1unbound-control(8) unbound 1.17.1 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 reload_keep_cache
46 Reload the server but try to keep the RRset and message cache if
47 (re)configuration allows for it. That means the caches sizes
48 and the number of threads must not change between reloads.
49 verbosity number
51 Change verbosity value for logging. Same values as verbosity
52 keyword in unbound.conf(5). This new setting lasts until the
53 server is issued a reload (taken from config file again), or the
54 next verbosity control command.
55 log_reopen
57 Reopen the logfile, close and open it. Useful for logrotation
58 to make the daemon release the file it is logging to. If you
59 are using syslog it will attempt to close and open the syslog
60 (which may not work if chrooted).
61 stats Print statistics. Resets the internal counters to zero, this can
63 be controlled using the statistics-cumulative config statement.
64 Statistics are printed with one [name]: [value] per line.
65 stats_noreset
67 Peek at statistics. Prints them like the stats command does, but
68 does not reset the internal counters to zero.
69 status Display server status. Exit code 3 if not running (the connec‐
71 tion to the port is refused), 1 on error, 0 if running.
72 local_zone name type
74 Add new local zone with name and type. Like local-zone config
75 statement. If the zone already exists, the type is changed to
76 the given argument.
77 local_zone_remove name
79 Remove the local zone with the given name. Removes all local
80 data inside it. If the zone does not exist, the command suc‐
81 ceeds.
82 local_data RR data...
84 Add new local data, the given resource record. Like local-data
85 config statement, except for when no covering zone exists. In
86 that case this remote control command creates a transparent zone
87 with the same name as this record.
88 local_data_remove name
90 Remove all RR data from local name. If the name already has no
91 items, nothing happens. Often results in NXDOMAIN for the name
92 (in a static zone), but if the name has become an empty nonter‐
93 minal (there is still data in domain names below the removed
94 name), NOERROR nodata answers are the result for that name.
95 local_zones
97 Add local zones read from stdin of unbound-control. Input is
98 read per line, with name space type on a line. For bulk addi‐
99 tions.
100 local_zones_remove
102 Remove local zones read from stdin of unbound-control. Input is
103 one name per line. For bulk removals.
104 local_datas
106 Add local data RRs read from stdin of unbound-control. Input is
107 one RR per line. For bulk additions.
108 local_datas_remove
110 Remove local data RRs read from stdin of unbound-control. Input
111 is one name per line. For bulk removals.
112 dump_cache
114 The contents of the cache is printed in a text format to stdout.
115 You can redirect it to a file to store the cache in a file.
116 load_cache
118 The contents of the cache is loaded from stdin. Uses the same
119 format as dump_cache uses. Loading the cache with old, or wrong
120 data can result in old or wrong data returned to clients. Load‐
121 ing data into the cache in this way is supported in order to aid
122 with debugging.
123 lookup name
125 Print to stdout the name servers that would be used to look up
126 the name specified.
127 flush name
129 Remove the name from the cache. Removes the types A, AAAA, NS,
130 SOA, CNAME, DNAME, MX, PTR, SRV, NAPTR, SVCB and HTTPS. Because
131 that is fast to do. Other record types can be removed using
132 flush_type or flush_zone.
133 flush_type name type
135 Remove the name, type information from the cache.
136 flush_zone name
138 Remove all information at or below the name from the cache. The
139 rrsets and key entries are removed so that new lookups will be
140 performed. This needs to walk and inspect the entire cache, and
141 is a slow operation. The entries are set to expired in the im‐
142 plementation of this command (so, with serve-expired enabled,
143 it'll serve that information but schedule a prefetch for new in‐
144 formation).
145 flush_bogus
147 Remove all bogus data from the cache.
148 flush_negative
150 Remove all negative data from the cache. This is nxdomain an‐
151 swers, nodata answers and servfail answers. Also removes bad
152 key entries (which could be due to failed lookups) from the
153 dnssec key cache, and iterator last-resort lookup failures from
154 the rrset cache.
