nameservers, should go to the internet root name‐
263 servers itself, or show the current config. You could pass the
264 nameservers after a DHCP update.
265 Without arguments the current list of addresses used to forward
267 all queries to is printed. On startup this is from the for‐
268 ward-zone "." configuration. Afterwards it shows the status.
269 It prints off when no forwarding is used.
270 If off is passed, forwarding is disabled and the root name‐
272 servers are used. This can be used to avoid to avoid buggy or
273 non-DNSSEC supporting nameservers returned from DHCP. But may
274 not work in hotels or hotspots.
275 If one or more IPv4 or IPv6 addresses are given, those are then
277 used to forward queries to. The addresses must be separated
278 with spaces. With '@port' the port number can be set explicitly
279 (default port is 53 (DNS)).
280 By default the forwarder information from the config file for
282 the root "." is used. The config file is not changed, so after
283 a reload these changes are gone. Other forward zones from the
284 config file are not affected by this command.
285 ratelimit_list [+a]
287 List the domains that are ratelimited. Printed one per line
288 with current estimated qps and qps limit from config. With +a
289 it prints all domains, not just the ratelimited domains, with
290 their estimated qps. The ratelimited domains return an error
291 for uncached (new) queries, but cached queries work as normal.
292 ip_ratelimit_list [+a]
294 List the ip addresses that are ratelimited. Printed one per
295 line with current estimated qps and qps limit from config. With
296 +a it prints all ips, not just the ratelimited ips, with their
297 estimated qps. The ratelimited ips are dropped before checking
298 the cache.
299 list_auth_zones
301 List the auth zones that are configured. Printed one per line
302 with a status, indicating if the zone is expired and current se‐
303 rial number. Configured RPZ zones are included.
304 auth_zone_reload zone
306 Reload the auth zone (or RPZ zone) from zonefile. The zonefile
307 is read in overwriting the current contents of the zone in mem‐
308 ory. This changes the auth zone contents itself, not the cache
309 contents. Such cache contents exists if you set Unbound to val‐
310 idate with for-upstream yes and that can be cleared with
311 flush_zone zone.
312 auth_zone_transfer zone
314 Transfer the auth zone (or RPZ zone) from master. The auth zone
315 probe sequence is started, where the masters are probed to see
316 if they have an updated zone (with the SOA serial check). And
317 then the zone is transferred for a newer zone version.
318 rpz_enable zone
320 Enable the RPZ zone if it had previously been disabled.
321 rpz_disable zone
323 Disable the RPZ zone.
324 view_list_local_zones view
326 list_local_zones for given view.
327 view_local_zone view name type
329 local_zone for given view.
330 view_local_zone_remove view name
332 local_zone_remove for given view.
333 view_list_local_data view
335 list_local_data for given view.
336 view_local_data view RR data...
338 local_data for given view.
339 view_local_data_remove view name
341 local_data_remove for given view.
342 view_local_datas_remove view
344 Remove a list of local_data for given view from stdin. Like lo‐
345 cal_datas_remove.
346 view_local_datas view
348 Add a list of local_data for given view from stdin. Like lo‐
349 cal_datas.
350
352 The unbound-control program exits with status code 1 on error, 0 on
353 success.
354
356 The setup requires a self-signed certificate and private keys for both
357 the server and client. The script unbound-control-setup generates
358 these in the default run directory, or with -d in another directory.
359 If you change the access control permissions on the key files you can
360 decide who can use unbound-control, by default owner and group but not
361 all users. Run the script under the same username as you have config‐
362 ured in unbound.conf or as root, so that the daemon is permitted to
363 read the files, for example with:
364 sudo -u unbound unbound-control-setup
365 If you have not configured a username in unbound.conf, the keys need
366 read permission for the user credentials under which the daemon is
367 started. The script preserves private keys present in the directory.
368 After running the script as root, turn on control-enable in un‐
369 bound.conf.
