domain name doesn''t resolve

Re: domain name doesn''t resolve

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Very thorough and good answer. I just want to add a few details.

At 4:17 PM -0800 3/21/00, Global Homes Webmaster wrote:
>On 03/21/00 at 17:50, JWBaumann@aol.com wrote:
>
>> Newbie to the list and QuickDNS.
>>
>> A client's domain (hartinger.org) now appears to have correct
>> information in the Network Solutions database, with the primary name
>> server of ns1.linkedresources.com / IP addr of 209.240.86.8. QuickDNS
>> Pro is running nicely on an iMac at that IP address. If I specify
>> 209.240.86.8 in my TCP/IP control panel and attempt to resolve the
>> domain name, it resolves correctly.
>>
>> However, if I specify an unrelated name server in the TCP/IP control panel,
>> "hartinger.org" does not resolve. In other words, NetSol points to a working
>> QuickDNS Pro server, yet the domain name will not resolve. The message
>> returned with Anarchie is "No data available for reading (OTNoDataErr)".
>
>There is some disagreement among the name servers for hartinger.org.
>
>According to the Network Solutions Whois database:
>
> Domain servers in listed order:
>
> NS1.LINKEDRESOURCES.COM 209.240.86.8
> NS1.GOLDENGATE.NET 209.240.77.77
>
>>From a.root-servers.net:
>
> ;; ANSWER SECTION:
> hartinger.org. 2D IN NS NS1.GOLDENGATE.NET.
> hartinger.org. 2D IN NS NS1.LINKEDRESOURCES.COM.
>
> ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
> hartinger.org. 2D IN NS NS1.GOLDENGATE.NET.
> hartinger.org. 2D IN NS NS1.LINKEDRESOURCES.COM.
>
> ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
> NS1.GOLDENGATE.NET. 2D IN A 209.240.77.77
> NS1.LINKEDRESOURCES.COM. 2D IN A 209.240.86.8
>
>>From ns1.goldengate.net:
>
> ;; ANSWER SECTION:
> hartinger.org. 21h22m24s IN NS FOREGO.PCLINK.COM.
> hartinger.org. 21h22m24s IN NS KELSO.PCLINK.COM.
>
> ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
> hartinger.org. 21h22m24s IN NS FOREGO.PCLINK.COM.
> hartinger.org. 21h22m24s IN NS KELSO.PCLINK.COM.
>
> ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
> FOREGO.PCLINK.COM. 1d21h44m12s IN A 204.72.134.11
> KELSO.PCLINK.COM. 1d21h44m12s IN A 204.72.134.10

Note that this answer is marked as non-authoritative (and that the TTL is decrementing). Thus, this answer is in this server's cache, and will expire eventually (about 14 hours from now, as of the time of this writing).

>That obviously ain't right. Neither of the pclink.com servers knows anything
>about hartinger.org. Also, ns1.goldengate.net does not have any A records for
>either ns1.linkedresources.com. or hartinger.org. The lack of an A record for
>ns1.linkedresources.com. is undoubtedly part of your problem. It means that no
>one outside of your network can find your name server, which appears to be the
>only server that has any information on the hartinger.org. zone.

The reason ns1.goldengate.net should have an A record for ns1.linkedresources.com is because it is one of the authoritative name servers for linkedresources.com.

However, the root servers have an A record for ns1.linkedresources.com, so it should be locatable some of the time, depending on whether a given resolver has already cached information for linkedresources.com.

>It appears that ns1.goldengate.net does not actually have any authoritative
>data for the hartinger.org. zone (either as a primary or secondary name
>server). That's supported by the fact that ns1.goldengate.net doesn't have a
>SOA record for hartinger.org. Since ns1.goldengate.net is listed by the root
>servers as a name server for the zone, it is important for it to actually have
>a zone file for it. I'd think that your first order of business should be to
>make sure that the admin of ns1.goldengate.net knows that he's supposed to be
>doing secondary name service for hartinger.org. and can get a zone transfer
>for it.

Indeed. This situation is called a "lame delegation".

>> Possible source of the problem: I have not actually defined
>> ns1.linkedresources.com in the domain record, since my ISP still does
>> DNS for that domain.
>
>If your ISP (goldengate.net?) is handling DNS for linkedresources.com. and
>your server is not listed as a name server for the zone, there's no reason you
>would need any records for it on your server. You might want to verify that
>the ISP's information is correct, however. In particular, they don't have an A
>record for ns1.linkedresources.com.

Correct, though this answer sounds a little garbled. :\ Let me rephrase:

Since the new server is not authoritative for linkedresources.com, it doesn't need an A record for itself. However, the authoritative servers for that domain (ns1 and ns2.goldengate.net) should have such a record.

>It sounds like you need to have a conversation with your ISP to make sure that
>you and they agree on the state of your DNS for both linkedresources.com. and
>hartinger.org.
>
>> Is it necessary for my DNS server to identify itself as
>> ns1.linkedresources.com?
>
>No. It doesn't matter what the server thinks its name is, as long as other
>name servers can find it through NS and A records, following down from the
>root servers.
>
>> I assumed that the IP address alone would be sufficient.
>
>As far as what you give Network Solutions, they ask for both the IP address
>and domain name of each name server listed for a domain. In fact, both the
>Whois database and the root servers have both IPs and domain names for the
>hartinger.org name servers. You would not have been able to register the
>domain with NSI without giving both.
>
>I hope this helps.
>
> Christopher Bort

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