155 flush_stats
157 Reset statistics to zero.
158 flush_requestlist
160 Drop the queries that are worked on. Stops working on the
161 queries that the server is working on now. The cache is unaf‐
162 fected. No reply is sent for those queries, probably making
163 those users request again later. Useful to make the server
164 restart working on queries with new settings, such as a higher
165 verbosity level.
166 dump_requestlist
168 Show what is worked on. Prints all queries that the server is
169 currently working on. Prints the time that users have been
170 waiting. For internal requests, no time is printed. And then
171 prints out the module status. This prints the queries from the
172 first thread, and not queries that are being serviced from other
173 threads.
174 flush_infra all|IP
176 If all then entire infra cache is emptied. If a specific IP ad‐
177 dress, the entry for that address is removed from the cache. It
178 contains EDNS, ping and lameness data.
179 dump_infra
181 Show the contents of the infra cache.
182 set_option opt: val
184 Set the option to the given value without a reload. The cache
185 is therefore not flushed. The option must end with a ':' and
186 whitespace must be between the option and the value. Some val‐
187 ues may not have an effect if set this way, the new values are
188 not written to the config file, not all options are supported.
189 This is different from the set_option call in libunbound, where
190 all values work because Unbound has not been initialized.
191 The values that work are: statistics-interval, statistics-cumu‐
193 lative, do-not-query-localhost, harden-short-bufsize,
194 harden-large-queries, harden-glue, harden-dnssec-stripped,
195 harden-below-nxdomain, harden-referral-path, prefetch,
196 prefetch-key, log-queries, hide-identity, hide-version, iden‐
197 tity, version, val-log-level, val-log-squelch, ignore-cd-flag,
198 add-holddown, del-holddown, keep-missing, tcp-upstream, ssl-up‐
199 stream, max-udp-size, ratelimit, ip-ratelimit, cache-max-ttl,
200 cache-min-ttl, cache-max-negative-ttl.
201 get_option opt
203 Get the value of the option. Give the option name without a
204 trailing ':'. The value is printed. If the value is "", noth‐
205 ing is printed and the connection closes. On error 'error ...'
206 is printed (it gives a syntax error on unknown option). For
207 some options a list of values, one on each line, is printed.
208 The options are shown from the config file as modified with
209 set_option. For some options an override may have been taken
210 that does not show up with this command, not results from e.g.
211 the verbosity and forward control commands. Not all options
212 work, see list_stubs, list_forwards, list_local_zones and
213 list_local_data for those.
214 list_stubs
216 List the stub zones in use. These are printed one by one to the
217 output. This includes the root hints in use.
218 list_forwards
220 List the forward zones in use. These are printed zone by zone
221 to the output.
222 list_insecure
224 List the zones with domain-insecure.
225 list_local_zones
227 List the local zones in use. These are printed one per line
228 with zone type.
229 list_local_data
231 List the local data RRs in use. The resource records are
232 printed.
233 insecure_add zone
235 Add a domain-insecure for the given zone, like the statement in
236 unbound.conf. Adds to the running Unbound without affecting the
237 cache contents (which may still be bogus, use flush_zone to re‐
238 move it), does not affect the config file.
239 insecure_remove zone
241 Removes domain-insecure for the given zone.
242 forward_add [+i] zone addr ...
244 Add a new forward zone to running Unbound. With +i option also
245 adds a domain-insecure for the zone (so it can resolve inse‐
246 curely if you have a DNSSEC root trust anchor configured for
247 other names). The addr can be IP4, IP6 or nameserver names,
248 like forward-zone config in unbound.conf.
249 forward_remove [+i] zone
251 Remove a forward zone from running Unbound. The +i also removes
252 a domain-insecure for the zone.
253 stub_add [+ip] zone addr ...
255 Add a new stub zone to running Unbound. With +i option also
256 adds a domain-insecure for the zone. With +p the stub zone is
257 set to prime, without it it is set to notprime. The addr can be
258 IP4, IP6 or nameserver names, like the stub-zone config in un‐
259 bound.conf.
260 stub_remove [+i] zone
262 Remove a stub zone from running Unbound. The +i also removes a
263 domain-insecure for the zone.
