KNOT.CONF(5)
🦋 knot.conf(5) — the Knot DNS config file, bestie 🦋
🌸 NAME 🌸
knot.conf — the Knot DNS configuration file. That’s the whole name section, and yes, it’s iconic.
✨ DESCRIPTION ✨
Okay so listen: configuration files for Knot DNS use a simplified YAML format. Simplified means not all of the features are supported. Lowkey important, highkey fine.
To describe configuration items, we have to declare what these symbols mean:
INT– IntegerSTR– Textual stringHEXSTR– Hexadecimal string (with0xprefix)BOOL– Boolean value (on/offortrue/false)TIME– Number of seconds, an integer with a possible time multiplier suffix (s~ 1,m~ 60,h~ 3600,d~ 24 * 3600,w~ 7 * 24 * 3600,M~ 30 * 24 * 3600,y~ 365 * 24 * 3600)SIZE– Number of bytes, an integer with a possible size multiplier suffix (B~ 1,K~ 1024,M~ 1024^2 orG~ 1024^3)BASE64– Base64 encoded stringADDR– IPv4 or IPv6 addressDNAME– Domain name...– Multi-valued item, order of the values is preserved[ ]– Optional value|– Choice
The configuration consists of several fixed sections and optional module sections. There are 18 fixed sections: module, server, xdp, control, log, statistics, database, keystore, key, remote, remotes, acl, submission, dnskey-sync, policy, external, template, zone. Module sections are prefixed with the mod- prefix (e.g. mod-stats). Slay.
Most of the sections (e.g. zone) are sequences of settings blocks. Each settings block begins with a unique identifier, which can be used as a reference from other sections (such an identifier must be defined in advance).
A multi-valued item can be specified either as a YAML sequence:
address: [10.0.0.1, 10.0.0.2]or as more single-valued items each on an extra line:
address: 10.0.0.1
address: 10.0.0.2If an item value contains spaces or other special characters, it is necessary to enclose such a value within double quotes " ".
If not specified otherwise, an item representing a file or a directory path may be defined either as an absolute path (starting with /), or a path relative to the same directory as the default value of the item.
💬 COMMENTS 💬
A comment begins with a # character and is ignored during processing. Also each configuration section or sequence block allows a permanent comment using the comment item which is stored in the server beside the configuration. Cute, useful, no notes.
📦 INCLUDING CONFIGURATION 📦
Another configuration file or files, matching a pattern, can be included at the top level in the current file.
include: STR🌟 include
A path or a matching pattern specifying one or more files that are included at the place of the include option position in the configuration. If the path is not absolute, then it is considered to be relative to the current file. The pattern can be an arbitrary string meeting POSIX glob requirements, e.g. dir/*.conf. Matching files are processed in sorted order.
Default: not set
🧹 CLEARING CONFIGURATION SECTIONS 🧹
It’s possible to clear specified configuration sections at given phases of the configuration parsing.
clear: STR🫧 clear
A matching pattern specifying configuration sections that are cleared when this item is parsed. This allows overriding of existing configuration in the configuration database when including a configuration file or ensures that some configuration wasn’t specified in previous includes.
📝 NOTE: For the pattern matching the POSIX functionfnmatch()is used. On Linux, the GNU extensionFNM_EXTMATCHis enabled, which allows extended pattern matching. Examples:
clear: zone– Clears thezonesection.clear: mod-*– Clears all module sections.clear: "[!z]*"– Clears all sections not beginning with letterz.clear: !(zone)– (GNU only) Clears all sections except thezoneone.clear: @(zone|template)– (GNU only) Clears thezoneandtemplatesections.
Default: not set
🧩 MODULE SECTION 🧩
Dynamic modules loading configuration. Very “plugins are the moment.”
📝 NOTE: If configured with non-empty --with-moduledir=path parameter, all shared modules in this directory will be automatically loaded.
module:
- id: STR
file: STR🎀 id
A module identifier in the form of the mod- prefix and module name suffix.
🎀 file
A path to a shared library file with the module implementation.
⚠️ WARNING: If the path is not absolute, the library is searched in the set of system directories. See man dlopen for more details.
Default: ${libdir}/knot/modules-${version}/module_name.so (or ${path}/module_name.so if configured with --with-moduledir=path)
🖥️ SERVER SECTION 🖥️
General options related to the server. This is the main-character energy section, ngl.
server:
identity: [STR]
version: [STR]
nsid: [STR|HEXSTR]
rundir: STR
user: STR[:STR]
pidfile: STR
udp-workers: INT
tcp-workers: INT
background-workers: INT
async-start: BOOL
tcp-idle-timeout: TIME
tcp-io-timeout: INT
tcp-remote-io-timeout: INT
tcp-max-clients: INT
tcp-reuseport: BOOL
quic-max-clients: INT
quic-outbuf-max-size: SIZE
quic-idle-close-timeout: TIME
remote-pool-limit: INT
remote-pool-timeout: TIME
remote-retry-delay: INT
socket-affinity: BOOL
udp-max-payload: SIZE
udp-max-payload-ipv4: SIZE
udp-max-payload-ipv6: SIZE
key-file: STR
cert-file: STR
ca-file: STR ...
edns-client-subnet: BOOL
answer-rotation: BOOL
automatic-acl: BOOL
proxy-allowlist: ADDR[/INT] | ADDR-ADDR ...
dbus-event: none | running | zone-updated | external-verify | ksk-submission | dnssec-invalid ...
dbus-init-delay: TIME
listen: ADDR[%STR][@INT] | STR ...
listen-quic: ADDR[%STR][@INT] ...
listen-tls: ADDR[%STR][@INT] ...🚨 CAUTION: When you change configuration parameters dynamically or via configuration file reload, some parameters in the Server section require restarting the Knot server so that the changes take effect. See below for the details.
🌈 identity
An identity of the server returned in the response to the query for TXT record id.server. or hostname.bind. in the CHAOS class (RFC 4892). Set to an empty value to disable.
Default: FQDN hostname
🌈 version
A version of the server software returned in the response to the query for TXT record version.server. or version.bind. in the CHAOS class (RFC 4892). Set to an empty value to disable.
Default: server version
🌈 nsid
A DNS name server identifier (RFC 5001). Set to an empty value to disable.
Default: FQDN hostname at the moment of the daemon start
🌈 rundir
A path for storing run-time data (PID file, unix sockets, etc.). A non-absolute path is relative to the knotd startup directory.
Depending on the usage of this parameter, its change may require restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: ${localstatedir}/run/knot (configured with --with-rundir=path)
🌈 user
A system user with an optional system group (user:group) under which the server is run after starting and binding to interfaces. Linux capabilities are employed if supported.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: root:root
🌈 pidfile
A PID file location.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: rundir/knot.pid
🌈 udp-workers
A number of UDP workers (threads) used to process incoming queries over UDP.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: equal to the number of online CPUs
🌈 tcp-workers
A number of TCP workers (threads) used to process incoming queries over TCP.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: equal to the number of online CPUs, default value is at least 10
🌈 background-workers
A number of workers (threads) used to execute background operations (zone loading, zone updates, etc.).
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: equal to the number of online CPUs, default value is at most 10
🌈 async-start
If enabled, server doesn’t wait for the zones to be loaded and starts responding immediately with SERVFAIL answers until the zone loads.
Default: off
🌈 tcp-idle-timeout
Maximum idle time (in seconds) between requests on an inbound TCP connection. It means if there is no activity on an inbound TCP connection during this limit, the connection is closed by the server.
Minimum: 1
Default: 10
🌈 tcp-io-timeout
Maximum time (in milliseconds) to receive or send one DNS message over an inbound TCP connection. It means this limit applies to normal DNS queries and replies, incoming DDNS, and outgoing zone transfers. The timeout is measured since some data is already available for processing. Set to 0 for infinity.
Default: 500 (milliseconds)
🚨 CAUTION: In order to reduce the risk of Slow Loris attacks, it’s recommended setting this limit as low as possible on public servers.
🌈 tcp-remote-io-timeout
Maximum time (in milliseconds) to receive or send one DNS message over an outbound TCP/QUIC/TLS connection which has already been established to a configured remote server. It means this limit applies to incoming zone transfers, sending NOTIFY, DDNS forwarding, and DS check or push. This timeout includes the time needed for a network round-trip and for a query processing by the remote. Set to 0 for infinity.
Default: 5000 (milliseconds)
🌈 tcp-reuseport
If enabled, each TCP worker listens on its own socket and the OS kernel socket load balancing is employed using SO_REUSEPORT (or SO_REUSEPORT_LB on FreeBSD). Due to the lack of one shared socket, the server can offer higher response rate processing over TCP. However, in the case of time-consuming requests (e.g. zone transfers of a TLD zone), enabled reuseport may result in delayed or not being responded client requests. So it is advisable to use this option on secondary servers.
📝 NOTE: This option is ignored for UNIX sockets.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: off
🌈 quic-max-clients
A maximum number of QUIC clients connected in parallel.
See also quic.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Minimum: 128
Default: 10000 (ten thousand)
quic-outbuf-max-size
okay so this one caps the maximum cumulative size of memory used for buffers of unACKed sent messages 💅 — like, messages the server already yeeted out over QUIC that nobody has acknowledged yet. Big important detail: this limit is per one UDP worker, so do the math for your whole setup, bestie.
