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unbound.conf(5) unbound 1.4.13 unbound.conf(5)
NAME
unbound.conf - Unbound configuration file.
SYNOPSIS
unbound.conf
DESCRIPTION
unbound.conf is used to configure unbound(8). The file format has attributes and values. Some attributes have attributes
inside them. The notation is: attribute: value.
Comments start with # and last to the end of line. Empty lines are ignored as is whitespace at the beginning of a line.
The utility unbound-checkconf(8) can be used to check unbound.conf prior to usage.
EXAMPLE
An example config file is shown below. Copy this to /etc/unbound/unbound.conf and start the server with:
$ unbound -c /etc/unbound/unbound.conf
Most settings are the defaults. Stop the server with:
$ kill `cat /etc/unbound/unbound.pid`
Below is a minimal config file. The source distribution contains an extensive example.conf file with all the options.
# unbound.conf(5) config file for unbound(8).
server:
directory: "/etc/unbound"
username: unbound
# make sure unbound can access entropy from inside the chroot.
# e.g. on linux the use these commands (on BSD, devfs(8) is used):
# mount --bind -n /dev/random /etc/unbound/dev/random
# and mount --bind -n /dev/log /etc/unbound/dev/log
chroot: "/etc/unbound"
# logfile: "/etc/unbound/unbound.log" #uncomment to use logfile.
pidfile: "/etc/unbound/unbound.pid"
# verbosity: 1 # uncomment and increase to get more logging.
# listen on all interfaces, answer queries from the local subnet.
interface: 0.0.0.0
interface: ::0
access-control: 10.0.0.0/8 allow
access-control: 2001:DB8::/64 allow
FILE FORMAT
There must be whitespace between keywords. Attribute keywords end with a colon ':'. An attribute is followed by its con-
taining attributes, or a value.
Files can be included using the include: directive. It can appear anywhere, and takes a single filename as an argument.
Processing continues as if the text from the included file was copied into the config file at that point. If also using
chroot, using full path names for the included files works, relative pathnames for the included names work if the direc-
tory where the daemon is started equals its chroot/working directory.
Server Options
These options are part of the server: clause.
verbosity: <number>
The verbosity number, level 0 means no verbosity, only errors. Level 1 gives operational information. Level 2
gives detailed operational information. Level 3 gives query level information, output per query. Level 4 gives
algorithm level information. Level 5 logs client identification for cache misses. Default is level 1. The ver-
bosity can also be increased from the commandline, see unbound(8).
statistics-interval: <seconds>
The number of seconds between printing statistics to the log for every thread. Disable with value 0 or "".
Default is disabled. The histogram statistics are only printed if replies were sent during the statistics inter-
val, requestlist statistics are printed for every interval (but can be 0). This is because the median calculation
requires data to be present.
statistics-cumulative: <yes or no>
If enabled, statistics are cumulative since starting unbound, without clearing the statistics counters after log-
ging the statistics. Default is no.
extended-statistics: <yes or no>
If enabled, extended statistics are printed from unbound-control(8). Default is off, because keeping track of
more statistics takes time. The counters are listed in unbound-control(8).
num-threads: <number>
The number of threads to create to serve clients. Use 1 for no threading.
port: <port number>
The port number, default 53, on which the server responds to queries.
interface: <ip address[@port]>
Interface to use to connect to the network. This interface is listened to for queries from clients, and answers to
clients are given from it. Can be given multiple times to work on several interfaces. If none are given the
default is to listen to localhost. The interfaces are not changed on a reload (kill -HUP) but only on restart. A
port number can be specified with @port (without spaces between interface and port number), if not specified the
default port (from port) is used.
interface-automatic: <yes or no>
Detect source interface on UDP queries and copy them to replies. This feature is experimental, and needs support
in your OS for particular socket options. Default value is no.
outgoing-interface: <ip address>
Interface to use to connect to the network. This interface is used to send queries to authoritative servers and
receive their replies. Can be given multiple times to work on several interfaces. If none are given the default
(all) is used. You can specify the same interfaces in interface: and outgoing-interface: lines, the interfaces are
then used for both purposes. Outgoing queries are sent via a random outgoing interface to counter spoofing.
outgoing-range: <number>
Number of ports to open. This number of file descriptors can be opened per thread. Must be at least 1. Default
depends on compile options. Larger numbers need extra resources from the operating system. For performance a a
very large value is best, use libevent to make this possible.
outgoing-port-permit: <port number or range>
Permit unbound to open this port or range of ports for use to send queries. A larger number of permitted outgoing
ports increases resilience against spoofing attempts. Make sure these ports are not needed by other daemons. By
default only ports above 1024 that have not been assigned by IANA are used. Give a port number or a range of the
form "low-high", without spaces.
The outgoing-port-permit and outgoing-port-avoid statements are processed in the line order of the config file,
adding the permitted ports and subtracting the avoided ports from the set of allowed ports. The processing starts
with the non IANA allocated ports above 1024 in the set of allowed ports.
outgoing-port-avoid: <port number or range>
Do not permit unbound to open this port or range of ports for use to send queries. Use this to make sure unbound
does not grab a port that another daemon needs. The port is avoided on all outgoing interfaces, both IP4 and IP6.