264 forward [off | addr ... ]
266 Setup forwarding mode. Configures if the server should ask
267 other upstream nameservers, should go to the internet root name‐
268 servers itself, or show the current config. You could pass the
269 nameservers after a DHCP update.
270 Without arguments the current list of addresses used to forward
272 all queries to is printed. On startup this is from the for‐
273 ward-zone "." configuration. Afterwards it shows the status.
274 It prints off when no forwarding is used.
275 If off is passed, forwarding is disabled and the root name‐
277 servers are used. This can be used to avoid to avoid buggy or
278 non-DNSSEC supporting nameservers returned from DHCP. But may
279 not work in hotels or hotspots.
280 If one or more IPv4 or IPv6 addresses are given, those are then
282 used to forward queries to. The addresses must be separated
283 with spaces. With '@port' the port number can be set explicitly
284 (default port is 53 (DNS)).
285 By default the forwarder information from the config file for
287 the root "." is used. The config file is not changed, so after
288 a reload these changes are gone. Other forward zones from the
289 config file are not affected by this command.
290 ratelimit_list [+a]
292 List the domains that are ratelimited. Printed one per line
293 with current estimated qps and qps limit from config. With +a
294 it prints all domains, not just the ratelimited domains, with
295 their estimated qps. The ratelimited domains return an error
296 for uncached (new) queries, but cached queries work as normal.
297 ip_ratelimit_list [+a]
299 List the ip addresses that are ratelimited. Printed one per
300 line with current estimated qps and qps limit from config. With
301 +a it prints all ips, not just the ratelimited ips, with their
302 estimated qps. The ratelimited ips are dropped before checking
303 the cache.
304 list_auth_zones
306 List the auth zones that are configured. Printed one per line
307 with a status, indicating if the zone is expired and current se‐
308 rial number. Configured RPZ zones are included.
309 auth_zone_reload zone
311 Reload the auth zone (or RPZ zone) from zonefile. The zonefile
312 is read in overwriting the current contents of the zone in mem‐
313 ory. This changes the auth zone contents itself, not the cache
314 contents. Such cache contents exists if you set Unbound to val‐
315 idate with for-upstream yes and that can be cleared with
316 flush_zone zone.
317 auth_zone_transfer zone
319 Transfer the auth zone (or RPZ zone) from master. The auth zone
320 probe sequence is started, where the masters are probed to see
321 if they have an updated zone (with the SOA serial check). And
322 then the zone is transferred for a newer zone version.
323 rpz_enable zone
325 Enable the RPZ zone if it had previously been disabled.
326 rpz_disable zone
328 Disable the RPZ zone.
329 view_list_local_zones view
331 list_local_zones for given view.
332 view_local_zone view name type
334 local_zone for given view.
335 view_local_zone_remove view name
337 local_zone_remove for given view.
338 view_list_local_data view
340 list_local_data for given view.
341 view_local_data view RR data...
343 local_data for given view.
344 view_local_data_remove view name
346 local_data_remove for given view.
347 view_local_datas_remove view
349 Remove a list of local_data for given view from stdin. Like lo‐
350 cal_datas_remove.
351 view_local_datas view
353 Add a list of local_data for given view from stdin. Like lo‐
354 cal_datas.
355
357 The unbound-control program exits with status code 1 on error, 0 on
358 success.
359
361 The setup requires a self-signed certificate and private keys for both
362 the server and client. The script unbound-control-setup generates
363 these in the default run directory, or with -d in another directory.
364 If you change the access control permissions on the key files you can
365 decide who can use unbound-control, by default owner and group but not
366 all users. Run the script under the same username as you have config‐
367 ured in unbound.conf or as root, so that the daemon is permitted to
368 read the files, for example with:
369 sudo -u unbound unbound-control-setup
370 If you have not configured a username in unbound.conf, the keys need
371 read permission for the user credentials under which the daemon is
372 started. The script preserves private keys present in the directory.
373 After running the script as root, turn on control-enable in un‐
374 bound.conf.
