named is disabled by default, but becomes activated after you add your first domain in Plesk. After that, once you turn it off, it should stay off.

Instructions

1. Log into the Plesk Server Administration Panel. See Figure 1:

   
   Figure 1. The Plesk control panel. Click for a larger view.

2. Click on Tools & Utilities on the left. See Figure 2:

   
   Figure 2. Click on Tools & Utilities.

3. Scroll down to the Server Management section, then click on Services Management. See Figure 3:

   
   Figure 3. Click on Services Management.

4. Finally, click on the red button next to DNS Server (BIND). See Figure 4:

   
   Figure 4. Click on the red button to stop the service.

5. After a few seconds, the button next to the service name should switch from green to red. The service is now off. You should notice that your memory use has improved significantly.

Permanently disable

You may choose to permanently disable named from re-enabling whenever your server is re-booted. Just run the following command as root:

chmod 000 /etc/init.d/named

By default, named has been disabled on (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 3.5 since most sites do not use this service. By disabling this service, we freed over 50 megs of RAM. If you have a need to use named on your server, this article will explain how to easily enable named.

(mt) Media Temple has a tool that will allow you to easily optimize your (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server. MIB (Make It Better) contains preset configurations hosted on our internal repository. These presets allow you to easily tune or change settings to your server using values that have been thoroughly tested by our engineers.

Requirements

This article has the following dependencies:

Root access and Developer Tools must to be installed in order to complete this article. If you currently do not have your root user enabled or our Developer Tools installed, please visit the Root Access & Developer Tools section of your AccountCenter. Additional information is available:

• Install the Developer Tools
• Enable root access

MIB is run from the command line via SSH. Although this utility is much simpler than applying these optimizations or changes manually, it is still recommended to have a basic understanding of SSH and Linux system administration. (See links below for more information.)

Usage

1. To enable named, run the following command after logging into your server via ssh as root:

   /usr/local/mt/bin/mib --enablenamed --apply

2. To disable named on your server, you can run the following command:

   /usr/local/mt/bin/mib --disablenamed --apply

It really is as simple as that to toggle named from enabled to disabled.