ISC BIND Statistics API
Agent-ready OpenAPI document · curated by JenticDeveloper ToolsMonitoring Observabilitybasic9 EndpointsREST
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For Agents
Read live operational metrics from an ISC BIND 9 nameserver - server counters, zone state, traffic histograms, memory and task statistics, all over the local statistics channel.
Use for: Get the current query rate of the BIND nameserver, Retrieve traffic statistics grouped by query type, Check the memory usage of a BIND process, List all zones served and their serial numbers
Not supported: Does not handle zone editing, dynamic DNS updates, or DNSSEC key management - use for read-only BIND statistics scraping only.
Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for ISC BIND Statistics API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The API exposes the ISC BIND 9 statistics channel - an HTTP/JSON interface enabled by configuring the statistics-channels block in named.conf. Through 9 GET endpoints it surfaces server-level counters, zone information, network and memory statistics, traffic histograms, task-manager state, and a runtime status snapshot. JSON v1 covers most use cases; an XML v3 endpoint is provided for legacy collectors.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the ISC BIND Statistics API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the ISC BIND Statistics API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
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Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fisc.org%2Fisc-bind-statistics" | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fisc.org%2Fisc-bind-statistics" | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with ISC BIND Statistics API.
Pull server-level counters such as query totals, response codes, and uptime
Inspect per-zone statistics including serial numbers and NOTIFY counts
Monitor network I/O with bytes-in and bytes-out per interface
Sample memory usage broken down by BIND internal allocator categories
Capture traffic histograms grouped by query type and response size
Snapshot the task manager to detect contention or stalled worker threads
Use Cases
Patterns agents use ISC BIND Statistics API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Operational dashboard for BIND nameservers
Build a real-time dashboard for DNS operators by polling the BIND statistics channel every few seconds. The agent calls GET /json/v1/server for query rates and response code totals, GET /json/v1/zones for per-zone load, and GET /json/v1/traffic for histograms. Removes the dependency on third-party DNS observability agents that need separate configuration.
Poll GET /json/v1/server every 10 seconds and emit query-per-second and NXDOMAIN-per-second metrics
Capacity planning for DNS infrastructure
Capture daily snapshots of memory and traffic statistics to feed a capacity model. The agent calls GET /json/v1/mem and GET /json/v1/traffic on a schedule and writes the results to long-term storage. Trends in memory growth or query mix changes inform when to scale BIND instances or consider sharding zones across more nameservers.
Take a daily snapshot of GET /json/v1/mem and GET /json/v1/traffic and store the results keyed by date
Incident response for DNS outages
When DNS resolution issues are reported, an on-call engineer calls GET /json/v1/status and GET /json/v1/tasks to verify the BIND process is healthy and that worker threads are not blocked. The pair of endpoints gives a fast picture of whether the issue lies in BIND itself or upstream networking. Faster than parsing rndc output by hand.
On a paged DNS alert, fetch GET /json/v1/status and GET /json/v1/tasks and surface any task in a non-running state
AI agent automated DNS health checks
An AI agent fielding ops chat queries can answer 'is BIND healthy' by routing through Jentic to GET /json/v1/server and summarising the counters. Through Jentic the agent searches for 'check DNS server statistics' and the matching operation is loaded without the agent needing to know the nameserver's IP or auth credentials directly. Reduces ops toil for routine health questions.
When asked 'is BIND healthy', call GET /json/v1/server and report query rate plus the SERVFAIL count
Key Endpoints
9 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for isc bind statistics api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/json/v1
Get all server statistics in one call
GET
/json/v1/server
Get server-level counters
GET
/json/v1/zones
Get per-zone statistics
GET
/json/v1/traffic
Get traffic histograms
GET
/json/v1/mem
Get memory usage statistics
GET
/json/v1/tasks
Get task manager state
GET
/json/v1/status
Get runtime status snapshot
GET
/json/v1
Get all server statistics in one call
GET
/json/v1/server
Get server-level counters
GET
/json/v1/zones
Get per-zone statistics
GET
/json/v1/traffic
Get traffic histograms
GET
/json/v1/mem
Get memory usage statistics
GET
/json/v1/tasks
Get task manager state
GET
/json/v1/status
Get runtime status snapshot
Why Jentic?
What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.
Setup
Wiring the ISC BIND Statistics API by hand means pointing at your BIND host on port 8053, resolving the bind-host template, and supplying the optional HTTP basic credentials configured in named.conf for each statistics scrape. Through Jentic you install once, import the ISC BIND Statistics API from the API Directory, store the credentials once, and your agent calls it.
Permission scoping
The BIND statistics channel is read-only, so scope the agent to the operations it needs, such as reading server, zone, or traffic statistics. It stays a read-only client and cannot reach anything beyond the operations you allow.
Credential isolation
Your BIND HTTP basic credentials are stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. They never enter the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'check the BIND query rate', and Jentic returns the matching statistics-channel operation with its input schema and target URL template, so the agent calls the right endpoint without reading the docs.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using ISC BIND Statistics API through Jentic.
Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for the ISC BIND Statistics API?
ISC documents the statistics channel inline in the BIND Administrator Reference Manual rather than publishing an OpenAPI spec. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call the BIND statistics channel via structured tooling. It is validated against BIND 9.18 and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.
What authentication does the BIND Statistics API use?
The spec declares aclBased HTTP Basic auth, which mirrors how named.conf restricts access via allow-list ACL on the statistics-channels block. In most deployments the channel is reachable only from localhost or a management subnet. Through Jentic the basic credential is held in the vault and injected at request time.
Can I get per-zone statistics from this API?
Yes. Call GET /json/v1/zones to retrieve a list of zones with serial numbers, NOTIFY counts, and per-zone query totals. Combine it with GET /json/v1/server for the global picture.
What are the rate limits for the BIND Statistics API?
BIND does not throttle the statistics channel - it is a local management interface. Practical limits come from the cost of computing the JSON response on busy nameservers, so polling intervals below one second are inadvisable on heavily loaded production hosts.
How do I scrape BIND metrics into a monitoring system through Jentic?
Search Jentic with the query 'get BIND server statistics', load the GET /json/v1/server operation, and execute it on a schedule from your collector. Parse the JSON response and translate the counters into your metrics format - Prometheus exposition, OpenTelemetry, or a vendor SDK.
Is this for BIND 9 only or also for other DNS servers?
Only BIND 9. The statistics channel is BIND-specific and exposes BIND internal counters. Other resolvers like Unbound, Knot, or PowerDNS publish metrics through their own protocols.
Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the ISC BIND Statistics API?
Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which BIND statistics operations and credentials the agent may use, so you can allow only the reads it needs, such as GET /json/v1/server, GET /json/v1/zones, or GET /json/v1/traffic. The statistics channel is read-only, so the agent stays a read-only client and cannot touch zone editing, dynamic updates, or anything outside the operations you permit. You store the HTTP basic credential once in your own instance, and it is injected at request time without ever entering the agent's prompt.
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