370
372 The stats command shows a number of statistic counters.
373 threadX.num.queries
375 number of queries received by thread
376 threadX.num.queries_ip_ratelimited
378 number of queries rate limited by thread
379 threadX.num.cachehits
381 number of queries that were successfully answered using a cache
382 lookup
383 threadX.num.cachemiss
385 number of queries that needed recursive processing
386 threadX.num.dnscrypt.crypted
388 number of queries that were encrypted and successfully decapsu‐
389 lated by dnscrypt.
390 threadX.num.dnscrypt.cert
392 number of queries that were requesting dnscrypt certificates.
393 threadX.num.dnscrypt.cleartext
395 number of queries received on dnscrypt port that were cleartext
396 and not a request for certificates.
397 threadX.num.dnscrypt.malformed
399 number of request that were neither cleartext, not valid
400 dnscrypt messages.
401 threadX.num.prefetch
403 number of cache prefetches performed. This number is included
404 in cachehits, as the original query had the unprefetched answer
405 from cache, and resulted in recursive processing, taking a slot
406 in the requestlist. Not part of the recursivereplies (or the
407 histogram thereof) or cachemiss, as a cache response was sent.
408 threadX.num.expired
410 number of replies that served an expired cache entry.
411 threadX.num.recursivereplies
413 The number of replies sent to queries that needed recursive pro‐
414 cessing. Could be smaller than threadX.num.cachemiss if due to
415 timeouts no replies were sent for some queries.
416 threadX.requestlist.avg
418 The average number of requests in the internal recursive pro‐
419 cessing request list on insert of a new incoming recursive pro‐
420 cessing query.
421 threadX.requestlist.max
423 Maximum size attained by the internal recursive processing re‐
424 quest list.
425 threadX.requestlist.overwritten
427 Number of requests in the request list that were overwritten by
428 newer entries. This happens if there is a flood of queries that
429 recursive processing and the server has a hard time.
430 threadX.requestlist.exceeded
432 Queries that were dropped because the request list was full.
433 This happens if a flood of queries need recursive processing,
434 and the server can not keep up.
435 threadX.requestlist.current.all
437 Current size of the request list, includes internally generated
438 queries (such as priming queries and glue lookups).
439 threadX.requestlist.current.user
441 Current size of the request list, only the requests from client
442 queries.
443 threadX.recursion.time.avg
445 Average time it took to answer queries that needed recursive
446 processing. Note that queries that were answered from the cache
447 are not in this average.
448 threadX.recursion.time.median
450 The median of the time it took to answer queries that needed re‐
451 cursive processing. The median means that 50% of the user
452 queries were answered in less than this time. Because of big
453 outliers (usually queries to non responsive servers), the aver‐
454 age can be bigger than the median. This median has been calcu‐
455 lated by interpolation from a histogram.
456 threadX.tcpusage
458 The currently held tcp buffers for incoming connections. A spot
459 value on the time of the request. This helps you spot if the
460 incoming-num-tcp buffers are full.
461 total.num.queries
463 summed over threads.
464 total.num.cachehits
466 summed over threads.
467 total.num.cachemiss
469 summed over threads.
470 total.num.dnscrypt.crypted
472 summed over threads.
473 total.num.dnscrypt.cert
475 summed over threads.
476 total.num.dnscrypt.cleartext
478 summed over threads.
479 total.num.dnscrypt.malformed
481 summed over threads.
482 total.num.prefetch
484 summed over threads.
485 total.num.expired
487 summed over threads.
488 total.num.recursivereplies
490 summed over threads.
491 total.requestlist.avg
493 averaged over threads.
494 total.requestlist.max
496 the maximum of the thread requestlist.max values.
497 total.requestlist.overwritten
499 summed over threads.
500 total.requestlist.exceeded
502 summed over threads.
503 total.requestlist.current.all
505 summed over threads.
506 total.recursion.time.median
508 averaged over threads.
509 total.tcpusage
511 summed over threads.
512 time.now
514 current time in seconds since 1970.
515 time.up
517 uptime since server boot in seconds.
518 time.elapsed
520 time since last statistics printout, in seconds.