NOTE: temporarily, more memory can be occupied by the buffers until some connections are cleared to free some memory and enforce the limit. 😭
So set it low if little memory is available (and bring quic-max-clients along for the ride, since QUIC connections are memory-heavy 👀). Set it to a high value if outgoing zone transfers of big zone over QUIC are expected.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Minimum: 1M (1 MiB)
Default: 100M (100 MiB)
quic-idle-close-timeout
Time in seconds, after which any idle QUIC connection is gracefully closed 🦋. No awkward lingering, she leaves the chat politely.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Minimum: 1
Default: 4
remote-pool-limit
If nonzero, the server will keep up to this number of outgoing TCP connections open for later use ✨. It's a little optimization so it doesn't have to keep re-opening TCP connections to the same remote over and over — iconic efficiency, no cap.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: 0
remote-pool-timeout
The timeout in seconds after which the unused kept-open outgoing TCP connections to remote servers are closed 🌸. Basically the "ok bye, you've been sitting there long enough" timer.
Default: 5
remote-retry-delay
When a connection attempt times out to some remote address, this information will be kept for this specified time (in milliseconds) and other connections to the same address won't be attempted 🙈. It prevents repetitive waiting for timeout on an unreachable remote — honestly a vibe, nobody has time for that.
Default: 0
socket-affinity
If enabled and if SO_REUSEPORT is available on Linux, all configured network sockets are bound to UDP and TCP workers in order to increase the networking performance 🔥.
Lowkey a warning: this mode isn't recommended for setups where the number of network card queues is lower than the number of UDP or TCP workers. Do a vibe check on your hardware first, bestie.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: off
tcp-max-clients
A maximum number of TCP clients connected in parallel 👑. Set this below the file descriptor limit to avoid resource exhaustion, fr fr.
NOTE: it is advisable to adjust the maximum number of open files per process in your operating system configuration. 💀
Default: one half of the file descriptor limit for the server process
udp-max-payload
Maximum EDNS0 UDP payload size default for both IPv4 and IPv6 ✨.
Default: 1232
udp-max-payload-ipv4
Maximum EDNS0 UDP payload size for IPv4 💙.
Default: 1232
udp-max-payload-ipv6
Maximum EDNS0 UDP payload size for IPv6 💜.
Default: 1232
key-file
Path to a server key PEM file which is used for DNS over QUIC/TLS communication 🔐. A non-absolute path of a user specified key file is relative to the /etc/knot directory.
Default: auto-generated key
cert-file
Path to a server certificate PEM file which is used for DNS over QUIC/TLS communication 🎀. A non-absolute path is relative to the /etc/knot directory.
Default: one-time in-memory certificate
ca-file
Specifies one or more paths to load trusted Certificate Authorities (CAs) from 🌈. An empty string ("") means the system's default trusted CAs. The loaded CAs are used for remote certificate validation (cert-hostname, cert-hostname, and zone-db-cert-hostname).
Default: not set
edns-client-subnet
Enable or disable EDNS Client Subnet support. If enabled, responses to queries containing the EDNS Client Subnet option always contain a valid EDNS Client Subnet option according to RFC 7871 📜.
Default: off
answer-rotation
Enable or disable sorted-rrset rotation in the answer section of normal replies 🌀. The rotation shift is simply determined by a query ID.
Default: off
automatic-acl
If enabled, automatic ACL setting of configured remotes is considered when evaluating authorized operations 🔑.
Default: off
proxy-allowlist
An ordered list of IP addresses, network subnets, or network ranges which are allowed as a source address of proxied DNS traffic over UDP 🫶. The supported proxy protocol is haproxy PROXY v2.
NOTE: TCP is not supported. 🙅♀️
Default: not set
dbus-event
Specification of server or zone states which emit a D-Bus signal on the system bus 📡. The bus name is cz.nic.knotd, the object path is /cz/nic/knotd, and the interface name is cz.nic.knotd.events.
Possible values:
none– No signal is emitted.running– Two signals may be emitted:started– Emitted when the server is started and all configured zones (including catalog zones and their members) are loaded or successfully bootstrapped.stopped– Emitted when the server shutdown sequence is initiated.
zone-updated– Two signals may be emitted:zone_updated– Emitted when a zone has been successfully updated. Parameters: zone name and zone SOA serial.zone_not_updated– Emitted when a zone has not been successfully updated. Parameters: zone name.
external-verify– The signalexternal_verifyis emitted when a zone is awaiting external validation before applying changes. Parameters: zone name and new zone SOA serial.keys-updated– The signalkeys_updatedis emitted when a DNSSEC key set is updated. Parameters: zone name.ksk-submission– The signalzone_ksk_submissionis emitted if a ready KSK is present when the zone is signed. Parameters: zone name, KSK keytag, and KSK KASP id.dnssec-invalid– The signalzone_dnssec_invalidis emitted when DNSSEC validation fails or when ZONEMD verification fails. Parameters: zone name and remaining seconds until an RRSIG expires.
NOTE: this function requires systemd version at least 221 or libdbus. 💀
TIP: a few sample script templates can be found in the project repository. 🧚
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: none
dbus-init-delay
Time in seconds which the server waits upon D-Bus initialization to ensure the D-Bus client is ready to receive signals ⏳. Like giving your bestie a sec to actually open the messages before you start spamming.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Minimum: 0
Default: 1
listen
One or more IP addresses on which the server listens for incoming queries 👂✨. An optional port specification (default is 53) can be appended to each address using the @ separator. Use the wildcard address 0.0.0.0 for all configured IPv4 addresses or :: for all configured IPv6 addresses. On Linux, a wildcard address can be followed by % and an interface name to limit wildcard binding to a specific interface 🦋. A filesystem path can be specified to listen on a local UNIX SOCK_STREAM socket. A non-absolute path (i.e. not starting with /) is interpreted relative to rundir. Binding to non-local addresses is automatically enabled if supported by the operating system.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
NOTE: non-local address binding or wildcard address binding to a specific interface might require settingsysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_nonlocal_bind=1andsysctl -w net.ipv6.ip_nonlocal_bind=1. 😭
Default: not set
listen-quic
One or more IP addresses and optionally ports (default is 853) on which the server listens for incoming queries over QUIC protocol 🦋⚡.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: not set
listen-tls
One or more IP addresses and optionally ports (default is 853) on which the server listens for incoming queries over TLS protocol (DoT) 🔐💖.
Change of this parameter requires restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: not set
🔥 XDP SECTION 🔥
Okay bestie, this section is all about XDP listening — and it's very TCP-coded, fair warning. Here's the whole shape of it:
xdp:
listen: STR[@INT] | ADDR[@INT] ...
udp: BOOL
tcp: BOOL
quic: BOOL
quic-port: INT
tcp-max-clients: INT
tcp-inbuf-max-size: SIZE
tcp-outbuf-max-size: SIZE
tcp-idle-close-timeout: TIME
tcp-idle-reset-timeout: TIME
tcp-resend-timeout: TIME
route-check: BOOL
zero-copy: BOOL
ring-size: INT
busypoll-budget: INT
busypoll-timeout: INTCAUTION: okay so listen up — when you change params dynamically or via a config file reload, some of the parameters in the XDP section need a full restart of the Knot server before they actually take effect. Not a reload. A restart. Don't @ me.
💅 listen
One or more network device names (think ens786f0 energy) where Mode XDP gets enabled. You can also throw an IP address in there instead of a device name, but — plot twist — the server will still listen on all addresses belonging to the same interface! You can tack on an optional port spec (default is 53) to each device name or address using the @ separator.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
CAUTION: if your XDP workers only process plain DNS traffic over UDP, it is strongly recommended to also listen on the addresses intended to offer the DNS service — at minimum so you fulfil the DNS requirement for working TCP.
NOTE: incoming DDNS over XDP isn't supported, bestie. The server always responds with SERVFAIL.
Default: not set
🦋 udp
If enabled, DNS over UDP gets processed with XDP workers.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: on
🎀 tcp
If enabled, DNS over TCP traffic gets processed with XDP workers.
The TCP stack limitations (read these, they're real):
- Congestion control is not implemented.
- Lost packets that do not contain TCP payload may not be resend.
- Not optimized for transfers of non-trivial zones.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: off
🌸 quic
If enabled, DNS over QUIC gets processed with XDP workers.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: off
⭐ quic-port
DNS over QUIC will listen on the interfaces configured by listen, but on a different port — and that port is configured by this option.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: 853
👑 tcp-max-clients
The maximum number of TCP clients connected in parallel.
Minimum: 1024
Default: 1000000 (one million — yes, literally one million 💀)
🍓 tcp-inbuf-max-size
Maximum cumulative size of memory used for buffers of incompletely received messages.
Minimum: 1M (1 MiB)
Default: 100M (100 MiB)
🧚 tcp-outbuf-max-size
Maximum cumulative size of memory used for buffers of unACKed sent messages.
Minimum: 1M (1 MiB)
Default: 100M (100 MiB)
💜 tcp-idle-close-timeout
Time in seconds, after which any idle connection is gracefully closed.
Minimum: 1
Default: 10
🌈 tcp-idle-reset-timeout
Time in seconds, after which any idle connection is forcibly closed. (Yeah, this one's the not-nice one.)
Minimum: 1
Default: 20
🫶 tcp-resend-timeout
Resend outgoing data packets (with DNS response payload) if they're not ACKed before this timeout, in seconds.
Minimum: 1
Default: 5
🔥 route-check
If enabled, routing info from the operating system is considered when processing every incoming DNS packet received over the XDP interface:
- If the outgoing interface of the corresponding DNS response differs from the incoming one, the packet is processed normally by UDP/TCP workers (XDP isn't used).
- If the destination address is blackholed, unreachable, or prohibited, the DNS packet is dropped without any response.
- The destination MAC address and possible VLAN tag for the response are taken from the routing system.