By default only ports above 1024 that have not been assigned by IANA are used. Give a port number or a range of
the form "low-high", without spaces.
outgoing-num-tcp: <number>
Number of outgoing TCP buffers to allocate per thread. Default is 10. If set to 0, or if do_tcp is "no", no TCP
queries to authoritative servers are done.
incoming-num-tcp: <number>
Number of incoming TCP buffers to allocate per thread. Default is 10. If set to 0, or if do_tcp is "no", no TCP
queries from clients are accepted.
edns-buffer-size: <number>
Number of bytes size to advertise as the EDNS reassembly buffer size. This is the value put into datagrams over
UDP towards peers. The actual buffer size is determined by msg-buffer-size (both for TCP and UDP). Do not set
lower than that value. Default is 4096 which is RFC recommended. If you have fragmentation reassembly problems,
usually seen as timeouts, then a value of 1480 can fix it. Setting to 512 bypasses even the most stringent path
MTU problems, but is seen as extreme, since the amount of TCP fallback generated is excessive (probably also for
this resolver, consider tuning the outgoing tcp number).
msg-buffer-size: <number>
Number of bytes size of the message buffers. Default is 65552 bytes, enough for 64 Kb packets, the maximum DNS
message size. No message larger than this can be sent or received. Can be reduced to use less memory, but some
requests for DNS data, such as for huge resource records, will result in a SERVFAIL reply to the client.
msg-cache-size: <number>
Number of bytes size of the message cache. Default is 4 megabytes. A plain number is in bytes, append 'k', 'm' or
'g' for kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes (1024*1024 bytes in a megabyte).
msg-cache-slabs: <number>
Number of slabs in the message cache. Slabs reduce lock contention by threads. Must be set to a power of 2. Set-
ting (close) to the number of cpus is a reasonable guess.
num-queries-per-thread: <number>
The number of queries that every thread will service simultaneously. If more queries arrive that need servicing,
and no queries can be jostled out (see jostle-timeout), then the queries are dropped. This forces the client to
resend after a timeout; allowing the server time to work on the existing queries. Default depends on compile
options, 512 or 1024.
jostle-timeout: <msec>
Timeout used when the server is very busy. Set to a value that usually results in one roundtrip to the authority
servers. If too many queries arrive, then 50% of the queries are allowed to run to completion, and the other 50%
are replaced with the new incoming query if they have already spent more than their allowed time. This protects
against denial of service by slow queries or high query rates. Default 200 milliseconds. The effect is that the
qps for long-lasting queries is about (numqueriesperthread / 2) / (average time for such long queries) qps. The
qps for short queries can be about (numqueriesperthread / 2) / (jostletimeout in whole seconds) qps per thread,
about (1024/2)*5 = 2560 qps by default.
so-rcvbuf: <number>
If not 0, then set the SO_RCVBUF socket option to get more buffer space on UDP port 53 incoming queries. So that
short spikes on busy servers do not drop packets (see counter in netstat -su). Default is 0 (use system value).
Otherwise, the number of bytes to ask for, try "4m" on a busy server. The OS caps it at a maximum, on linux
unbound needs root permission to bypass the limit, or the admin can use sysctl net.core.rmem_max. On BSD change
kern.ipc.maxsockbuf in /etc/sysctl.conf. On OpenBSD change header and recompile kernel. On Solaris ndd -set
/dev/udp udp_max_buf 8388608.
so-sndbuf: <number>
If not 0, then set the SO_SNDBUF socket option to get more buffer space on UDP port 53 outgoing queries. This for
very busy servers handles spikes in answer traffic, otherwise 'send: resource temporarily unavailable' can get
logged, the buffer overrun is also visible by netstat -su. Default is 0 (use system value). Specify the number
of bytes to ask for, try "4m" on a very busy server. The OS caps it at a maximum, on linux unbound needs root
permission to bypass the limit, or the admin can use sysctl net.core.wmem_max. On BSD, Solaris changes are simi-
lar to so-rcvbuf.
rrset-cache-size: <number>
Number of bytes size of the RRset cache. Default is 4 megabytes. A plain number is in bytes, append 'k', 'm' or
'g' for kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes (1024*1024 bytes in a megabyte).
rrset-cache-slabs: <number>
Number of slabs in the RRset cache. Slabs reduce lock contention by threads. Must be set to a power of 2.
cache-max-ttl: <seconds>
Time to live maximum for RRsets and messages in the cache. Default is 86400 seconds (1 day). If the maximum kicks
in, responses to clients still get decrementing TTLs based on the original (larger) values. When the internal TTL
expires, the cache item has expired. Can be set lower to force the resolver to query for data often, and not
trust (very large) TTL values.
cache-min-ttl: <seconds>
Time to live minimum for RRsets and messages in the cache. Default is 0. If the the minimum kicks in, the data is
cached for longer than the domain owner intended, and thus less queries are made to look up the data. Zero makes
sure the data in the cache is as the domain owner intended, higher values, especially more than an hour or so, can
lead to trouble as the data in the cache does not match up with the actual data any more.
infra-host-ttl: <seconds>
Time to live for entries in the host cache. The host cache contains roundtrip timing and EDNS support information.
