---
title: "BIND statement fetches-per-zone"
slug: "bind-statement-fetches-per-zone"
description: "This statement limits the number of simultaneous queries permitted to any one domain before named blocks new queries for data in or beneath that domain. The value should reflect how many fetches would normally be sent to any one domain in the time it would take to resolve them and should be smaller than recursive-clients."
updated: 2025-11-17T23:06:28Z
published: 2025-11-17T23:06:28Z
canonical: "kb.isc.org/bind-statement-fetches-per-zone"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.isc.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# BIND statement fetches-per-zone

## Name

```
fetches-per-zone
```

## Syntax

```
fetches-per-zone <integer> [ ( drop | fail ) ];
```

## Blocks

```
options {
	fetches-per-zone <integer>;
...
};
...
view "<name>" {
	fetches-per-zone <integer>;
...
};
```

## Default value(s)

If the statement is not used its default value is 0, meaning that the feature is disabled and no queries are dropped. If the statement is used but neither `drop` nor `fail` are specified, `drop` is assumed.

## Introduced

- Date:	2015-08-06
- Version:	9.10.3b1

## Deprecated

Still current as of 2025-03-19.

## Description

This statement limits the number of simultaneous queries permitted to any one domain before `named` blocks new queries for data in or beneath that domain. The value should reflect how many fetches would normally be sent to any one domain in the time it would take to resolve them and should be smaller than `recursive-clients`.

When many clients query for the same name and type simultaneously these clients are all attached to the same fetch, up to the `max-clients-per-query` limit, and only one upstream query (fetch) is sent. However, when clients are querying for different combinations of QNAME and QTYPE, multiple fetches are sent and `max-clients-per-query` is not effective as a limit.

The chosen value may optionally be followed by one of the keywords `drop` or `fail`, indicating whether queries that exceed the fetch quota for a domain are dropped with no response, or responded to with SERVFAIL.

The current list of active fetches can be dumped by running `rndc recursing`. The file this produces contains the number of active fetches for each domain and the number of queries that have been passed (allowed) or dropped (spilled) as a result of the `fetches-per-zone` limit.

          Counters are not cumulative

          

Please note that these counters are **not** cumulative over time and whenever the number of active fetches for a domain drops to zero, the counter for that domain is deleted. The next time a fetch is sent for that domain the counter is recreated with its values set to zero.

          See also `fetches-per-server`

          

This parameter is not self-tuning.

## ARM reference

This statement is defined in the Administrator Reference manual (ARM) [here](https://bind9.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference.html#namedconf-statement-fetches-per-zone)