If disabled, symmetrical routing is applied. Meaning: the query source MAC address is used as a response destination MAC address, and any possible VLAN tag is preserved.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
NOTE: this mode requires forwarding enabled on the loopback interface (sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.lo.forwarding=1andsysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.lo.forwarding=1). If forwarding is disabled, all incoming DNS packets are dropped! Not a vibe.
NOTE: only VLAN 802.1Q is supported.
Default: off
✨ zero-copy
If enabled and supported by the configured network device, zero-copy mode can be used. For testing purposes, or if there's an issue with the kernel or device driver, disabling zero-copy may help — at the cost of lower performance.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: on
💖 ring-size
Size of RX, FQ, TX, and CQ rings.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
NOTE: this value should be at least as high as the configured RX size of the network device in the XDP mode.
Default: 2048
🦋 busypoll-budget
If set to a positive value, preferred busy polling is enabled with the specified budget.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
NOTE: preferred busy polling also requires settingnapi_defer_hard_irqsandgro_flush_timeoutfor the appropriate network interface. E.g.:
echo 2 | sudo tee /sys/class/net/<interface>/napi_defer_hard_irqs
echo 200000 | sudo tee /sys/class/net/<interface>/gro_flush_timeoutNOTE: a recommended value is between8and64.
Default: 0 (disabled)
🎀 busypoll-timeout
Timeout in microseconds of preferrred busy polling (yes, that's how the original spells it, we keep it exactly 💅) if enabled by busypoll-budget.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: 20 (20 microseconds)
🎛️ CONTROL SECTION 🎛️
Configuration of the server control interface. The whole deal:
control:
listen: STR ...
backlog: INT
timeout: TIME💫 listen
A UNIX socket path where the server listens for control commands.
Multiple sockets can be configured for parallel independent use, but their number is limited (currently to 4), and some operations might be delayed due to mutexes.
WARNING: transaction-like operations, such asconf-begin/set/commit/abortorzone-begin/set/commit/abort, must be performed using the same socket. No mixing, bestie. Periodt.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: rundir/knot.sock
🧵 backlog
The control UNIX socket listen backlog size.
Changing this parameter requires a restart of the Knot server to take effect.
Default: 5
⏳ timeout
Maximum time (in seconds) the control socket operations can take. Set to 0 for infinity.
Default: 5
📜 LOG SECTION 📜
The server can be configured to log to standard output, standard error output, syslog (or systemd journal if systemd is enabled), or into an arbitrary file.
There are 6 logging severity levels, from most to least "oh no":
critical– Non-recoverable error resulting in server shutdown.error– Recoverable error, action should be taken.warning– Warning that might require user action.notice– Server notice or hint.info– Informational message.debug– Debug or detailed message.
In the case of a missing log section, warning or more serious messages will be logged to both standard error output and syslog. The info and notice messages will be logged to standard output.
log:
- target: stdout | stderr | syslog | STR
server: critical | error | warning | notice | info | debug
control: critical | error | warning | notice | info | debug
zone: critical | error | warning | notice | info | debug
quic: critical | error | warning | notice | info | debug
any: critical | error | warning | notice | info | debug🎯 target
A logging output.
Possible values:
stdout– Standard output.stderr– Standard error output.syslog– Syslog or systemd journal.file_name– A specific file.
With the syslog target, the syslog service is used. However, if Knot DNS has been compiled with systemd support and the operating system has been booted with systemd, systemd journal is used for logging instead of syslog.
A file_name may be specified as an absolute path or a path relative to the knotd startup directory.
🖥️ server
Minimum severity level for messages related to general operation of the server to be logged.
Default: not set
🕹️ control
Minimum severity level for messages related to server control to be logged.
Default: not set
🌍 zone
Minimum severity level for messages related to zones to be logged.
Default: not set
🦄 quic
Minimum severity level for messages related to QUIC to be logged.
Default: not set
🎪 any
Minimum severity level for all message types, except quic, to be logged.
Default: not set
📊 STATISTICS SECTION 📊
Periodic server statistics dumping, bestie. Numbers go brrr on a timer.
statistics:
timer: TIME
file: STR
append: BOOL⏰ timer
A period (in seconds) after which all available statistics metrics will by written to the file.
Default: not set
📁 file
A file path of statistics output in the YAML format.
Default: rundir/stats.yaml
➕ append
If enabled, the output will be appended to the file instead of file replacement.
Default: off
🗄️ DATABASE SECTION 🗄️
Okay so this whole section is about where your stuff lives. Zone contents, DNSSEC metadata, event timers — all of it needs a home, and this is where you tell Knot where that home is. 🏠
database:
storage: STR
journal-db: STR
journal-db-mode: robust | asynchronous
journal-db-max-size: SIZE
kasp-db: STR
kasp-db-max-size: SIZE
timer-db: STR
timer-db-max-size: SIZE
timer-db-sync: never | shutdown | immediate | TIME
catalog-db: str
catalog-db-max-size: SIZE
zone-db-listen: ADDR[@INT] | STR[@INT] ...
zone-db-tls: BOOL
zone-db-cert-key: BASE64 ...
zone-db-cert-hostname: STR ...storage
A data directory where the journal, KASP, and timer databases all crash. If the path isn't absolute, it's resolved relative to the knotd startup directory. 🫶
Default: ${localstatedir}/lib/knot (configured with --with-storage=path)
journal-db
You wanna be explicit about where the persistent journal database directory goes? This is that. ✨
Default: storage/journal
journal-db-mode
Config for the journal LMDB backend — this one is a whole trade-off situation, it straight up influences performance and durability. Pick your fighter:
robust— the journal database disk synchronization ensures database durability, but it's generally slower. 🐢asynchronous— disk synchronization is optimized for better performance at the expense of lower database durability in the case of a crash. 💀 This mode is recommended on secondary servers with many zones.
Default: robust
journal-db-max-size
The hard limit for the journal database maximum size. Bestie, listen: there is no cleanup logic in journal to recover from reaching this limit. It just starts refusing changes across all zones. That's it. That's the vibe. 😭
Heads up — decreasing this value has no effect if it's lower than the actual database file size.
It's recommended to limit journal-max-usage per-zone instead of journal-db-max-size in most cases. And please keep this value larger than the sum of all zones' journal usage limits. See more details regarding journal behaviour. 👑
NOTE: this value also influences server's usage of virtual memory.
Default: 20G (20 GiB), or 512M (512 MiB) for 32-bit
kasp-db
An explicit specification of the KASP database directory. 🔑
Default: storage/keys
kasp-db-max-size
The hard limit for the KASP database maximum size.
NOTE: this value also influences server's usage of virtual memory.
Default: 10G (10 GiB), or 512M (512 MiB) for 32-bit
timer-db
An explicit specification of the persistent timer database directory. ⏰
Default: storage/timers
timer-db-max-size
The hard limit for the timer database maximum size.
NOTE: this value also influences server's usage of virtual memory.
Default: 5G (5 GiB), or 512M (512 MiB) for 32-bit
timer-db-sync
Tells you when zone timers get written to the persistent timer database. Choose your moment:
never— never written. Ever. 🙈shutdown— written once when the server is shut down.immediate— each zone writes its timers whenever they are modified. This mode might slow down zones' events if many zones are configured. 🐌INT— a dedicated thread continuously iterates through the configured zones and writes their timers at the specified non-zero interval (in seconds).
Default: shutdown
catalog-db
An explicit specification of the zone catalog database directory. Only useful if Catalog zones are enabled, iykyk. 📚
Default: storage/catalog
catalog-db-max-size
The hard limit for the catalog database maximum size.
NOTE: this value also influences server's usage of virtual memory.
Default: 20G (20 GiB), or 512M (512 MiB) for 32-bit
zone-db-listen
An ordered list of IP addresses or hostnames, and optionally ports (default is 6379), or absolute UNIX socket paths (starting with /) of running Redis (or compatible) instances to be used for reading and/or writing zone contents. See zone-db-input and zone-db-output. 🌈
The listen parameters are tried sequentially until a usable connection is established. The connected database can be a master, a replica, or a sentinel. If it's a sentinel, it's used to acquire connection parameters of a master database.
Default: not set
zone-db-tls
If enabled, TLS 1.3 will be used for communication with the zone database. Secure girlie behaviour. 🔒
Default: off
zone-db-cert-key
An ordered list of up to 4 public key PINs of the zone database's certificate. If the list is non-empty, communication with the zone database is only possible over TLS, and a peer certificate is required. The peer certificate's public key must match one of the specified PINs. No matching, no talking. 💅
Default: not set
zone-db-cert-hostname
An ordered list of up to 4 hostnames to be matched against the zone database's certificate. At least one hostname must match for the certificate to be considered valid (see ca-file). If the list is non-empty, communication with the zone database is only possible over TLS, and a peer certificate is required.
Default: not set
🎀 KEYSTORE SECTION 🎀
DNSSEC keystore configuration. This is where your keys hang out and look cute. 🔑
keystore:
- id: STR
backend: pem | pkcs11
config: STR
ksk-only: BOOL
key-label: BOOLid
A keystore identifier.
backend
A key storage backend type. Pick a lane:
pem— PEM files. 📄pkcs11— PKCS #11 storage.