Default is 900.
infra-lame-ttl: <seconds>
The time to live when a delegation is discovered to be lame. Default is 900.
infra-cache-slabs: <number>
Number of slabs in the infrastructure cache. Slabs reduce lock contention by threads. Must be set to a power of 2.
infra-cache-numhosts: <number>
Number of hosts for which information is cached. Default is 10000.
infra-cache-lame-size: <number>
Number of bytes that the lameness cache per host is allowed to use. Default is 10 kb, which gives maximum storage
for a couple score zones, depending on the lame zone name lengths.
do-ip4: <yes or no>
Enable or disable whether ip4 queries are answered or issued. Default is yes.
do-ip6: <yes or no>
Enable or disable whether ip6 queries are answered or issued. Default is yes. If disabled, queries are not
answered on IPv6, and queries are not sent on IPv6 to the internet nameservers.
do-udp: <yes or no>
Enable or disable whether UDP queries are answered or issued. Default is yes.
do-tcp: <yes or no>
Enable or disable whether TCP queries are answered or issued. Default is yes.
tcp-upstream: <yes or no>
Enable or disable whether the upstream queries use TCP only for transport. Default is no. Useful in tunneling
scenarios.
do-daemonize: <yes or no>
Enable or disable whether the unbound server forks into the background as a daemon. Default is yes.
access-control: <IP netblock> <action>
The netblock is given as an IP4 or IP6 address with /size appended for a classless network block. The action can
be deny, refuse, allow or allow_snoop.
The action deny stops queries from hosts from that netblock.
The action refuse stops queries too, but sends a DNS rcode REFUSED error message back.
The action allow gives access to clients from that netblock. It gives only access for recursion clients (which is
what almost all clients need). Nonrecursive queries are refused.
The allow action does allow nonrecursive queries to access the local-data that is configured. The reason is that
this does not involve the unbound server recursive lookup algorithm, and static data is served in the reply. This
supports normal operations where nonrecursive queries are made for the authoritative data. For nonrecursive
queries any replies from the dynamic cache are refused.
The action allow_snoop gives nonrecursive access too. This give both recursive and non recursive access. The
name allow_snoop refers to cache snooping, a technique to use nonrecursive queries to examine the cache contents
(for malicious acts). However, nonrecursive queries can also be a valuable debugging tool (when you want to exam-
ine the cache contents). In that case use allow_snoop for your administration host.
By default only localhost is allowed, the rest is refused. The default is refused, because that is proto-
col-friendly. The DNS protocol is not designed to handle dropped packets due to policy, and dropping may result in
(possibly excessive) retried queries.
chroot: <directory>
If chroot is enabled, you should pass the configfile (from the commandline) as a full path from the original root.
After the chroot has been performed the now defunct portion of the config file path is removed to be able to
reread the config after a reload.
All other file paths (working dir, logfile, roothints, and key files) can be specified in several ways: as an
absolute path relative to the new root, as a relative path to the working directory, or as an absolute path rela-
tive to the original root. In the last case the path is adjusted to remove the unused portion.
The pidfile can be either a relative path to the working directory, or an absolute path relative to the original
root. It is written just prior to chroot and dropping permissions. This allows the pidfile to be
/var/run/unbound.pid and the chroot to be /var/unbound, for example.
Additionally, unbound may need to access /dev/random (for entropy) from inside the chroot.
If given a chroot is done to the given directory. The default is "/etc/unbound". If you give "" no chroot is per-
formed.
username: <name>
If given, after binding the port the user privileges are dropped. Default is "unbound". If you give username: ""
no user change is performed.
If this user is not capable of binding the port, reloads (by signal HUP) will still retain the opened ports. If
you change the port number in the config file, and that new port number requires privileges, then a reload will
fail; a restart is needed.
directory: <directory>
Sets the working directory for the program. Default is "/etc/unbound".
logfile: <filename>
If "" is given, logging goes to stderr, or nowhere once daemonized. The logfile is appended to, in the following
format:
[seconds since 1970] unbound[pid:tid]: type: message.
If this option is given, the use-syslog is option is set to "no". The logfile is reopened (for append) when the
config file is reread, on SIGHUP.
use-syslog: <yes or no>
Sets unbound to send log messages to the syslogd, using syslog(3). The log facility LOG_DAEMON is used, with
identity "unbound". The logfile setting is overridden when use-syslog is turned on. The default is to log to
syslog.
log-time-ascii: <yes or no>
Sets logfile lines to use a timestamp in UTC ascii. Default is no, which prints the seconds since 1970 in brack-
ets. No effect if using syslog, in that case syslog formats the timestamp printed into the log files.
log-queries: <yes or no>
Prints one line per query to the log, with the log timestamp and IP address, name, type and class. Default is no.
