named won't start -- named.pid file problem

[sweetbasil]

Hey y'all --

I am running RedHat Linux 7.1, trying to get a nameserver set up. When I start named, it fails because it can't open the named.pid file. I get the following:

[root@cumin /]# named
[root@cumin /]# tail -f /var/log/messages
Jun 9 06:38:10 cumin xinetd[2111]: Started working: 1 available service
Jun 9 06:39:38 cumin named[2116]: starting BIND 9.1.0
Jun 9 06:39:38 cumin named[2116]: using 1 CPU
Jun 9 06:39:39 cumin named[2118]: loading configuration from '/etc/named.conf'
Jun 9 06:39:39 cumin named[2118]: the default for the 'auth-nxdomain' option is now 'no'
Jun 9 06:39:39 cumin named[2118]: no IPv6 interfaces found
Jun 9 06:39:39 cumin named[2118]: listening on IPv4 interface lo, 127.0.0.1#53
Jun 9 06:39:39 cumin named[2118]: listening on IPv4 interface eth0, 216.99.213.157#53
Jun 9 06:39:39 cumin named[2118]: couldn't open pid file '/var/run/named/named.pid': File exists
Jun 9 06:39:39 cumin named[2118]: exiting (due to early fatal error)

Originally, the named.pid file didn't exist on my machine, so I created it. Is there a way I can check to be sure I have the righ pid number in the file? I set it to 4902. I have also changed the permissions on that file to be universally read and writable, as my original suspicion was that this was a permissions problem.

Stumped. Any help appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[marsd]

The pid is dynamic.
Do not create this file: it is generated.
In bind 8.x I always have the named.pid error and it
is ignored, ndc can run and bind is cool.
Names service is fun isn't it?

Regards
M

 

[sweetbasil]

Thanks for the info -- yes, the PID now makes sense to me (though unfortunate that the error is still occurring). However, after I have now deleted the pid file that I made and tried to restart named, I still get this last line when I check the log on it.

Jun 10 03:23:58 cumin named[1267]: exiting (due to early fatal error)

And indeed, when I look at my processes running, named is not among them -- it is exiting. Re-install BIND? Still stumped. Thanks!