Default: pem
config
A backend specific configuration. Either a directory with PEM files (the path can be specified as a relative path to kasp-db) or a configuration string for PKCS #11 storage (<pkcs11-uri> <module-path>). The PKCS #11 URI Scheme is defined in RFC 7512. 📜
NOTE: example configuration string for PKCS #11: "pkcs11:token=knot;pin-value=1234 /usr/lib64/pkcs11/libsofthsm2.so"
Default: kasp-db/keys
ksk-only
Newly generated keys are stored in this keystore only if they're KSKs or CSKs. Zone signing keys will be stored in the subsequent keystore without this option enabled. So like, the next one down the list. ➡️
Default: off
key-label
If enabled in combination with the PKCS #11 backend, generated keys are labeled in the form <zone_name> KSK|ZSK. Cute little name tags for your keys. 🏷️
Default: off
🔑 KEY SECTION 🔑
Shared TSIG keys used to authenticate communication with the server. These are the shared secrets, handle with care. 🫶
key:
- id: DNAME
algorithm: hmac-md5 | hmac-sha1 | hmac-sha224 | hmac-sha256 | hmac-sha384 | hmac-sha512
secret: BASE64id
A key name identifier.
NOTE: this value MUST be exactly the same as the name of the TSIG key on the opposite primary/secondary server(s). Like, exactly. Character for character. No cap. ⚠️
algorithm
A TSIG key algorithm. See TSIG Algorithm Numbers. The lineup:
hmac-md5hmac-sha1hmac-sha224hmac-sha256hmac-sha384hmac-sha512
Default: hmac-sha256 👑
secret
Shared key secret. 🤫
Default: not set
🌸 REMOTE SECTION 🌸
okay so this section is all about the definitions of remote servers for outgoing connections — think source of a zone transfer, target for a notification, etc. 💅
remote:
- id: STR
address: ADDR[@INT] | STR ...
via: ADDR[%STR][@INT] ...
quic: BOOL
tls: BOOL
key: key_id
cert-key: BASE64 ...
cert-hostname: STR ...
block-notify-after-transfer: BOOL
no-edns: BOOL
automatic-acl: BOOL💖 id 💖
A remote identifier. literally just the name bestie 🫶
🦋 address 🦋
An ordered list of destination IP addresses or UNIX socket paths which are used for communication with the remote server. Non-absolute path (i.e. not starting with /) is relative to rundir. Optional destination port (default is 53 for UDP/TCP and 853 for QUIC) can be appended to the address using @ separator. The addresses are tried in sequence until the remote is reached.
Default: not set
💀 NOTE: If the remote is contacted and it refuses to perform requested action, no more addresses will be tried for this remote. periodt.
🌈 via 🌈
An ordered list of source IP addresses which are used as source addresses for communication with the remote. For the N-th remote address, the last, but at most N-th, specified via address of the same family is used. This option can help if the server listens on more addresses. Optional source port (default is random) can be appended to the address using @ separator. On Linux, a wildcard address (0.0.0.0 or ::) can be followed by % and an interface name to bind the outbound socket to that specific interface, same as for listen.
Default: not set
💀 NOTE: For the following configuration:
remote:
- id: example
address: [198.51.100.10, 2001:db8::10, 198.51.100.20, 2001:db8::20]
via: [198.51.100.1, 198.51.100.2, 2001:db8::1]the (via -> address) mapping is:
198.51.100.1->198.51.100.102001:db8::1->2001:db8::10198.51.100.2->198.51.100.202001:db8::1->2001:db8::20
🌟 quic 🌟
If this option is set, the QUIC protocol will be used for outgoing communication with this remote.
💀 NOTE: One connection per each remote is opened; remote-pool-limit does not take effect for QUIC. However, fast QUIC handshakes utilizing obtained session tickets are used for reopening connections to recently (up to 1 day) queried remotes.
Default: off
✨ tls ✨
If this option is set, the TLS (DoT) protocol will be used for outgoing communication with this remote.
Default: off
🔑 key 🔑
A reference to the TSIG key which is used to authenticate the communication with the remote server.
Default: not set
🎀 cert-key 🎀
An ordered list of up to 4 remote certificate public key PINs. If the list is non-empty, communication with the remote is only possible via QUIC or TLS protocols, and a peer certificate is required. The peer certificate key must match one of the specified PINs.
A PIN is a unique identifier that represents the public key of the peer certificate. It's a base64-encoded SHA-256 hash of the public key. This identifier usually remains the same on a certificate renewal.
Default: not set
🌸 cert-hostname 🌸
An ordered list of up to 4 hostnames to match against peer's certificate. At least one must match for successful certificate validation (see ca-file). If the list is non-empty, communication with the remote is only possible via QUIC or TLS protocols, and a peer certificate is required.
Default: not set
💜 block-notify-after-transfer 💜
When incoming AXFR/IXFR from this remote (as a primary server), suppress sending NOTIFY messages to all configured secondary servers.
Default: off
🐚 no-edns 🐚
If enabled, no OPT record (EDNS) is inserted to outgoing requests to this remote server. This mode is necessary for communication with some broken DNS implementations (e.g. Windows Server 2016).
Additionally, if TCP is used for zone refresh, the SOA query and the subsequent AXFR/IXFR query do not share the same TCP connection. This mode allows transfers from some broken DNS implementations (e.g. ixfrdist).
💀 NOTE: This option effectively disables zone expire timer updates via EDNS EXPIRE option specified in RFC 7314.
Default: off
👑 automatic-acl 👑
If enabled, some authorized operations for the remote are automatically allowed based on the context:
- Incoming NOTIFY is allowed from the remote if it's configured as a primary server for the zone.
- Outgoing zone transfer is allowed to the remote if it's configured as a NOTIFY target for the zone.
Automatic ACL rules are evaluated before explicit zone ACL configuration.
💀 NOTE: This functionality requires global activation via automatic-acl in the server section.
Default: on
🦋 REMOTES SECTION 🦋
Definitions of groups of remote servers. Remote grouping can simplify the configuration. slay for not repeating yourself 💅
remotes:
- id: STR
remote: remote_id ...💖 id 💖
A remote group identifier.
🌈 remote 🌈
An ordered list of references to remote server definitions.
Default: not set
👑 ACL SECTION 👑
Access control list rule definitions. An ACL rule is a description of one or more authorized actions (zone transfer request, zone change notification, and dynamic DNS update) which are allowed to be processed or denied. Queries which don't require authorization are always allowed. iykyk 🫶
acl:
- id: STR
address: ADDR[/INT] | ADDR-ADDR | STR ...
key: key_id ...
cert-key: BASE64 ...
cert-hostname: STR ...
remote: remote_id | remotes_id ...
action: query | notify | transfer | update ...
protocol: udp | tcp | tls | quic ...
deny: BOOL
update-type: STR ...
update-owner: key | zone | name
update-owner-match: sub-or-equal | equal | sub | pattern
update-owner-name: STR ...💖 id 💖
An ACL rule identifier. bestie needs a name ✨
🌸 address 🌸
An ordered list of IP addresses, absolute UNIX socket paths, network subnets, or network ranges. The query's source address must match one of them. If this item is not set, address match is not required.
Default: not set
🔑 key 🔑
An ordered list of references to TSIG keys. The query must match one of them. If this item is not set, transaction authentication is not used.
Default: not set
🎀 cert-key 🎀
An ordered list of remote certificate public key PINs. If the list is non-empty, communication with the remote is only possible via QUIC or TLS protocols, and a peer certificate is required. The peer certificate key must match one of the specified PINs.
A PIN is a unique identifier that represents the public key of the peer certificate. It's a base64-encoded SHA-256 hash of the public key. This identifier usually remains the same on a certificate renewal.
Default: not set
🌟 cert-hostname 🌟
An ordered list of hostnames to match against peer's certificate. At least one must match for successful certificate validation (see ca-file). If the list is non-empty, communication with the remote is only possible via QUIC or TLS protocols, and a peer certificate is required.
Default: not set
🦋 remote 🦋
An ordered list of references remote and remotes. The query must match the remote parameters.
💀 NOTE: This option cannot be combined with theaddress,key,protocol,cert-key, orcert-hostnameoption in the same ACL rule.
Default: not set
💅 action 💅
An ordered list of allowed, or denied, actions (request types).
Possible values:
query– Allow regular DNS query. As normal queries are always allowed, this action is only useful in combination with TSIG key.notify– Allow incoming notify (NOTIFY).transfer– Allow zone transfer (AXFR, IXFR).update– Allow zone updates (DDNS).
Default: query
🌈 protocol 🌈
List of allowed protocols.
Possible values:
udp– UDP protocol.tcp– TCP protocol.tls– TLS protocol.quic– QUIC protocol.
Default: not set (any)
💀 deny 💀
If enabled, instead of allowing, deny the matching combination of the specified items.
Default: off
🍓 update-type 🍓
A list of allowed types of Resource Records in a zone update. Every record in an update must match one of the specified types.
Default: not set
👑 update-owner 👑
This option restricts possible owners of Resource Records in a zone update by comparing them to either the TSIG key identity, the current zone name, or to a list of domain names given by the update-owner-name option. The comparison method is given by the update-owner-match option.
Possible values:
key— The owner of each updated RR must match the identity of the TSIG key if used.name— The owner of each updated RR must match at least one name in theupdate-owner-namelist.zone— The owner of each updated RR must match the current zone name.
Default: not set
✨ update-owner-match ✨
This option defines how the owners of Resource Records in an update are matched to the domain name(s) set by the update-owner option.
Possible values:
sub-or-equal— The owner of each RR in an update must either be equal to or be a subdomain of at least one domain name set byupdate-owner.equal— The owner of each updated RR must be equal to at least one domain name set byupdate-owner.sub— The owner of each updated RR must be a subdomain of, but MUST NOT be equal to at least one domain name set byupdate-owner.pattern— The owner of each updated RR must match a pattern specified byupdate-owner. The pattern can be an arbitrary FQDN or non-FQDN domain name. If a label consists of one*(asterisk) character, it matches any label. More asterisk labels can be specified.
