[SunHELP] DNS working oddly

[Steve Sandau]

Lara Matthews wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I wonder if someone can point me in the right direction.  My DNS server 
> is acting strangely.
> 
> It can resolve itself and the other domains that it runs but does not 
> want to resolve anything outside.
> 
> bash-2.05# dig -a ns.accesscomputing.co.uk
> 
> ; <<>> DiG 8.3 <<>> -a ns.accesscomputing.co.uk
> ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
> ;; got answer:
> ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 2
> ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 1
> ;; QUERY SECTION:
> ;;      ns.accesscomputing.co.uk, type = A, class = IN
> 
> ;; ANSWER SECTION:
> ns.accesscomputing.co.uk.  1D IN A  213.128.229.177
> 
> ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
> accesscomputing.co.uk.  1D IN NS        ns.accesscomputing.co.uk.
> accesscomputing.co.uk.  1D IN NS        dns.scotland.net.
> 
> ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
> ns.accesscomputing.co.uk.  1D IN A  213.128.229.177
> 
> ;; Total query time: 5 msec
> ;; FROM: ns to SERVER: default -- 213.128.229.177
> ;; WHEN: Tue Jul 12 12:42:23 2005
> ;; MSG SIZE  sent: 42  rcvd: 118
> 
> Works fine but:
> 
> bash-2.05# dig -a www.sun.com
> 
> ; <<>> DiG 8.3 <<>> -a www.sun.com
> ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
> ;; got answer:
> ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 2
> ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
> ;; QUERY SECTION:
> ;;      www.sun.com, type = A, class = IN
> 
> ;; Total query time: 2 msec
> ;; FROM: ns to SERVER: default -- 213.128.229.177
> ;; WHEN: Tue Jul 12 12:42:43 2005
> ;; MSG SIZE  sent: 29  rcvd: 29
> 
> comes back with no results and nslookup gives me this error
> 
> bash-2.05# nslookup www.sun.com
> Server:  ns.accesscomputing.co.uk
> Address:  213.128.229.177
> 
> *** ns.accesscomputing.co.uk can't find www.sun.com: Server failed
> 
> Any thoughts why this might be happening?
> 


Are you behind a firewall? Is it allowing port 53 tsp and udp in and 
out? Do you have a current hints file? What does 'dig' with no 
parameters tell you? (It ought to come back with a list of root servers.)

Steve