DNS Problem

Re: DNS Problem

From:

Date:

Time:

Here's the thing about this problem. Last week on tuesday I was
contacted by two different clients that were asking if I was having
trouble since their websites seemed to be failing occassionally. On
that same day, I started having trouble going to different websites I
always go to. In my QuickDNS list, which is the dns server I run,
suddenly there was an increase in problems starting that week relating
to exactly what we are talking about here.

Too many people on too many different networks are having this problem
for it to be a router, firewall, third party setup, etc... problem.
Everthing works locally for me using my dns, including safari and
firefox. I only have trouble when the root servers must be accessed to
for lookups. My clients are not on my network and that would also
assume their root server lookups to their domain are having trouble.

Here's what I think is the problem.

1. OS X and the root server communication has somehow become
inconsistent starting sometime around the last 10 days. I say this
based on the start of the sudden dns problems reported on this list and
others, plus I added three days since people sometimes wait to report a
problem.

2. My primary is 10.3.5 and my secondary is 10.3.2. They are both
listed in my dns and lookups for non-local domains even appear to be
slower than normal this past week. I was noticing a perceived slowness
even before I was thinking there was a problem.

3. On the other lists as well, they all mention 10.3.5 as their OS.

4. I haven't done any security updates or upgrades in at least a
month, so it's not related to an update that just occurred. But is
present now. I never had trouble going to maccentral.com until last
tuesday. that and two other sites I visit every morning.

5. Does anyone know if the root servers have been adjusted? timeout
settings, bind upgrade, etc....

On Nov 1, 2004, at 9:34 AM, Eduardo Bonsi wrote:

> I really do not want to speculate on this one, but I suggest a
> troubleshooting of your setup.
> It could be several things happening here.
> - A router firmware that expired
> -named.ca needs update
> - Firewall ports mismatched
> - BIND 8. to Bind 9. transition
> - TTL files needs update
> -named.conf needs update
> - Like Simon said: "At this point I take the opportunity of agreeing
> with a previous
> poster: the DNS system /requires/ that two servers be used in every
> client, and it /requires/ that multiple servers exist for every zone.
> It's not optional. If you only have one server working, your system
> may fail and people can laugh at you for it. See RFC2182 for further
> information."
>
> So, try to come up with your list of things that could be wrong.
>
> I belong to the DNS Bind mailing list as well and after the
> re-creation, should I said evolution of BIND from 8 to 9 many people
> started to having some problems with their original set-up.
> Bind 9 as they said is a totally different beast and uses views. If
> Apple is doing that transition right, everything will be ok. If not we
> all going to have to make a recall. Like I said, I do not want to
> speculate.
> I suggest you put your information up so you can get better help.
> To this point I have to sign off and watch the evolution of this
> problem. As you know I am on MacOSX 10.2.8 and everything works fine,
> except for what I mentioned before. Many of you already jump to 10.3.?
> I have no idea what is going on with the 10.3.? setup yet. So you get
> my point right?
>
> Eduardo
>
> On Monday, Nov 1, 2004, at 08:15 US/Pacific, doug wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the tip, Eduardo. I just updated my named.ca file but it
>> did not help the problem.
>>
>> DV
>>
>> On Oct 30, 2004, at 11:30 PM, Eduardo Bonsi wrote:
>>
>>> Ok, just making sure I get this out the way.
>>> It is everyone out there got the most recent root server files up
>>> date?
>>> It is called "named.ca" and you will find inside of
>>> /var/named/named.ca
>>> If not that can cause you some problems.
>>> If that is ok, lets start by troubleshooting your "named.conf"
>>>
>>> Eduardo
>>>
>>> On Saturday, Oct 30, 2004, at 18:12 US/Pacific, Chris Katz wrote:
>>>
>>>> In my case, it happens in both safari and IE. And, if I switch the
>>>> dns setting on my powerbook to a different dns server, it works
>>>> fine. Switch it back - stops working again.
>>>>
>>>> It is definitely the dns server. I'm going to take it back to 10.3
>>>> and not update to 10.3.5 and see if that does it.
>>>>
>>>> Chris
>>>>
>>>> On Oct 30, 2004, at 8:41 PM, Eduardo Bonsi wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> That's Safari problem.
>>>>> I had the same problem after doing a Apple software
>>>>> security update and re-start. Safari start to acting
>>>>> up. Internet Explored worked fine.
>>>>> It must be a bug in Safari. You should wait a little
>>>>> and try Safari again. For me it started working after
>>>>> 10-15 minutes.
>>>>>
>>>>> Eduardo
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --- Chris Katz <ckatz@ucschools.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I've been running DNS on our XServe for a couple
>>>>>> years now. Lately
>>>>>> we've been having a problem.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Users attempting to access a site get a "Safari
>>>>>> can't open the page
>>>>>> ..... because it can't find the server ......."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> However, clicking ok and submitting again always
>>>>>> results in the page
>>>>>> loading.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Before the new GUI in 10.3 I had used QuickDNS - I'm
>>>>>> not that familiar
>>>>>> with BIND and don't know where to look.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This problem wasn't happening until recently, but I
>>>>>> can't pinpoint
>>>>>> exactly when it started.
>>>>>> We did update to 10.3.5 within the last month or so.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If anyone has any idea I'd appreciate the help.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Chris Katz
>>>>>> Union City Schools
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be
>>>>>> ignored.
>>>>>> Macos-x-server mailing list
>>>>>> (Macos-x-server@lists.apple.com)
>>>>>> Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
>>>>>>
>>>>> http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/macos-x-server/
>>>>> beartcom%40pacbell.net
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This email sent to beartcom@pacbell.net
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> =====
>>>>> --
>>>>> Eduardo Bonsi
>>>>> System Admin
>>>>> BEARTCOMMUNICATIONS
>>>>> beartcom@pacbell.net
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> --
>>> Eduardo Bonsi
>>> IT Network Admin
>>> Web Developer
>>> e.bonsi@beart.com
>>> www.beart.com
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
>>> Macos-x-server mailing list (Macos-x-server@lists.apple.com)
>>> Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
>>> http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/macos-x-server/
>>> doug%40tweedadvertising.com
>>>
>>> This email sent to doug@tweedadvertising.com
>>>
>>
>>
> --
> Eduardo Bonsi
> IT Network Admin
> Web Developer
> e.bonsi@beart.com
> www.beart.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
> Macos-x-server mailing list (Macos-x-server@lists.apple.com)
> Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
> http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/macos-x-server/
> jodymac%40iscweb.com
>
> This email sent to jodymac@iscweb.com
>
>
Jody McAlister
President
In-Site Communications
707-765-9993/800-998-1711

Sales:
888/4-DPOINT

Support:
858/452-3696