Default: sub-or-equal
🎀 update-owner-name 🎀
A list of allowed owners of RRs in a zone update used with update-owner set to name. Every listed owner name which is not FQDN (i.e. it doesn't end in a dot) is considered as if it was appended with the target zone name. Such a relative owner name specification allows better ACL rule reusability across multiple zones.
Default: not set
💌 SUBMISSION SECTION 💌
Okay so this is where you tell Knot how to check on your KSK submission — like, is the parent actually paying attention to us or what. The config block looks like this:
submission:
- id: STR
parent: remote_id | remotes_id ...
check-interval: TIME
timeout: TIME
parent-delay: TIMEid— the submission's name/identifier, its little nametag 🏷️.parent— a list ofremoteandremotesreferences pointing at the parent's DNS servers, which get checked for whether the corresponding DS records are actually there (this is the KSK submission case, bestie). All of them need a matching DS or the rollover just... doesn't continue. And if you specify zilch here? Then you have to push the rollover forward by hand, no autopilot for you 🙈.
Default: not set
TIP: a DNSSEC-validating resolver can totally be set as a parent. iykyk 💅
check-interval— how often (in seconds) we do the periodic DS-presence checks on the parent's DNS servers, for KSK submission purposes.
Default: 1h (1 hour)
timeout— after this time period (in seconds), the KSK submission is automatically considered successful, even if every single check came back negative or you configured zero parents. Set it to0for infinity ♾️.
Default: 0
parent-delay— once the parent DS check succeeds, wait this period (in seconds) before moving on to the next key roll-over step. This delay is there to cover the propagation delay of the update in the parent zone. Respect the pipeline 🫶.
NOTE: this delay only affects automatic KSK submission with parent queries. If your KSK submission is the result of a timeout, or you manually confirmed it withknotc zone-ksk-submitted, thenparent-delaydoes not apply. Not applicable, bestie. Nope. 🚫
Default: 0
🔄 DNSKEY-SYNC SECTION 🔄
The parameters for DNSKEY dynamic-update synchronization — like, keeping all your signers on the same page:
dnskey-sync:
- id: STR
remote: remote_id | remotes_id ...
check-interval: TIMEid— a dnskey-sync identifier 💫remote— a list ofremoteandremotesreferences to other signers (or a common master) where the DDNS updates carryingDNSKEY/CDNSKEY/CDSrecords shall be sent. Get those records out there 📬.
Default: not set
check-interval— if the last DNSKEY sync flopped or resulted in any change at all, re-check the consistence after this interval (in seconds) and re-try if needed. Persistence, iconic ✨.
Default: 60 (1 minute)
👑 POLICY SECTION 👑
DNSSEC policy configuration — this is the big one, the main character of the config file:
policy:
- id: STR
keystore: keystore_id ...
manual: BOOL
single-type-signing: BOOL
algorithm: rsasha1 | rsasha1-nsec3-sha1 | rsasha256 | rsasha512 | ecdsap256sha256 | ecdsap384sha384 | ed25519 | ed448
ksk-size: SIZE
zsk-size: SIZE
ksk-shared: BOOL
dnskey-ttl: TIME
zone-max-ttl: TIME
keytag-modulo: INT/INT
dnssec-jitter: TIME | INT%
ksk-lifetime: TIME
zsk-lifetime: TIME
deleg-adt: BOOL
delete-delay: TIME
trash-delay: TIME
propagation-delay: TIME
rrsig-lifetime: TIME
rrsig-refresh: TIME
rrsig-pre-refresh: TIME
reproducible-signing: BOOL
nsec3: BOOL
nsec3-iterations: INT
nsec3-opt-out: BOOL
nsec3-salt-length: INT
nsec3-salt-lifetime: TIME
signing-threads: INT
ksk-submission: submission_id
ds-push: remote_id | remotes_id ...
cds-cdnskey-publish: none | delete-dnssec | rollover | always | double-ds
cds-digest-type: sha256 | sha384
dnskey-management: full | incremental
offline-ksk: BOOL
unsafe-operation: none | no-check-keyset | no-update-dnskey | no-update-nsec | no-update-expired ...id— a policy identifier, its whole identity 💖keystore— a reference to a keystore that holds the private key material for zones.
And here's the tea ☕: if you give multiple keystores, the private keys for signing get looked up in all of them. But newly generated keys get stored in the first one (or in the first one that doesn't have ksk-only enabled, in the case of a new ZSK) — in the exact order you listed them. First come, first serve ✨.
NOTE: if multiple keystores are configured and a zone is being restored with the back up feature, all restored private keys are stored into the first referenced keystore.
NOTE: a configured keystore called "default" won't be used unless you explicitly reference it. She's not coming to the party unless invited 🙈.
Default: an imaginary keystore with all default values (yes, literally imaginary, slay)
manual— if enabled, automatic key management is not used. You're on your own, bestie.
Default: off
single-type-signing— if enabled, the Single-Type Signing Scheme is used in automatic key management mode.
Default: off (module onlinesign has default on)
algorithm— the algorithm used for signing keys and issued signatures. See DNSSEC Algorithm Numbers 🔢.
Possible values:
rsasha1rsasha1-nsec3-sha1rsasha256rsasha512ecdsap256sha256ecdsap384sha384ed25519ed448
Default: ecdsap256sha256
ksk-size— the length of newly generated KSK or CSK keys.
Default: 2048 (rsa*), 256 (ecdsap256), 384 (ecdsap384), 256 (ed25519), 456 (ed448)
zsk-size— the length of newly generated ZSK keys.
Default: see default for ksk-size
ksk-shared— if enabled, every zone assigned this policy shares one or more KSKs. And more KSKs can be shared during a KSK rollover. Sharing is caring 🫶.
WARNING: because the shared KSK set is bound to the policy id, renaming the policy breaks that connection, and a brand new shared KSK set gets initiated whenever a new KSK is needed. So like... don't rename it mid-rollover, okay? 😭
Default: off
dnskey-ttl— a TTL value for DNSKEY records added into the zone apex.
NOTE: this has influence over ZSK key lifetime 👀
WARNING: make sure all DNSKEYs with the updated TTL are propagated before any subsequent DNSKEY rollover starts. No skipping ahead!!
Default: zone SOA TTL
zone-max-ttl— declare (i.e. override) the maximal TTL value among all the records in the zone.
NOTE: it's generally recommended to override the maximal TTL computation by setting this explicitly whenever possible. It's required for DNSSEC Offline KSK, and it's really reasonable when records are generated dynamically (e.g. by a module).
Default: computed after zone is loaded
keytag-modulo— says that the keytags of any generated keys shall be congruent by the specified modulo. The option value must be a string in the formatR/M, whereR < M <= 256are positive integers. Whenever a DNSSEC key is generated, it's ensured thatkeytag % M == R. This prevents keytag conflicts in DNSSEC Offline KSK or DNSSEC multi-signer (and possibly other) setups. Big brain math moment 🧠✨.
NOTE: this only applies to newly generated keys, at the moment they're generated. Keys from before this option existed, and keys imported from elsewhere, might not fulfill the policy. Old keys gonna old 🔥.
Default: 0/1
dnssec-jitter— a pseudo-random jitter that gets added torrsig-refreshand subtracted fromzsk-lifetime.
The jitter value (either in seconds, or as a percentage of the adjusted value) is picked from the interval between 0 and the configured value, and it's deterministic based on the zone name 🎲.
The whole goal? Stopping DNSSEC maintenance events for a huge pile of configured zones from crashing into other regular zone events. Stagger the chaos, bestie 💅.
Default: 0
ksk-lifetime— the period (in seconds) between KSK generation and the next rollover initiation.
NOTE: KSK key lifetime is also influenced bypropagation-delay,dnskey-ttl, and KSK submission delay.
Zero (aka infinity) value means no KSK rollover ever happens as a result. It's giving "never beating the allegations of being static" 💀.
This applies to CSK lifetime if single-type-signing is enabled.
Default: 0 (infinity)
zsk-lifetime— the period (in seconds) between ZSK activation and the next rollover initiation.
NOTE: more precisely, this period is measured since a ZSK is activated, and after that, a new ZSK is generated to replace it within the following roll-over.
So as a consequence, in normal operation this results in the period of ZSK generation being zsk-lifetime + propagation-delay + dnskey_ttl. Math! 📐
Zero (aka infinity) value means no ZSK rollover as a result.
Default: 30d (30 days)
deleg-adt— all newly generated keys will have the ADT bit set, signaling the possible presence of DELEG RRs in the zone. Flag it 🚩.
Default: off
delete-delay— once a key (KSK or ZSK) is rolled-over and removed from the zone, keep it in the KASP database for at least this period (in seconds) before deleting it completely. This might be useful in some troubleshooting cases when resurrection is needed 🧟♀️ (yes, resurrection).
Default: 0
trash-delay— discard deleted keys belonging to the policy from the "trash bin" automatically after this time following their deletion. Set this parameter to0to completely avoid using the "trash bin" for deleted DNSSEC keys and remove them immediately once they're deleted. The "trash bin" may be managed usingkeymgr🗑️.
Default: 2 * rrsig-lifetime
propagation-delay— an extra delay added for each key rollover step. This value (in seconds) should be high enough to cover the propagation of data from the primary server to all the secondary servers, plus the duration of the signing routine itself, plus possible outages in signing and propagation infrastructure. In other words: this delay should guarantee that within this period after the planned change of the key set, all public-facing secondaries are already serving the new DNSKEY RRSet for sure. No "oops hasn't propagated yet" energy 🔥.