Note that it takes time to print these lines which makes the server (significantly) slower. Odd (nonprintable)
characters in names are printed as '?'.
pidfile: <filename>
The process id is written to the file. Default is "/var/run/unbound/unbound.pid". So,
kill -HUP `cat /var/run/unbound/unbound.pid`
triggers a reload,
kill -QUIT `cat /var/run/unbound/unbound.pid`
gracefully terminates.
root-hints: <filename>
Read the root hints from this file. Default is nothing, using builtin hints for the IN class. The file has the
format of zone files, with root nameserver names and addresses only. The default may become outdated, when servers
change, therefore it is good practice to use a root-hints file.
hide-identity: <yes or no>
If enabled id.server and hostname.bind queries are refused.
identity: <string>
Set the identity to report. If set to "", the default, then the hostname of the server is returned.
hide-version: <yes or no>
If enabled version.server and version.bind queries are refused.
version: <string>
Set the version to report. If set to "", the default, then the package version is returned.
target-fetch-policy: <"list of numbers">
Set the target fetch policy used by unbound to determine if it should fetch nameserver target addresses oppor-
tunistically. The policy is described per dependency depth.
The number of values determines the maximum dependency depth that unbound will pursue in answering a query. A
value of -1 means to fetch all targets opportunistically for that dependency depth. A value of 0 means to fetch on
demand only. A positive value fetches that many targets opportunistically.
Enclose the list between quotes ("") and put spaces between numbers. The default is "3 2 1 0 0". Setting all
zeroes, "0 0 0 0 0" gives behaviour closer to that of BIND 9, while setting "-1 -1 -1 -1 -1" gives behaviour
rumoured to be closer to that of BIND 8.
harden-short-bufsize: <yes or no>
Very small EDNS buffer sizes from queries are ignored. Default is off, since it is legal protocol wise to send
these, and unbound tries to give very small answers to these queries, where possible.
harden-large-queries: <yes or no>
Very large queries are ignored. Default is off, since it is legal protocol wise to send these, and could be neces-
sary for operation if TSIG or EDNS payload is very large.
harden-glue: <yes or no>
Will trust glue only if it is within the servers authority. Default is on.
harden-dnssec-stripped: <yes or no>
Require DNSSEC data for trust-anchored zones, if such data is absent, the zone becomes bogus. If turned off, and
no DNSSEC data is received (or the DNSKEY data fails to validate), then the zone is made insecure, this behaves
like there is no trust anchor. You could turn this off if you are sometimes behind an intrusive firewall (of some
sort) that removes DNSSEC data from packets, or a zone changes from signed to unsigned to badly signed often. If
turned off you run the risk of a downgrade attack that disables security for a zone. Default is on.
harden-below-nxdomain: <yes or no>
From draft-vixie-dnsext-resimprove, returns nxdomain to queries for a name below another name that is already
known to be nxdomain. DNSSEC mandates noerror for empty nonterminals, hence this is possible. Very old software
might return nxdomain for empty nonterminals (that usually happen for reverse IP address lookups), and thus may be
incompatible with this. To try to avoid this only DNSSEC-secure nxdomains are used, because the old software does
not have DNSSEC. Default is off.
harden-referral-path: <yes or no>
Harden the referral path by performing additional queries for infrastructure data. Validates the replies if trust
anchors are configured and the zones are signed. This enforces DNSSEC validation on nameserver NS sets and the
nameserver addresses that are encountered on the referral path to the answer. Default off, because it burdens the
authority servers, and it is not RFC standard, and could lead to performance problems because of the extra query
load that is generated. Experimental option. If you enable it consider adding more numbers after the tar-
get-fetch-policy to increase the max depth that is checked to.
use-caps-for-id: <yes or no>
Use 0x20-encoded random bits in the query to foil spoof attempts. This perturbs the lowercase and uppercase of
query names sent to authority servers and checks if the reply still has the correct casing. Disabled by default.
This feature is an experimental implementation of draft dns-0x20.
private-address: <IP address or subnet>
Give IPv4 of IPv6 addresses or classless subnets. These are addresses on your private network, and are not allowed
to be returned for public internet names. Any occurence of such addresses are removed from DNS answers. Addition-
ally, the DNSSEC validator may mark the answers bogus. This protects against so-called DNS Rebinding, where a user
browser is turned into a network proxy, allowing remote access through the browser to other parts of your private
network. Some names can be allowed to contain your private addresses, by default all the local-data that you con-
figured is allowed to, and you can specify additional names using private-domain. No private addresses are
enabled by default. We consider to enable this for the RFC1918 private IP address space by default in later
releases. That would enable private addresses for 10.0.0.0/8 172.16.0.0/12 192.168.0.0/16 169.254.0.0/16 fd00::/8
and fe80::/10, since the RFC standards say these addresses should not be visible on the public internet. Turning
on 127.0.0.0/8 would hinder many spamblocklists as they use that.
private-domain: <domain name>
Allow this domain, and all its subdomains to contain private addresses. Give multiple times to allow multiple
domain names to contain private addresses. Default is none.
unwanted-reply-threshold: <number>
If set, a total number of unwanted replies is kept track of in every thread. When it reaches the threshold, a
defensive action is taken and a warning is printed to the log. The defensive action is to clear the rrset and
message caches, hopefully flushing away any poison. A value of 10 million is suggested. Default is 0 (turned
off).
do-not-query-address: <IP address>
Do not query the given IP address. Can be IP4 or IP6. Append /num to indicate a classless delegation netblock, for
example like 10.2.3.4/24 or 2001::11/64.
do-not-query-localhost: <yes or no>
If yes, localhost is added to the do-not-query-address entries, both IP6 ::1 and IP4 127.0.0.1/8. If no, then
localhost can be used to send queries to. Default is yes.
prefetch: <yes or no>
If yes, message cache elements are prefetched before they expire to keep the cache up to date. Default is no.