375
377 The stats command shows a number of statistic counters.
378 threadX.num.queries
380 number of queries received by thread
381 threadX.num.queries_ip_ratelimited
383 number of queries rate limited by thread
384 threadX.num.cachehits
386 number of queries that were successfully answered using a cache
387 lookup
388 threadX.num.cachemiss
390 number of queries that needed recursive processing
391 threadX.num.dnscrypt.crypted
393 number of queries that were encrypted and successfully decapsu‐
394 lated by dnscrypt.
395 threadX.num.dnscrypt.cert
397 number of queries that were requesting dnscrypt certificates.
398 threadX.num.dnscrypt.cleartext
400 number of queries received on dnscrypt port that were cleartext
401 and not a request for certificates.
402 threadX.num.dnscrypt.malformed
404 number of request that were neither cleartext, not valid
405 dnscrypt messages.
406 threadX.num.prefetch
408 number of cache prefetches performed. This number is included
409 in cachehits, as the original query had the unprefetched answer
410 from cache, and resulted in recursive processing, taking a slot
411 in the requestlist. Not part of the recursivereplies (or the
412 histogram thereof) or cachemiss, as a cache response was sent.
413 threadX.num.expired
415 number of replies that served an expired cache entry.
416 threadX.num.recursivereplies
418 The number of replies sent to queries that needed recursive pro‐
419 cessing. Could be smaller than threadX.num.cachemiss if due to
420 timeouts no replies were sent for some queries.
421 threadX.requestlist.avg
423 The average number of requests in the internal recursive pro‐
424 cessing request list on insert of a new incoming recursive pro‐
425 cessing query.
426 threadX.requestlist.max
428 Maximum size attained by the internal recursive processing re‐
429 quest list.
430 threadX.requestlist.overwritten
432 Number of requests in the request list that were overwritten by
433 newer entries. This happens if there is a flood of queries that
434 recursive processing and the server has a hard time.
435 threadX.requestlist.exceeded
437 Queries that were dropped because the request list was full.
438 This happens if a flood of queries need recursive processing,
439 and the server can not keep up.
440 threadX.requestlist.current.all
442 Current size of the request list, includes internally generated
443 queries (such as priming queries and glue lookups).
444 threadX.requestlist.current.user
446 Current size of the request list, only the requests from client
447 queries.
448 threadX.recursion.time.avg
450 Average time it took to answer queries that needed recursive
451 processing. Note that queries that were answered from the cache
452 are not in this average.
453 threadX.recursion.time.median
455 The median of the time it took to answer queries that needed re‐
456 cursive processing. The median means that 50% of the user
457 queries were answered in less than this time. Because of big
458 outliers (usually queries to non responsive servers), the aver‐
459 age can be bigger than the median. This median has been calcu‐
460 lated by interpolation from a histogram.
461 threadX.tcpusage
463 The currently held tcp buffers for incoming connections. A spot
464 value on the time of the request. This helps you spot if the
465 incoming-num-tcp buffers are full.
466 total.num.queries
468 summed over threads.
469 total.num.cachehits
471 summed over threads.
472 total.num.cachemiss
474 summed over threads.
475 total.num.dnscrypt.crypted
477 summed over threads.
478 total.num.dnscrypt.cert
480 summed over threads.
481 total.num.dnscrypt.cleartext
483 summed over threads.
484 total.num.dnscrypt.malformed
486 summed over threads.
487 total.num.prefetch
489 summed over threads.
490 total.num.expired
492 summed over threads.
493 total.num.recursivereplies
495 summed over threads.
496 total.requestlist.avg
498 averaged over threads.
499 total.requestlist.max
501 the maximum of the thread requestlist.max values.
502 total.requestlist.overwritten
504 summed over threads.
505 total.requestlist.exceeded
507 summed over threads.
508 total.requestlist.current.all
510 summed over threads.
511 total.recursion.time.median
513 averaged over threads.
514 total.tcpusage
516 summed over threads.
517 time.now
519 current time in seconds since 1970.
520 time.up
522 uptime since server boot in seconds.
523 time.elapsed
525 time since last statistics printout, in seconds.