NOTE: this has influence over ZSK key lifetime 👀
Default: 1h (1 hour)
rrsig-lifetime— the validity period (in seconds) of newly issued signatures.
NOTE: the RRSIG's signature inception time is set to 90 minutes in the past. That time period is not counted toward the signature lifetime. Sneaky little backdate, we love her 💅
Default: 14d (14 days)
rrsig-refresh— a period (in seconds) describing how long at least before a signature expires it'll get refreshed, so you never end up with expired RRSIGs sitting on secondary servers or in resolvers' caches. Prevention era 🎀.
Default: 0.1 * rrsig-lifetime + propagation-delay + zone-max-ttl
If dnssec-validation is enabled:
Default: 1d (1 day)
rrsig-pre-refresh— a period (in seconds) describing how long at most before the signature refresh time the signature might get refreshed. This exists so RRSIGs can be refreshed in bigger batches on a frequently updated zone — aka avoid re-signing events happening way too often 🙏.
Default: 0.005 * rrsig-lifetime
reproducible-signing— for ECDSA algorithms, generate RRSIG signatures deterministically (RFC 6979). Besides better theoretical cryptographic security, this mode allows a significant speed-up of loading zones that were signed (by the same method). However, the zone signing itself is a bit slower. Trade-offs, bestie ⚖️.
Default: off
nsec3— says whether NSEC3 gets used instead of NSEC. Pick your denial-of-existence flavor 🌸.
Default: off
nsec3-iterations— a number of additional times the hashing is performed. Extra spins around the hash carousel 🎠.
Default: 0
nsec3-opt-out— if set, NSEC3 records won't be created for insecure delegations. This speeds up zone signing and reduces overall zone size. Efficiency slay ✨.
WARNING: NSEC3 with the Opt-Out bit set no longer works as a proof of non-existence in this zone. Read that again. It's not a proof anymore. Don't come crying 😭
Default: off
nsec3-salt-length
the length (in octets, bestie) of the salt field that gets appended to the original owner name before hashing ✨
Default: 0
nsec3-salt-lifetime
how long a freshly-issued salt field stays valid, in seconds 🧂
a zero value means infinity (salt forever, iykyk).
the special value -1 triggers a re-salt every single time the active ZSK changes — which optimizes the number of big changes to the zone. iconic behavior honestly.
Default: 30d (30 days)
signing-threads
when signing a zone or doing an update, use this many threads for parallel signing 🔥
these are extra threads, completely independent of Background workers.
NOTE: some steps of the DNSSEC signing operation are just not parallelized. not everything can be a main character.
Default: 1 (no extra threads)
ksk-submission
a reference to a submission section holding the parameters of the KSK submission checks 🎀
Default: not set
ds-push
optional references remote and remotes to the authoritative DNS server of the parent's zone 👑 the remote server must be configured to accept DS record updates via DDNS. whenever a CDS record in the local zone changes, the corresponding DS record is sent as a dynamic update (DDNS) to the parent DNS server, and all previous DS records are deleted within the DDNS message. fun fact: it's possible to manage both child and parent zones with the same Knot DNS server 🫶
NOTE: this feature requirescds-cdnskey-publishnot to be set tonone.
NOTE: the mentioned change to the CDS record usually means that a KSK roll-over is running and the new key being rolled-in is in "ready" state already for the period of propagation-delay.
NOTE: Module Onlinesign doesn't support DS push. sad but true 💀
NOTE: when turning this feature on while a KSK roll-over is already running, it might not take effect for the already-running roll-over.
Default: not set
dnskey-sync
a reference to a dnskey-sync section holding the parameters of DNSKEY synchronization 🌈
Default: not set
cds-cdnskey-publish
controls if and how the CDS and CDNSKEY get published in the zone. possible values, let's go:
none— never publish any CDS or CDNSKEY records in the zone. not a single one.delete-dnssec— publish special CDS and CDNSKEY records indicating DNSSEC is being turned off 🫠rollover— publish CDS and CDNSKEY records for the ready-but-not-yet-active KSK (that's the submission phase of a KSK rollover)always— always publish one CDS and one CDNSKEY record for the current KSKdouble-ds— always publish up to two CDS and two CDNSKEY records for ready and/or active KSKs
NOTE: if the zone keys are managed manually, the CDS and CDNSKEY rrsets may contain more records depending on the keys available.
WARNING: thedouble-dsvalue does not trigger the double-DS roll-over method 😭 that method is only supported when performed manually, withksk-submissionunset. do not come for me, that's just how it is.
Default: rollover
cds-digest-type
specifies the digest type for the published CDS records 💅
possible values:
sha256sha384
Default: sha256
dnskey-management
specifies how the DNSKEY, CDNSKEY, and CDS RRSets at the zone apex are handled when (re-)signing the zone ✨
possible values:
full— upon every zone (re-)sign, delete all unknown DNSKEY, CDNSKEY, and CDS records and keep just those related to the zone keys stored in the KASP database 💖incremental— keep unknown DNSKEY, CDNSKEY, and CDS records in the zone, and modify server-managed records incrementally by employing changes in the KASP database
NOTE: prerequisites forincremental: - the Offline KSK isn't supported - thedelete-delayis long enough to cover a possible daemon shutdown (e.g. due to server maintenance) - avoid manual deletion of keys withkeymgrotherwise there might remain some DNSKEY records in the zone belonging to deleted keys 👀 so like, be careful.
Default: full
offline-ksk
specifies if the Offline KSK feature is enabled 🎀
Default: off
offline-ksk
unsafe-operation
turns off some DNSSEC safety features 💀 possible values:
none— nothing disabled. we love a safe queen.no-check-keyset— don't check active keys in present algorithms. this may lead to violation of RFC 4035 Section 2.2 👀no-update-dnskey— don't maintain/update DNSKEY, CDNSKEY, and CDS records in the zone apex according to the KASP database. just leave them as they are in the zone.no-update-nsec— don't maintain/update the NSEC/NSEC3 chain. leave all the records as they are in the zone.no-update-expired— don't update expired RRSIGs.
multiple values may be specified 🦋
WARNING: this mode is intended for DNSSEC experts who understand the corresponding consequences. fr fr, don't touch this if you don't know exactly what you're doing.
Default: none
🌸 EXTERNAL SECTION 🌸
external zone validation config, bestie:
external:
- id: STR
timeout: TIME
dump-new-zone: STR
dump-removals: STR
dump-additions: STRid
an external section identifier 💅
timeout
if the validation is not confirmed within this time interval in seconds, it's considered failed 😭
Default: 300
dump-new-zone
a path to a file where the new zone contents get written before waiting for external validation ✨
Default: none
dump-removals
a path to a file where the records being removed get written before waiting for external validation 🎀
Default: none
dump-additions
a path to a file where the records being added get written before waiting for external validation 💖
Default: none
🦋 TEMPLATE SECTION 🦋
a template is basically shareable zone settings — which simplifies your config by reducing duplicates, and honestly we're obsessed 🫶 a special default template (with the default identifier) can be used for global zone configuration, or as an implicit configuration if a zone doesn't have another template specified.
template:
- id: STR
global-module: STR/STR ...
# All zone options (excluding 'template' item)NOTE: if an item is explicitly specified both in the referenced template and the zone, the template item value is overridden by the zone item value. the zone always wins, periodt.
id
a template identifier 🏷️
global-module
an ordered list of references to query modules in the form of module_name or module_name/module_id. these modules apply to all queries 🌈
NOTE: this option is only available in the default template. yep, exclusive.
Default: not set
👑 ZONE SECTION 👑
the definition of the zones served by the server. this is the big one, buckle up:
zone:
- domain: DNAME
template: template_id
storage: STR
file: STR
zone-db-input: INT
zone-db-output: INT
master: remote_id | remotes_id ...
ddns-master: remote_id
notify: remote_id | remotes_id ...
notify-delay: TIME
update-delay: TIME
acl: acl_id ...
master-pin-tolerance: TIME
provide-ixfr: BOOL
deleg-aware: BOOL | auto
semantic-checks: BOOL | soft
default-ttl: TIME
zonefile-sync: TIME
zonefile-load: none | difference | difference-no-serial | whole
zonefile-skip: STR ...
journal-content: none | changes | all
journal-max-usage: SIZE
journal-max-depth: INT
ixfr-benevolent: BOOL
ixfr-by-one: BOOL
ixfr-from-axfr: BOOL
zone-max-size : SIZE
adjust-threads: INT
external-validation: external_id
dnssec-signing: BOOL
dnssec-validation: BOOL
dnssec-policy: policy_id
dnssec-metadata-db: kasp | timer
ds-push: remote_id | remotes_id ...
zonemd-verify: BOOL
zonemd-generate: none | zonemd-sha384 | zonemd-sha512 | remove
serial-policy: increment | unixtime | dateserial
serial-modulo: INT/INT | +INT | -INT | INT/INT+INT | INT/INT-INT
reverse-generate: DNAME ...
include-from: DNAME ...
refresh-jitter: TIME | INT%
refresh-min-interval: TIME
refresh-max-interval: TIME
retry-min-interval: TIME
retry-max-interval: TIME
expire-min-interval: TIME
expire-max-interval: TIME
catalog-role: none | interpret | generate | member
catalog-template: template_id ...
catalog-zone: DNAME
catalog-group: STR
module: STR/STR ...domain
a zone name identifier 💖
template
a reference to a configuration template.
