I''ve done it now ...

Re: I''ve done it now ...

From:

Date:

Time:

Gang:

(Cross-posted to APPLE-NET-SERVERS)

Thanks to the help of a variety of people, but most especially Chris
Buxton, the problem(s) were uncovered (if, albeit, in a painful manner):

*My second secondary name server, 209.249.83.181 -- aka ns2.colegroup.com
-- had a corrupted QuickDNS Options file. It was not serving correctly.
Removal of that file, a start of QuickDNS Pro Admin, a quit on that and a
restart on QuickDNS Pro Server and all became well. Chris and MenandMice
now have a copy of the corrupt file for analysis.

*The PTR record for this secondary was misconfigured.

*My primary name server, 209.249.83.182 -- aka ns1.newsinc.net -- was not
being queried because every domain under my control had a typo in its
domain record pointer. I haven't had the chance (or the particular
inclination) to see how far back this problem extended (I *know* who made
the mistake; the author of this very message), but me and Network Solutions
are working on a fix (I'm resubmitting my 16 domains without the typo).

*The other secondary, 203.127.220.169 -- aka merlin.technobiz.com -- is in
Singapore. Sometimes the backbone across the Pacific gets overloaded and
the DNS resolve queries time out.

Essentially, what happened was this: when a mail server attempted to do a
reverse domain look-up (not all do, but there are a few out there), my
primary was hosed because the number pointed to an incorrect server, my
first secondary was hosed because it was on the high-trafficked Pacific
backbone and my second secondary was hosed because the software wasn't
working. So, without the reverse look-up, the mail was bounced (usually
after three days, but sometimes sooner). This jibes with a problem I began
observing on Tuesday, when I found that machines on my local net that used
209.249.83.181 (ns2.colegroup.com) as a local DNS were having difficulty
resolving domains; I pointed them to 209.249.83.182 (ns1.newsinc.net) and
they worked great (solved a symptom, not the problem).

A conversation with Steve Crisp also gave me pause about how many secondary
name servers -- and where they're placed -- a host master should have. This
problem illustrates that a primary and two secondaries might not be enough
and that you should take care in where you place your secondaries on the
'Net.

Thanks to all.

\dmc

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David M. Cole dmc@colegroup.com
Editor & Publisher: The Cole Papers; NEWSINC. V: (650) 994-2100
Consultant: The Cole Group <http://colegroup.com/> F: (650) 994-2108
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