Turning it on gives about 10 percent more traffic and load on the machine, but popular items do not expire from
the cache.
prefetch-key: <yes or no>
If yes, fetch the DNSKEYs earlier in the validation process, when a DS record is encountered. This lowers the
latency of requests. It does use a little more CPU. Also if the cache is set to 0, it is no use. Default is no.
module-config: <"module names">
Module configuration, a list of module names separated by spaces, surround the string with quotes (""). The mod-
ules can be validator, iterator. Setting this to "iterator" will result in a non-validating server. Setting this
to "validator iterator" will turn on DNSSEC validation. The ordering of the modules is important. You must also
set trust-anchors for validation to be useful.
trust-anchor-file: <filename>
File with trusted keys for validation. Both DS and DNSKEY entries can appear in the file. The format of the file
is the standard DNS Zone file format. Default is "", or no trust anchor file.
auto-trust-anchor-file: <filename>
File with trust anchor for one zone, which is tracked with RFC5011 probes. The probes are several times per
month, thus the machine must be online frequently. The initial file can be one with contents as described in
trust-anchor-file. The file is written to when the anchor is updated, so the unbound user must have write permis-
sion.
trust-anchor: <"Resource Record">
A DS or DNSKEY RR for a key to use for validation. Multiple entries can be given to specify multiple trusted keys,
in addition to the trust-anchor-files. The resource record is entered in the same format as 'dig' or 'drill'
prints them, the same format as in the zone file. Has to be on a single line, with "" around it. A TTL can be
specified for ease of cut and paste, but is ignored. A class can be specified, but class IN is default.
trusted-keys-file: <filename>
File with trusted keys for validation. Specify more than one file with several entries, one file per entry. Like
trust-anchor-file but has a different file format. Format is BIND-9 style format, the trusted-keys { name flag
proto algo "key"; }; clauses are read. It is possible to use wildcards with this statement, the wildcard is
expanded on start and on reload.
dlv-anchor-file: <filename>
File with trusted keys for DLV (DNSSEC Lookaside Validation). Both DS and DNSKEY entries can be used in the file,
in the same format as for trust-anchor-file: statements. Only one DLV can be configured, more would be slow. The
DLV configured is used as a root trusted DLV, this means that it is a lookaside for the root. Default is "", or no
dlv anchor file.
dlv-anchor: <"Resource Record">
Much like trust-anchor, this is a DLV anchor with the DS or DNSKEY inline.
domain-insecure: <domain name>
Sets domain name to be insecure, DNSSEC chain of trust is ignored towards the domain name. So a trust anchor
above the domain name can not make the domain secure with a DS record, such a DS record is then ignored. Also
keys from DLV are ignored for the domain. Can be given multiple times to specify multiple domains that are
treated as if unsigned. If you set trust anchors for the domain they override this setting (and the domain is
secured).
This can be useful if you want to make sure a trust anchor for external lookups does not affect an (unsigned)
internal domain. A DS record externally can create validation failures for that internal domain.
val-override-date: <rrsig-style date spec>
Default is "" or "0", which disables this debugging feature. If enabled by giving a RRSIG style date, that date is
used for verifying RRSIG inception and expiration dates, instead of the current date. Do not set this unless you
are debugging signature inception and expiration. The value -1 ignores the date altogether, useful for some spe-
cial applications.
val-sig-skew-min: <seconds>
Minimum number of seconds of clock skew to apply to validated signatures. A value of 10% of the signature life-
time (expiration - inception) is used, capped by this setting. Default is 3600 (1 hour) which allows for daylight
savings differences. Lower this value for more strict checking of short lived signatures.
val-sig-skew-max: <seconds>
Maximum number of seconds of clock skew to apply to validated signatures. A value of 10% of the signature life-
time (expiration - inception) is used, capped by this setting. Default is 86400 (24 hours) which allows for time-
zone setting problems in stable domains. Setting both min and max very low disables the clock skew allowances.
Setting both min and max very high makes the validator check the signature timestamps less strictly.
val-bogus-ttl: <number>
The time to live for bogus data. This is data that has failed validation; due to invalid signatures or other
checks. The TTL from that data cannot be trusted, and this value is used instead. The value is in seconds, default
60. The time interval prevents repeated revalidation of bogus data.
val-clean-additional: <yes or no>
Instruct the validator to remove data from the additional section of secure messages that are not signed properly.