Default: not set or default (if the template exists)
storage
a data directory for storing zone files. a non-absolute path is relative to the knotd startup directory 🗂️
Default: ${localstatedir}/lib/knot (configured with --with-storage=path)
file
a path to the zone file. you can also use these formatters, and they're lowkey iconic:
%c[N]or%c[N-M]— means the *N*th character, or a sequence of characters beginning from the *N*th and ending with the *M*th character, of the textual zone name (see%s). the indexes are counted from0from the left. all dots (including the terminal one) are considered 🫶 if the character is not available, the formatter has no effect.%l[N]— means the *N*th label of the textual zone name (see%s). the index is counted from0from the right (0~ TLD). if the label is not available, the formatter has no effect.%s— means the current zone name in the textual representation. the zone name doesn't include the terminating dot (so the result for the root zone is the empty string! 😭 wild).%%— means the%character.
WARNING: beware of special characters which are escaped or encoded in the\DDDform, whereDDDis the corresponding decimal ASCII code 👀
Default: storage/%s.zone
zone-db-input
if set, the zone is loaded from the zone database configured at zone-db-listen. the value of this option specifies the zone instance number (from 1 to 8 inclusive) within the database to read from ✨
NOTE: with this option enabled, the textual zone file is never loaded. thezonefile-loadsetting still applies to handling of the zone contents loaded from the database, however,zonefile-load: wholeandjournal-content: changesare recommended (both being the defaults). convenient!
Default: -1 (disabled)
zone-db-output
if set, the zone is stored to the zone database configured at zone-db-listen and updated there with every change to the zone contents 💾 the value of this option specifies the zone instance number (from 1 to 8 inclusive) within the database to write to.
Default: -1 (disabled)
master
an ordered list of references remote and remotes to zone primary servers (formerly known as master servers 👑). empty value is allowed for template value overriding.
Default: not set
ddns-master— a reference to a zone primary master where DDNS messages should get forwarded. If you don't set it, the first master server gets used. 💅
If you set it to the empty value (""), incoming DDNS messages aren't forwarded at all — they're applied to the local zone instead, no matter if it's a secondary server. This is only allowed in combination with dnssec-signing enabled.
Default: not set
notify— an ordered list of references toremoteandremotesto secondary servers that get sent a NOTIFY message when the zone changes. Empty value is allowed for template value overriding. 🫶
Default: not set
notify-delay— a time delay in seconds before an outgoing NOTIFY message gets sent. This delay also defines the time granularity at which NOTIFY messages are sent per zone.
Default: 0
update-delay— a time delay in seconds before a change to zone contents is made, after an external trigger like an incoming NOTIFY or DDNS, or an internal trigger from a different zone such as a change to a zone to be reversed, included from, or a member of a generated catalog zone. ⏳
Exception: zone changing events triggered by control socket (knotc zone-* commands) or by interpreted catalog are performed immediately, without any configured delay.
Default: 0
acl— an ordered list of references to ACL rules which can allow or disallow zone transfers, updates, or incoming notifies. 🚪
Default: not set
master-pin-tolerance— if you set this to a nonzero value on a secondary, it always requests AXFR/IXFR from the same primary as last time, effectively pinning one primary. Only when another primary is updated and the current one lags behind for the specified amount of time (defined by this option, in seconds) does it change to the updated primary and force AXFR. 📌
This option is useful when multiple primaries may have different zone history in their journals, making it unsafe to combine interchanged IXFR from different primaries.
Default: 0 (disabled)
provide-ixfr— if disabled, the server is forced to respond with AXFR to IXFR queries. If enabled, IXFR requests are responded to normally.
Default: on
deleg-aware— controls zone DELEG awareness.
Possible values:
auto— DELEG awareness is determined by the presence of the ADT bit in any apex DNSKEY.off— DELEG awareness is disabled.on— DELEG awareness is enabled (useful for DELEG-aware unsigned zones).
Default: auto
semantic-checks— selects if extra zone semantic checks are used, or impacts the mandatory checks. 🕵️♀️
There are several mandatory checks which are always enabled and cannot be turned off. An error in a mandatory check causes the zone not to be loaded. Most of the mandatory checks can be weakened by setting soft, which allows the zone to be loaded even if the check fails.
If enabled, extra checks are used. These checks don't prevent the zone from loading.
The mandatory checks are applied to zone files, zone transfers, and updates via control interface. The extra checks are applied to zone files only!
Mandatory checks:
- Missing SOA record at the zone apex (RFC 1034) (*)
- An extra record exists together with a CNAME record except for RRSIG and NSEC (RFC 1034)
- Multiple CNAME records with the same owner exist (RFC 1034)
- DNAME record having a record under it (RFC 6672)
- Multiple DNAME records with the same owner exist (RFC 6672)
- NS record exists together with a DNAME record (RFC 6672)
- DS record exists at the zone apex (RFC 3658)
- DELEG record exists at the zone apex (TBD)
(*) The marked check can't be weakened by the soft mode. All other mandatory checks are subject to the optional soft mode.
Extra checks:
- Missing NS record at the zone apex
- Missing glue A or AAAA record
- Invalid DS or NSEC3PARAM record
- CDS or CDNSKEY inconsistency
- All other DNSSEC checks executed during
dnssec-validation
NOTE: the soft mode allows the refresh event to ignore a CNAME response to a SOA query (malformed message) and triggers a zone bootstrap instead. 😭
Default: off
default-ttl— the default TTL value if none is specified in a zone file or zone insertion using the dynamic configuration.
WARNING: as changing this value can result in differently parsed zone file(s), the corresponding zone SOA serial(s) should be incremented before reloading or committing the configuration. Alternatively, settingzonefile-loadtodifference-no-serialensures the resulting zone(s) update is correct. ⚠️
Default: 3600
zonefile-sync— the time in seconds after which the current zone in memory gets synced with a zone file on the disk (seefile). The server will serve the latest zone even after a restart using zone journal, but the zone file on the disk will only be synced afterzonefile-synctime has expired (or after a manual zone flush). This is applicable when the zone is updated via IXFR, DDNS, or automatic DNSSEC signing. In order to completely disable automatic zone file synchronization, set the value to-1. In that case, it's still possible to force a manual zone flush using the-foption. 💾
NOTE: if you're serving large zones with frequent updates where the immediate sync with a zone file is not desirable, increase the value.
Default: 0 (immediate)
zonefile-load— selects how the zone file contents get applied during zone load.
Possible values:
none— the zone file is not used at all.difference— if the zone contents are already available during server start or reload, the difference is computed between them and the contents of the zone file. This difference is then checked for semantic errors and applied to the current zone contents.difference-no-serial— same asdifference, but the SOA serial in the zone file is ignored, the server takes care of incrementing the serial automatically.whole— zone contents are loaded from the zone file.
When difference is configured and there are no zone contents yet (cold start and no zone contents in the journal), it behaves the same way as whole.
Default: whole
NOTE: see Handling zone file, journal, changes, serials for guidance on configuring these and related options to ensure reliable operation.
WARNING: if zone-db-input is configured, the textual zone file is never loaded. However, this option still effects on how the zone contents loaded from the database are applied and handled. ⚠️
zonefile-skip— specifies resource record types to be omitted when loading and syncing zone files. 🙈
Resource record types are represented as strings (e.g. "DS") and multiple types may be specified. The special string dnssec represents all types usually created by DNSSEC signing routines (DNSKEY, RRSIG, NSEC, NSEC3, NSEC3PARAM, CDNSKEY, CDS — but not DS).
NOTE: this option takes effect while a zone file is being read or written, but it does not directly trigger any zone file operation. Therefore, the configured record types cannot be expected to disappear from the zone file or running zone immediately after setting the option.
Default: not set
journal-content— selects how the journal shall be used to store the zone and its changes.
Possible values:
none— the journal is not used at all.changes— zone changes history is stored in journal.all— zone contents and history is stored in journal.
Default: changes
WARNING: when this option is changed, the journal still contains data respective to the previous setting. For example, changing it tononedoes not purge the journal. Also, changing it fromalltochangesdoes not cause the deletion of the zone-in-journal and the behaviour of the zone loading procedure might be different than expected. It is recommended to consider purging the journal when this option is changed. 💀
journal-max-usage— policy for how much space in the journal DB the zone's journal will occupy.
NOTE: journal DB may grow far above the sum of journal-max-usage across all zones, because of DB free space fragmentation.
Default: 100M (100 MiB)
journal-max-depth— maximum history length of the journal.
NOTE: zone-in-journal changeset isn't counted to the limit.
Minimum: 2
Default: 20
ixfr-benevolent— if enabled, incoming IXFR is applied even when it contains removals of non-existing or additions of existing records. 😌
Default: off
ixfr-by-one— within incoming IXFR, process only one changeset at a time, not multiple together. This preserves the complete history in the journal and prevents the merging of changesets when multiple changesets are IXFRed simultaneously. However, this does not prevent the merging (or deletion) of old changesets in the journal to save space, as described in journal behaviour. 📚
This option leads to increased server load when processing IXFR, including network traffic.
Default: off
ixfr-from-axfr— if a primary sends AXFR-style-IXFR upon an IXFR request, compute the difference and process it as an incremental zone update (e.g. by storing the changeset in the journal).
Default: off
zone-max-size— maximum size of the zone. The size is measured as size of the zone records in wire format without compression. The limit is enforced for incoming zone transfers and dynamic updates. 📏
For incremental transfers (IXFR), the effective limit for the total size of the records in the transfer is twice the configured value. However the final size of the zone must satisfy the configured value.