521
523 mem.cache.rrset
524 Memory in bytes in use by the RRset cache.
525 mem.cache.message
527 Memory in bytes in use by the message cache.
528 mem.cache.dnscrypt_shared_secret
530 Memory in bytes in use by the dnscrypt shared secrets cache.
531 mem.cache.dnscrypt_nonce
533 Memory in bytes in use by the dnscrypt nonce cache.
534 mem.mod.iterator
536 Memory in bytes in use by the iterator module.
537 mem.mod.validator
539 Memory in bytes in use by the validator module. Includes the key
540 cache and negative cache.
541 mem.streamwait
543 Memory in bytes in used by the TCP and TLS stream wait buffers.
544 These are answers waiting to be written back to the clients.
545 mem.http.query_buffer
547 Memory in bytes used by the HTTP/2 query buffers. Containing
548 (partial) DNS queries waiting for request stream completion.
549 mem.http.response_buffer
551 Memory in bytes used by the HTTP/2 response buffers. Containing
552 DNS responses waiting to be written back to the clients.
553 histogram.<sec>.<usec>.to.<sec>.<usec>
555 Shows a histogram, summed over all threads. Every element counts
556 the recursive queries whose reply time fit between the lower and
557 upper bound. Times larger or equal to the lowerbound, and
558 smaller than the upper bound. There are 40 buckets, with bucket
559 sizes doubling.
560 num.query.type.A
562 The total number of queries over all threads with query type A.
563 Printed for the other query types as well, but only for the
564 types for which queries were received, thus =0 entries are omit‐
565 ted for brevity.
566 num.query.type.other
568 Number of queries with query types 256-65535.
569 num.query.class.IN
571 The total number of queries over all threads with query class IN
572 (internet). Also printed for other classes (such as CH (CHAOS)
573 sometimes used for debugging), or NONE, ANY, used by dynamic up‐
574 date. num.query.class.other is printed for classes 256-65535.
575 num.query.opcode.QUERY
577 The total number of queries over all threads with query opcode
578 QUERY. Also printed for other opcodes, UPDATE, ...
579 num.query.tcp
581 Number of queries that were made using TCP towards the Unbound
582 server.
583 num.query.tcpout
585 Number of queries that the Unbound server made using TCP outgo‐
586 ing towards other servers.
587 num.query.tls
589 Number of queries that were made using TLS towards the Unbound
590 server. These are also counted in num.query.tcp, because TLS
591 uses TCP.
592 num.query.tls.resume
594 Number of TLS session resumptions, these are queries over TLS
595 towards the Unbound server where the client negotiated a TLS
596 session resumption key.
597 num.query.https
599 Number of queries that were made using HTTPS towards the Unbound
600 server. These are also counted in num.query.tcp and
601 num.query.tls, because HTTPS uses TLS and TCP.
602 num.query.ipv6
604 Number of queries that were made using IPv6 towards the Unbound
605 server.
606 num.query.flags.RD
608 The number of queries that had the RD flag set in the header.
609 Also printed for flags QR, AA, TC, RA, Z, AD, CD. Note that
610 queries with flags QR, AA or TC may have been rejected because
611 of that.
612 num.query.edns.present
614 number of queries that had an EDNS OPT record present.
615 num.query.edns.DO
617 number of queries that had an EDNS OPT record with the DO
618 (DNSSEC OK) bit set. These queries are also included in the
619 num.query.edns.present number.
620 num.query.ratelimited
622 The number of queries that are turned away from being send to
623 nameserver due to ratelimiting.
624 num.query.dnscrypt.shared_secret.cachemiss
626 The number of dnscrypt queries that did not find a shared secret
627 in the cache. The can be use to compute the shared secret hi‐
628 trate.
629 num.query.dnscrypt.replay
631 The number of dnscrypt queries that found a nonce hit in the
632 nonce cache and hence are considered a query replay.
633 num.answer.rcode.NXDOMAIN
635 The number of answers to queries, from cache or from recursion,
636 that had the return code NXDOMAIN. Also printed for the other
637 return codes.