526
528 mem.cache.rrset
529 Memory in bytes in use by the RRset cache.
530 mem.cache.message
532 Memory in bytes in use by the message cache.
533 mem.cache.dnscrypt_shared_secret
535 Memory in bytes in use by the dnscrypt shared secrets cache.
536 mem.cache.dnscrypt_nonce
538 Memory in bytes in use by the dnscrypt nonce cache.
539 mem.mod.iterator
541 Memory in bytes in use by the iterator module.
542 mem.mod.validator
544 Memory in bytes in use by the validator module. Includes the key
545 cache and negative cache.
546 mem.streamwait
548 Memory in bytes in used by the TCP and TLS stream wait buffers.
549 These are answers waiting to be written back to the clients.
550 mem.http.query_buffer
552 Memory in bytes used by the HTTP/2 query buffers. Containing
553 (partial) DNS queries waiting for request stream completion.
554 mem.http.response_buffer
556 Memory in bytes used by the HTTP/2 response buffers. Containing
557 DNS responses waiting to be written back to the clients.
558 histogram.<sec>.<usec>.to.<sec>.<usec>
560 Shows a histogram, summed over all threads. Every element counts
561 the recursive queries whose reply time fit between the lower and
562 upper bound. Times larger or equal to the lowerbound, and
563 smaller than the upper bound. There are 40 buckets, with bucket
564 sizes doubling.
565 num.query.type.A
567 The total number of queries over all threads with query type A.
568 Printed for the other query types as well, but only for the
569 types for which queries were received, thus =0 entries are omit‐
570 ted for brevity.
571 num.query.type.other
573 Number of queries with query types 256-65535.
574 num.query.class.IN
576 The total number of queries over all threads with query class IN
577 (internet). Also printed for other classes (such as CH (CHAOS)
578 sometimes used for debugging), or NONE, ANY, used by dynamic up‐
579 date. num.query.class.other is printed for classes 256-65535.
580 num.query.opcode.QUERY
582 The total number of queries over all threads with query opcode
583 QUERY. Also printed for other opcodes, UPDATE, ...
584 num.query.tcp
586 Number of queries that were made using TCP towards the Unbound
587 server.
588 num.query.tcpout
590 Number of queries that the Unbound server made using TCP outgo‐
591 ing towards other servers.
592 num.query.udpout
594 Number of queries that the Unbound server made using UDP outgo‐
595 ing towards other servers.
596 num.query.tls
598 Number of queries that were made using TLS towards the Unbound
599 server. These are also counted in num.query.tcp, because TLS
600 uses TCP.
601 num.query.tls.resume
603 Number of TLS session resumptions, these are queries over TLS
604 towards the Unbound server where the client negotiated a TLS
605 session resumption key.
606 num.query.https
608 Number of queries that were made using HTTPS towards the Unbound
609 server. These are also counted in num.query.tcp and
610 num.query.tls, because HTTPS uses TLS and TCP.
611 num.query.ipv6
613 Number of queries that were made using IPv6 towards the Unbound
614 server.
615 num.query.flags.RD
617 The number of queries that had the RD flag set in the header.
618 Also printed for flags QR, AA, TC, RA, Z, AD, CD. Note that
619 queries with flags QR, AA or TC may have been rejected because
620 of that.
621 num.query.edns.present
623 number of queries that had an EDNS OPT record present.
624 num.query.edns.DO
626 number of queries that had an EDNS OPT record with the DO
627 (DNSSEC OK) bit set. These queries are also included in the
628 num.query.edns.present number.
629 num.query.ratelimited
631 The number of queries that are turned away from being send to
632 nameserver due to ratelimiting.
633 num.query.dnscrypt.shared_secret.cachemiss
635 The number of dnscrypt queries that did not find a shared secret
636 in the cache. The can be use to compute the shared secret hi‐
637 trate.
638 num.query.dnscrypt.replay
640 The number of dnscrypt queries that found a nonce hit in the
641 nonce cache and hence are considered a query replay.
642 num.answer.rcode.NXDOMAIN
644 The number of answers to queries, from cache or from recursion,
645 that had the return code NXDOMAIN. Also printed for the other
646 return codes.