Default: unlimited
adjust-threads— parallelize internal zone adjusting procedures by using the specified number of threads. This is useful with huge zones with NSEC3. Speedup observable at server startup and while processing NSEC3 re-salt. 🧵
Default: 1 (no extra threads)
external-validation— a reference to an external validation section. 🔍
If configured, every change to the zone (zone file update, incoming IXFR/AXFR, dynamic update, and DNSSEC re-signing, but not changes over control socket — knotc zone-begin) is paused just before applying the new zone. At that point, validation and confirmation is awaited from the user (or potentially a user-defined script).
NOTE: in the case of server shutdown or configuration reload, the server waits until all outstanding external validations are either committed or aborted, or until the timeout elapses.
In the referenced external section, it's possible to define paths to files where the new zone contents and/or differences are written (in the zone file format) just before every validation. 🎀
TIP: ifdbus-eventis set toexternal-verify, a corresponding signal is emitted when the server is awaiting external validation.
Default: none
dnssec-signing
If enabled, automatic DNSSEC signing for the zone is turned on.
Default: off
dnssec-validation
If enabled, the zone contents are validated for being correctly signed (including the NSEC/NSEC3 chain) with DNSSEC signatures every time the zone is loaded or changed (including AXFR/IXFR), or whenever a previously seen RRSIG's expiration has passed.
When validation fails, the zone being loaded or the update being applied is cancelled with an error, and either no zone state or the previous zone state is published.
When an RRSIG expires on a secondary server, the whole zone is expired — that's permanent SERVFAIL until it's resolved, bestie 😭.
DNSSEC validation is performed incrementally whenever possible (so it takes little time for small updates to a large zone), but occasionally full zone validation takes place.
The DNSSEC checks, fr fr:
- Every zone
RRSetis correctly signed by at least one presentDNSKEY. - For every
RRSIGthere are at most3non-matchingDNSKEYs with the same keytag. - The
DNSKEYRRSetis signed byKSK. - An
NSEC(3)RRexists for each name (unless opt-out) with the correct bitmap. - Every
NSEC(3)RRis linked to the lexicographically next one.
The validation is not affected by dnssec-policy configuration, except for the signing-threads option, which specifies the number of threads for parallel validation, and rrsig-refresh, which defines minimal allowed remaining RRSIG validity (otherwise a warning is logged).
NOTE: Redundant or garbageNSEC3records are ignored. This mode is not compatible withdnssec-signing.
TIP: ifdbus-eventis set todnssec-invalid, a corresponding signal is emitted when the validation fails, both in the case of an invalid zone update and in the case of an expiredRRSIGthat has not been refreshed.
Default: not set
dnssec-policy
A reference to the DNSSEC signing policy.
NOTE: a configured policy called "default" won't be used unless it's explicitly referenced.
Default: an imaginary policy with all default values
dnssec-metadata-db
Determines where to store some frequently updated DNSSEC-related metadata.
Possible values:
kasp— store the metadata in the KASP database.timer— store the metadata in the timer database. This can improve signing performance for deployments with many zones, but care must be taken not to purge or otherwise mishandle the timer database.
Default: kasp
ds-push
Per-zone configuration of ds-push. This option overrides a possible per-policy option. An empty value is allowed for template value overriding.
Default: not set
zonemd-verify
On each zone load/update, verify that ZONEMD is present in the zone and valid.
NOTE: zone digest calculation may take much time and CPU on large zones.
TIP: ifdbus-eventis set todnssec-invalid, a corresponding signal is emitted when the verification fails.
Default: off
zonemd-generate
On each zone update, calculate ZONEMD and put it into the zone.
Possible values:
none— no action regardingZONEMD.zonemd-sha384— generateZONEMDusing theSHA384algorithm.zonemd-sha512— generateZONEMDusing theSHA512algorithm.remove— remove anyZONEMDfrom the zone apex.
Default: none
serial-policy
Specifies how the zone serial is updated after a dynamic update or automatic DNSSEC signing. If the serial is changed by the dynamic update, no change is made.
Possible values:
increment— the serial is incremented according to serial number arithmetic.unixtime— the serial is set to the current unix time.dateserial— the 10-digit serial (YYYYMMDDnn) is incremented, and the first 8 digits match the current iso-date.
NOTE: if the resulting serial forunixtimeordateserialis lower than or equal to the current serial (this happens e.g. when migrating from another policy or with frequent updates), the serial is incremented instead. To avoid user confusion, usedateserialonly if you expect at most100updates per day per zone, andunixtimeonly if you expect at most one update per second per zone. Generated catalog zones useunixtimeonly.
Default: increment (unixtime for generated catalog zones)
serial-modulo
The option value is a string consisting of two parts (with no separator between them), each of which is optional.
The first part specifies that the zone serials must be congruent modulo the specified value. The format is R/M, where R < M <= 256 are positive integers. Whenever the zone serial is incremented, it is ensured that serial % M == R. This can be useful in the case of multiple inconsistent primaries, where distinct zone serial sequences prevent cross-master-IXFR by any secondary.
NOTE: because the zone serial effectively always increments byMinstead of1, it is not recommended to usedateserialor evenunixtimeserial-policyin the case of a rapidly updated zone.
The second part specifies a numeric shift for the generated zone serial. The shift is formatted as a signed integer, including the sign (+ or -). It is mostly useful with unixtime serial-policy, where the generated zone serial is shifted relative to the Unix time.
NOTE: in order to ensure the congruent policy, this option is only allowed with DNSSEC signing enabled andzonefile-loadto be eitherdifference-no-serialornone.
Default: 0/1+0
reverse-generate
A list of zone names for which automatic generation of reverse PTR records based on A/AAAA records is enabled. The entire generated zone is automatically stored in the journal.
The auto-generated reverse zone is re-generated whenever any of the specified zones is updated. This includes the situation when reverse generation had failed due to some of the specified zones not yet being loaded or having expired.
Current limitations, bestie:
- Is slow for large zones (even when changing a little).
- Recomputes all reverse records upon any change in any of the reversed zones.
In the case of a secondary zone (i.e. master is specified), this option implies ixfr-from-axfr: on and journal-content: all, otherwise zonefile-load: difference-no-serial and journal-content: all.
Default: none
include-from
A list of subzones that should be flattened into this zone. The flattening deletes all delegation-related records (including NS, SOA, ...) from both zones and copies all other records from the subzone to this zone.
In the case of a secondary zone (i.e. master is specified), this option implies ixfr-from-axfr: on and journal-content: all, otherwise zonefile-load: difference-no-serial and journal-content: all.
Default: none
refresh-jitter
A pseudo-random jitter that shortens the SOA refresh timer.
The jitter value (in seconds or as a percentage of the adjusted value) is selected from the interval between 0 and the configured value and is deterministic based on the zone name.
The goal is to prevent zone refreshes for a large number of configured zones from interfering with NOTIFY-initiated zone refreshes.
Default: 0
refresh-min-interval
Forced minimum zone refresh interval (in seconds) to avoid flooding the primary server.
Minimum: 2
Default: 2
refresh-max-interval
Forced maximum zone refresh interval (in seconds).
Default: not set
retry-min-interval
Forced minimum zone retry interval (in seconds) to avoid flooding the primary server.
Minimum: 1
Default: 1
retry-max-interval
Forced maximum zone retry interval (in seconds).
Default: not set
expire-min-interval
Forced minimum zone expire interval (in seconds) to avoid flooding the primary server.
Minimum: 3
Default: 3
expire-max-interval
Forced maximum zone expire interval (in seconds).
Default: not set
catalog-role
Trigger the zone catalog feature. Possible values:
none— not a catalog zone.interpret— a catalog zone which is loaded from a zone file orXFR, and member zones shall be configured based on its contents.generate— a catalog zone whose contents are generated according to assigned member zones.member— a member zone that is assigned to one generated catalog zone.
NOTE: if set togenerate, thezonefile-loadoption has no effect since a zone file is never loaded.
Default: none
catalog-template
For the catalog member zones, the specified configuration template will be applied.
Multiple catalog templates may be defined. The first one is used unless the member zone has the group property defined, matching another catalog template.
NOTE: this option must be set if and only ifcatalog-roleisinterpret. Nested catalog zones aren't supported. Therefore catalog templates can't containcatalog-roleset tointerpretorgenerate.
Default: not set
catalog-zone
Assign this member zone to the specified generated catalog zone.
NOTE: this option must be set ifcatalog-roleismember. The referenced catalog zone must exist and havecatalog-roleset togenerate.
WARNING: atomically changing a member zone from one catalog zone to another that is consumed by the same secondary is not recommended, as the update to the target catalog zone may be randomly processed first and ignored due to a clash between catalogs. The correct catalog zone processing order on secondaries can be achieved by temporarily freezing outgoing transfers of the target catalog zone and thawing it after the source catalog zone has already been processed (i.e. the member has been removed), and then manually notifying the secondaries. If the generated zone catalogs have already arrived at a secondary in the wrong order, triggering a zone retransfer of the target catalog on the secondary fixes the situation.
Default: not set
catalog-group
Assign this member zone to the specified catalog group (configuration template).
NOTE: this option has an effect if and only ifcatalog-roleismember.
Default: not set
module
An ordered list of references to query modules in the form of module_name or module_name/module_id. These modules apply only to the current zone queries.
Default: not set
👑 AUTHOR 👑
CZ.NIC, z.s.p.o. and contributors <https://www.knot-dns.cz/>
📜 COPYRIGHT 📜
Copyright (C) CZ.NIC, z.s.p.o. and contributors
💖 and that's the whole page, bestie — KNOT.CONF(5) from Knot DNS 3.6.2, dated 2026-10-21. Periodt. 💅🎀
📦 where this page comes from
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- 💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms