Error or SOA when no A record?

Mark_Andrews at iengines.com Mark_Andrews at iengines.com
Mon Nov 29 11:23:00 UTC 1999


	I don't think I've seen a more messed up DNS configuration than
	this.  The zone is delegated to:

	PUFFEX.INTRAWARE.COM         207.90.138.10
	SKIMMER.INTRAWARE.COM        207.90.138.11

	PUFFEX.INTRAWARE.COM:
		is not running a nameserver.

	SKIMMER.INTRAWARE.COM:
		is not authorative for the zone.
		has a NS RRset for the zone that does not match the
		delegation.
		the NS record it has there does not have an A record
		associated with it.

	It looks like someone is trying to use a IP literal and is
	getting horrible mixed up the the process.  IP literals are
	not interchangable with hostnames in the DNS.

VINTAGEHOUSE.COM.       1D IN NS        207.90.138.10.intraware.com
		
VINTAGEHOUSE.COM.       1D IN SOA       207.90.138.10. root.207.90.138.10. (
                                        199901140 11800 3600 604800 86400 )

	The SOA and NS RRsets in the zone should be

@	IN	SOA	PUFFEX.INTRAWARE.COM. ROOT.PUFFEX.INTRAWARE.COM. (
			199901140 11800 3600 604800 86400 )
	IN	NS	PUFFEX.INTRAWARE.COM.
	IN	NS	SKIMMER.INTRAWARE.COM.

	The MX record also points to a CNAME which is illegal.

VINTAGEHOUSE.COM.       1D IN MX        10 mail.VINTAGEHOUSE.COM.
mail.VINTAGEHOUSE.COM.  1D IN CNAME     grape.vintagehouse.com.
grape.vintagehouse.com.  1D IN A  207.90.138.200

	It should be:

	IN	MX 	10 GRAPE.VINTAGEHOUSE.COM.

	I've Cc'd the zone's contact hopefully he will fix the problems.

	The reason you are getting nowhere is that the server is returning
	SERVFAIL as the server has detected the zone is invalid and
	not marked it as authorative.  This has the side effect of causing
	SERVFAIL for negative answers.

	Mark

> My system (running sendmail 8.9.3) is trying to send mail to someone at
> vintagehouse.com.  I can see sendmail send a DNS request for an A record
> and an error is returned because there is no A record for
> vintagehouse.com.  
> 
> Sendmail does not try querying for an MX record, and there is an MX
> record for the domain.
> 
> When I query other domains like vintagehouse.com that do not have A
> records, I receive an SOA in reply to the A record query.  
> 
> Is vintagehouse.com DNS wrong in returning an error?  Should it return
> the SOA for the domain?  Or is this a sendmail problem?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> --
> John D. Smerdon;  Livonia, Michigan, USA;  Contents are my opinion.
> Home: jds at smerdon.livonia.mi.us
> 
--
Mark Andrews, Internet Engines Inc. / Internet Software Consortium
1 Seymour St., Dundas Valley, NSW 2117, Australia
PHONE: +61 2 9871 4742                 INTERNET: Mark_Andrews at iengines.com


More information about the bind-users mailing list