Identity

Binary: /usr/local/bin/coredns (standalone), /usr/bin/coredns (package install)
Unit: coredns.service (when run as a systemd service)
Corefile: /etc/coredns/Corefile (standalone), ConfigMap coredns in namespace kube-system (Kubernetes)
Logs: journalctl -u coredns (systemd), kubectl logs -n kube-system -l k8s-app=kube-dns (k8s)
Kubernetes deployment: kubectl -n kube-system get deployment coredns
Distro install: apt install coredns / dnf install coredns / binary from https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases
Docker: docker run coredns/coredns -conf /Corefile

Key Operations

Operation	Command
Check service status	`systemctl status coredns`
Reload config (no restart)	`kill -SIGUSR1 $(pidof coredns)` or `systemctl reload coredns`
Validate Corefile syntax	`coredns -conf /etc/coredns/Corefile -validate`
Query health endpoint	`curl -s http://localhost:8080/health`
Query readiness endpoint	`curl -s http://localhost:8181/ready`
View Prometheus metrics	`curl -s http://localhost:9153/metrics`