Messages that are insecure, bogus, indeterminate or unchecked are not affected. Default is yes. Use this setting
to protect the users that rely on this validator for authentication from protentially bad data in the additional
section.
val-log-level: <number>
Have the validator print validation failures to the log. Regardless of the verbosity setting. Default is 0, off.
At 1, for every user query that fails a line is printed to the logs. This way you can monitor what happens with
validation. Use a diagnosis tool, such as dig or drill, to find out why validation is failing for these queries.
At 2, not only the query that failed is printed but also the reason why unbound thought it was wrong and which
server sent the faulty data.
val-permissive-mode: <yes or no>
Instruct the validator to mark bogus messages as indeterminate. The security checks are performed, but if the
result is bogus (failed security), the reply is not withheld from the client with SERVFAIL as usual. The client
receives the bogus data. For messages that are found to be secure the AD bit is set in replies. Also logging is
performed as for full validation. The default value is "no".
ignore-cd-flag: <yes or no>
Instruct unbound to ignore the CD flag from clients and refuse to return bogus answers to them. Thus, the CD
(Checking Disabled) flag does not disable checking any more. This is useful if legacy (w2008) servers that set
the CD flag but cannot validate DNSSEC themselves are the clients, and then unbound provides them with DNSSEC pro-
tection. The default value is "no".
val-nsec3-keysize-iterations: <"list of values">
List of keysize and iteration count values, separated by spaces, surrounded by quotes. Default is "1024 150 2048
500 4096 2500". This determines the maximum allowed NSEC3 iteration count before a message is simply marked inse-
cure instead of performing the many hashing iterations. The list must be in ascending order and have at least one
entry. If you set it to "1024 65535" there is no restriction to NSEC3 iteration values. This table must be kept
short; a very long list could cause slower operation.
add-holddown: <seconds>
Instruct the auto-trust-anchor-file probe mechanism for RFC5011 autotrust updates to add new trust anchors only
after they have been visible for this time. Default is 30 days as per the RFC.
del-holddown: <seconds>
Instruct the auto-trust-anchor-file probe mechanism for RFC5011 autotrust updates to remove revoked trust anchors
after they have been kept in the revoked list for this long. Default is 30 days as per the RFC.
keep-missing: <seconds>
Instruct the auto-trust-anchor-file probe mechanism for RFC5011 autotrust updates to remove missing trust anchors
after they have been unseen for this long. This cleans up the state file if the target zone does not perform
trust anchor revocation, so this makes the auto probe mechanism work with zones that perform regular (non-5011)
rollovers. The default is 366 days. The value 0 does not remove missing anchors, as per the RFC.
key-cache-size: <number>
Number of bytes size of the key cache. Default is 4 megabytes. A plain number is in bytes, append 'k', 'm' or 'g'
for kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes (1024*1024 bytes in a megabyte).
key-cache-slabs: <number>
Number of slabs in the key cache. Slabs reduce lock contention by threads. Must be set to a power of 2. Setting
(close) to the number of cpus is a reasonable guess.
neg-cache-size: <number>
Number of bytes size of the aggressive negative cache. Default is 1 megabyte. A plain number is in bytes, append
'k', 'm' or 'g' for kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes (1024*1024 bytes in a megabyte).
local-zone: <zone> <type>
Configure a local zone. The type determines the answer to give if there is no match from local-data. The types are
deny, refuse, static, transparent, redirect, nodefault, typetransparent, and are explained below. After that the
default settings are listed. Use local-data: to enter data into the local zone. Answers for local zones are
authoritative DNS answers. By default the zones are class IN.
If you need more complicated authoritative data, with referrals, wildcards, CNAME/DNAME support, or DNSSEC author-
itative service, setup a stub-zone for it as detailed in the stub zone section below.
deny Do not send an answer, drop the query. If there is a match from local data, the query is answered.
refuse
Send an error message reply, with rcode REFUSED. If there is a match from local data, the query is answered.
static
If there is a match from local data, the query is answered. Otherwise, the query is answered with nodata or
nxdomain. For a negative answer a SOA is included in the answer if present as local-data for the zone apex
domain.
transparent
If there is a match from local data, the query is answered. Otherwise if the query has a different name, the
query is resolved normally. If the query is for a name given in localdata but no such type of data is given in
localdata, then a noerror nodata answer is returned. If no local-zone is given local-data causes a transparent
zone to be created by default.
typetransparent
If there is a match from local data, the query is answered. If the query is for a different name, or for the
same name but for a different type, the query is resolved normally. So, similar to transparent but types that
are not listed in local data are resolved normally, so if an A record is in the local data that does not cause
a nodata reply for AAAA queries.
redirect
The query is answered from the local data for the zone name. There may be no local data beneath the zone name.
This answers queries for the zone, and all subdomains of the zone with the local data for the zone. It can be
used to redirect a domain to return a different address record to the end user, with local-zone: "example.com."
redirect and local-data: "example.com. A 127.0.0.1" queries for www.example.com and www.foo.example.com are
redirected, so that users with web browsers cannot access sites with suffix example.com.
nodefault
Used to turn off default contents for AS112 zones. The other types also turn off default contents for the zone.