638 num.answer.rcode.nodata
640 The number of answers to queries that had the pseudo return code
641 nodata. This means the actual return code was NOERROR, but ad‐
642 ditionally, no data was carried in the answer (making what is
643 called a NOERROR/NODATA answer). These queries are also in‐
644 cluded in the num.answer.rcode.NOERROR number. Common for AAAA
645 lookups when an A record exists, and no AAAA.
646 num.answer.secure
648 Number of answers that were secure. The answer validated cor‐
649 rectly. The AD bit might have been set in some of these an‐
650 swers, where the client signalled (with DO or AD bit in the
651 query) that they were ready to accept the AD bit in the answer.
652 num.answer.bogus
654 Number of answers that were bogus. These answers resulted in
655 SERVFAIL to the client because the answer failed validation.
656 num.rrset.bogus
658 The number of rrsets marked bogus by the validator. Increased
659 for every RRset inspection that fails.
660 unwanted.queries
662 Number of queries that were refused or dropped because they
663 failed the access control settings.
664 unwanted.replies
666 Replies that were unwanted or unsolicited. Could have been ran‐
667 dom traffic, delayed duplicates, very late answers, or could be
668 spoofing attempts. Some low level of late answers and delayed
669 duplicates are to be expected with the UDP protocol. Very high
670 values could indicate a threat (spoofing).
671 msg.cache.count
673 The number of items (DNS replies) in the message cache.
674 rrset.cache.count
676 The number of RRsets in the rrset cache. This includes rrsets
677 used by the messages in the message cache, but also delegation
678 information.
679 infra.cache.count
681 The number of items in the infra cache. These are IP addresses
682 with their timing and protocol support information.
683 key.cache.count
685 The number of items in the key cache. These are DNSSEC keys,
686 one item per delegation point, and their validation status.
687 dnscrypt_shared_secret.cache.count
689 The number of items in the shared secret cache. These are pre‐
690 computed shared secrets for a given client public key/server se‐
691 cret key pair. Shared secrets are CPU intensive and this cache
692 allows Unbound to avoid recomputing the shared secret when mul‐
693 tiple dnscrypt queries are sent from the same client.
694 dnscrypt_nonce.cache.count
696 The number of items in the client nonce cache. This cache is
697 used to prevent dnscrypt queries replay. The client nonce must
698 be unique for each client public key/server secret key pair.
699 This cache should be able to host QPS * `replay window` interval
700 keys to prevent replay of a query during `replay window` sec‐
701 onds.
702 num.query.authzone.up
704 The number of queries answered from auth-zone data, upstream
705 queries. These queries would otherwise have been sent (with
706 fallback enabled) to the internet, but are now answered from the
707 auth zone.
708 num.query.authzone.down
710 The number of queries for downstream answered from auth-zone
711 data. These queries are from downstream clients, and have had
712 an answer from the data in the auth zone.
713 num.query.aggressive.NOERROR
715 The number of queries answered using cached NSEC records with
716 NODATA RCODE. These queries would otherwise have been sent to
717 the internet, but are now answered using cached data.
718 num.query.aggressive.NXDOMAIN
720 The number of queries answered using cached NSEC records with
721 NXDOMAIN RCODE. These queries would otherwise have been sent to
722 the internet, but are now answered using cached data.
723 num.query.subnet
725 Number of queries that got an answer that contained EDNS client
726 subnet data.
727 num.query.subnet_cache
729 Number of queries answered from the edns client subnet cache.
730 These are counted as cachemiss by the main counters, but hit the
731 client subnet specific cache, after getting processed by the
732 edns client subnet module.
733 num.rpz.action.<rpz_action>
735 Number of queries answered using configured RPZ policy, per RPZ
736 action type. Possible actions are: nxdomain, nodata, passthru,
737 drop, tcp-only, local-data, disabled, and cname-override.
738
740 /etc/unbound/unbound.conf
741 Unbound configuration file.
742 /etc/unbound
744 directory with private keys (unbound_server.key and unbound_con‐
745 trol.key) and self-signed certificates (unbound_server.pem and
746 unbound_control.pem).
747
749 unbound.conf(5), unbound(8).
750NLnet Labs Jun 2, 2022 unbound-control(8)