647 num.answer.rcode.nodata
649 The number of answers to queries that had the pseudo return code
650 nodata. This means the actual return code was NOERROR, but ad‐
651 ditionally, no data was carried in the answer (making what is
652 called a NOERROR/NODATA answer). These queries are also in‐
653 cluded in the num.answer.rcode.NOERROR number. Common for AAAA
654 lookups when an A record exists, and no AAAA.
655 num.answer.secure
657 Number of answers that were secure. The answer validated cor‐
658 rectly. The AD bit might have been set in some of these an‐
659 swers, where the client signalled (with DO or AD bit in the
660 query) that they were ready to accept the AD bit in the answer.
661 num.answer.bogus
663 Number of answers that were bogus. These answers resulted in
664 SERVFAIL to the client because the answer failed validation.
665 num.rrset.bogus
667 The number of rrsets marked bogus by the validator. Increased
668 for every RRset inspection that fails.
669 unwanted.queries
671 Number of queries that were refused or dropped because they
672 failed the access control settings.
673 unwanted.replies
675 Replies that were unwanted or unsolicited. Could have been ran‐
676 dom traffic, delayed duplicates, very late answers, or could be
677 spoofing attempts. Some low level of late answers and delayed
678 duplicates are to be expected with the UDP protocol. Very high
679 values could indicate a threat (spoofing).
680 msg.cache.count
682 The number of items (DNS replies) in the message cache.
683 rrset.cache.count
685 The number of RRsets in the rrset cache. This includes rrsets
686 used by the messages in the message cache, but also delegation
687 information.
688 infra.cache.count
690 The number of items in the infra cache. These are IP addresses
691 with their timing and protocol support information.
692 key.cache.count
694 The number of items in the key cache. These are DNSSEC keys,
695 one item per delegation point, and their validation status.
696 dnscrypt_shared_secret.cache.count
698 The number of items in the shared secret cache. These are pre‐
699 computed shared secrets for a given client public key/server se‐
700 cret key pair. Shared secrets are CPU intensive and this cache
701 allows Unbound to avoid recomputing the shared secret when mul‐
702 tiple dnscrypt queries are sent from the same client.
703 dnscrypt_nonce.cache.count
705 The number of items in the client nonce cache. This cache is
706 used to prevent dnscrypt queries replay. The client nonce must
707 be unique for each client public key/server secret key pair.
708 This cache should be able to host QPS * `replay window` interval
709 keys to prevent replay of a query during `replay window` sec‐
710 onds.
711 num.query.authzone.up
713 The number of queries answered from auth-zone data, upstream
714 queries. These queries would otherwise have been sent (with
715 fallback enabled) to the internet, but are now answered from the
716 auth zone.
717 num.query.authzone.down
719 The number of queries for downstream answered from auth-zone
720 data. These queries are from downstream clients, and have had
721 an answer from the data in the auth zone.
722 num.query.aggressive.NOERROR
724 The number of queries answered using cached NSEC records with
725 NODATA RCODE. These queries would otherwise have been sent to
726 the internet, but are now answered using cached data.
727 num.query.aggressive.NXDOMAIN
729 The number of queries answered using cached NSEC records with
730 NXDOMAIN RCODE. These queries would otherwise have been sent to
731 the internet, but are now answered using cached data.
732 num.query.subnet
734 Number of queries that got an answer that contained EDNS client
735 subnet data.
736 num.query.subnet_cache
738 Number of queries answered from the edns client subnet cache.
739 These are counted as cachemiss by the main counters, but hit the
740 client subnet specific cache, after getting processed by the
741 edns client subnet module.
742 num.rpz.action.<rpz_action>
744 Number of queries answered using configured RPZ policy, per RPZ
745 action type. Possible actions are: nxdomain, nodata, passthru,
746 drop, tcp-only, local-data, disabled, and cname-override.
747
749 /etc/unbound/unbound.conf
750 Unbound configuration file.
751 /etc/unbound
753 directory with private keys (unbound_server.key and unbound_con‐
754 trol.key) and self-signed certificates (unbound_server.pem and
755 unbound_control.pem).
756
758 unbound.conf(5), unbound(8).
759NLnet Labs Jan 12, 2023 unbound-control(8)