The 'nodefault' option has no other effect than turning off default contents for the given zone.
The default zones are localhost, reverse 127.0.0.1 and ::1, and the AS112 zones. The AS112 zones are reverse DNS zones
for private use and reserved IP addresses for which the servers on the internet cannot provide correct answers. They are
configured by default to give nxdomain (no reverse information) answers. The defaults can be turned off by specifying
your own local-zone of that name, or using the 'nodefault' type. Below is a list of the default zone contents.
localhost
The IP4 and IP6 localhost information is given. NS and SOA records are provided for completeness and to satisfy
some DNS update tools. Default content:
local-zone: "localhost." static
local-data: "localhost. 10800 IN NS localhost."
local-data: "localhost. 10800 IN
SOA localhost. nobody.invalid. 1 3600 1200 604800 10800"
local-data: "localhost. 10800 IN A 127.0.0.1"
local-data: "localhost. 10800 IN AAAA ::1"
reverse IPv4 loopback
Default content:
local-zone: "127.in-addr.arpa." static
local-data: "127.in-addr.arpa. 10800 IN NS localhost."
local-data: "127.in-addr.arpa. 10800 IN
SOA localhost. nobody.invalid. 1 3600 1200 604800 10800"
local-data: "1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa. 10800 IN
PTR localhost."
reverse IPv6 loopback
Default content:
local-zone: "1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.
0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.ip6.arpa." static
local-data: "1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.
0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.ip6.arpa. 10800 IN
NS localhost."
local-data: "1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.
0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.ip6.arpa. 10800 IN
SOA localhost. nobody.invalid. 1 3600 1200 604800 10800"
local-data: "1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.
0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.ip6.arpa. 10800 IN
PTR localhost."
reverse RFC1918 local use zones
Reverse data for zones 10.in-addr.arpa, 16.172.in-addr.arpa to 31.172.in-addr.arpa, 168.192.in-addr.arpa. The
local-zone: is set static and as local-data: SOA and NS records are provided.
reverse RFC3330 IP4 this, link-local, testnet and broadcast
Reverse data for zones 0.in-addr.arpa, 254.169.in-addr.arpa, 2.0.192.in-addr.arpa (TEST NET 1),
100.51.198.in-addr.arpa (TEST NET 2), 113.0.203.in-addr.arpa (TEST NET 3), 255.255.255.255.in-addr.arpa.
reverse RFC4291 IP6 unspecified
Reverse data for zone
0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.
0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.ip6.arpa.
reverse RFC4193 IPv6 Locally Assigned Local Addresses
Reverse data for zone D.F.ip6.arpa.
reverse RFC4291 IPv6 Link Local Addresses
Reverse data for zones 8.E.F.ip6.arpa to B.E.F.ip6.arpa.
reverse IPv6 Example Prefix
Reverse data for zone 8.B.D.0.1.0.0.2.ip6.arpa. This zone is used for tutorials and examples. You can remove
the block on this zone with:
local-zone: 8.B.D.0.1.0.0.2.ip6.arpa. nodefault
You can also selectively unblock a part of the zone by making that part transparent with a local-zone state-
ment. This also works with the other default zones.
local-data: "<resource record string>"
Configure local data, which is served in reply to queries for it. The query has to match exactly unless you config-
ure the local-zone as redirect. If not matched exactly, the local-zone type determines further processing. If
local-data is configured that is not a subdomain of a local-zone, a transparent local-zone is configured. For
record types such as TXT, use single quotes, as in local-data: 'example. TXT "text"'.
If you need more complicated authoritative data, with referrals, wildcards, CNAME/DNAME support, or DNSSEC authori-
tative service, setup a stub-zone for it as detailed in the stub zone section below.
local-data-ptr: "IPaddr name"
Configure local data shorthand for a PTR record with the reversed IPv4 or IPv6 address and the host name. For exam-
ple "192.0.2.4 www.example.com". TTL can be inserted like this: "2001:DB8::4 7200 www.example.com"
Remote Control Options
In the remote-control: clause are the declarations for the remote control facility. If this is enabled, the unbound-con-
trol(8) utility can be used to send commands to the running unbound server. The server uses these clauses to setup SSLv3
/ TLSv1 security for the connection. The unbound-control(8) utility also reads the remote-control section for options.
To setup the correct self-signed certificates use the unbound-control-setup(8) utility.
control-enable: <yes or no>
The option is used to enable remote control, default is "no". If turned off, the server does not listen for control
commands.
control-interface: <ip address>
Give IPv4 or IPv6 addresses to listen on for control commands. By default localhost (127.0.0.1 and ::1) is listened
to. Use 0.0.0.0 and ::0 to listen to all interfaces.
control-port: <port number>
The port number to listen on for control commands, default is 8953. If you change this port number, and permissions
have been dropped, a reload is not sufficient to open the port again, you must then restart.
server-key-file: <private key file>
Path to the server private key, by default unbound_server.key. This file is generated by the unbound-control-setup
utility. This file is used by the unbound server, but not by unbound-control.
server-cert-file: <certificate file.pem>
Path to the server self signed certificate, by default unbound_server.pem. This file is generated by the
unbound-control-setup utility. This file is used by the unbound server, and also by unbound-control.
control-key-file: <private key file>
Path to the control client private key, by default unbound_control.key. This file is generated by the unbound-con-
trol-setup utility. This file is used by unbound-control.
control-cert-file: <certificate file.pem>
Path to the control client certificate, by default unbound_control.pem. This certificate has to be signed with the
server certificate. This file is generated by the unbound-control-setup utility. This file is used by unbound-con-
trol.
