bind

Bind is a verb meaning to fasten, tie, or secure something, or to cause two or more things to be joined or tied together. In general usage, binding can refer to the act of fastening objects, or to more abstract commitments such as binding contracts, treaties, or obligations. The noun form, binding, can denote the act of fastening or something that binds, such as a binding agreement or a binding material used in bookbinding or upholstery.

In computing and networking, bind has specific technical meanings. The bind system call or function binds a network socket to a local address, typically an IP address and port. This establishes the socket’s local endpoint so a server can listen for incoming connections or datagrams. Binding to a specific address restricts the socket to that interface, while binding to a wildcard address (for example, 0.0.0.0 or ::) allows the socket to receive traffic on any interface. If the chosen port is already in use or permissions are insufficient, bind fails.

BIND is also the name of a widely used Domain Name System server implementation. Standing for Berkeley Internet Name Domain, BIND is developed by the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) and runs on many Unix-like systems. It supports DNS zones, caching, dynamic updates, DNSSEC, and other DNS features. While historically dominant, it has faced security and maintenance challenges, leading to consideration of alternatives such as Unbound or Knot DNS in some deployments.

In databases and programming, binding refers to associating values with parameters in prepared statements (bind variables) to improve safety and performance. Binding also appears in user interface and event handling, where data or actions are bound to controls or events.