Stub Zone Options
There may be multiple stub-zone: clauses. Each with a name: and zero or more hostnames or IP addresses. For the stub
zone this list of nameservers is used. Class IN is assumed. The servers should be authority servers, not recursors;
unbound performs the recursive processing itself for stub zones.
The stub zone can be used to configure authoritative data to be used by the resolver that cannot be accessed using the
public internet servers. This is useful for company-local data or private zones. Setup an authoritative server on a dif-
ferent host (or different port). Enter a config entry for unbound with stub-addr: <ip address of host[@port]>. The
unbound resolver can then access the data, without referring to the public internet for it.
This setup allows DNSSEC signed zones to be served by that authoritative server, in which case a trusted key entry with
the public key can be put in config, so that unbound can validate the data and set the AD bit on replies for the private
zone (authoritative servers do not set the AD bit). This setup makes unbound capable of answering queries for the pri-
vate zone, and can even set the AD bit ('authentic'), but the AA ('authoritative') bit is not set on these replies.
name: <domain name>
Name of the stub zone.
stub-host: <domain name>
Name of stub zone nameserver. Is itself resolved before it is used.
stub-addr: <IP address>
IP address of stub zone nameserver. Can be IP 4 or IP 6. To use a nondefault port for DNS communication append
'@' with the port number.
stub-prime: <yes or no>
This option is by default off. If enabled it performs NS set priming, which is similar to root hints, where it
starts using the list of nameservers currently published by the zone. Thus, if the hint list is slightly out-
dated, the resolver picks up a correct list online.
Forward Zone Options
There may be multiple forward-zone: clauses. Each with a name: and zero or more hostnames or IP addresses. For the for-
ward zone this list of nameservers is used to forward the queries to. The servers listed as forward-host: and for-
ward-addr: have to handle further recursion for the query. Thus, those servers are not authority servers, but are (just
like unbound is) recursive servers too; unbound does not perform recursion itself for the forward zone, it lets the
remote server do it. Class IN is assumed. A forward-zone entry with name "." and a forward-addr target will forward all
queries to that other server (unless it can answer from the cache).
name: <domain name>
Name of the forward zone.
forward-host: <domain name>
Name of server to forward to. Is itself resolved before it is used.
forward-addr: <IP address>
IP address of server to forward to. Can be IP 4 or IP 6. To use a nondefault port for DNS communication append
'@' with the port number.
Python Module Options
The python: clause gives the settings for the python(1) script module. This module acts like the iterator and validator
modules do, on queries and answers. To enable the script module it has to be compiled into the daemon, and the word
"python" has to be put in the module-config: option (usually first, or between the validator and iterator).
python-script: <python file>
The script file to load.
MEMORY CONTROL EXAMPLE
In the example config settings below memory usage is reduced. Some service levels are lower, notable very large data and
a high TCP load are no longer supported. Very large data and high TCP loads are exceptional for the DNS. DNSSEC valida-
tion is enabled, just add trust anchors. If you do not have to worry about programs using more than 3 Mb of memory, the
below example is not for you. Use the defaults to receive full service, which on BSD-32bit tops out at 30-40 Mb after
heavy usage.
# example settings that reduce memory usage
server:
num-threads: 1
outgoing-num-tcp: 1 # this limits TCP service, uses less buffers.
incoming-num-tcp: 1
outgoing-range: 60 # uses less memory, but less performance.
msg-buffer-size: 8192 # note this limits service, 'no huge stuff'.
msg-cache-size: 100k
msg-cache-slabs: 1
rrset-cache-size: 100k
rrset-cache-slabs: 1
infra-cache-numhosts: 200
infra-cache-slabs: 1
infra-cache-lame-size: 1k
key-cache-size: 100k
key-cache-slabs: 1
neg-cache-size: 10k
num-queries-per-thread: 30
target-fetch-policy: "2 1 0 0 0 0"
harden-large-queries: "yes"
harden-short-bufsize: "yes"
FILES
/etc/unbound
default unbound working directory.
/etc/unbound
default chroot(2) location.
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf
unbound configuration file.
/var/run/unbound/unbound.pid
default unbound pidfile with process ID of the running daemon.
unbound.log
unbound log file. default is to log to syslog(3).
SEE ALSO
unbound(8), unbound-checkconf(8).
AUTHORS
Unbound was written by NLnet Labs. Please see CREDITS file in the distribution for further details.
NLnet Labs Sep 15, 2011 unbound.conf(5)
