error "no NS RRs found at zone top"

[Mark_Andrews at isc.org]

> I am getting these errors in my messages log and I'm not sure what they
> mean. Below are the errors and the zone file in question. Suggestons anyone?
> 
> Sep 18 11:10:33 dns.resell.net named[3366]: Zone "2000themillennium.com"
> (file 2000themillennium.com.hosts): no NS RRs found at zone top

	The zone was rejected because there were no NS records
	found with an owner name of 2000themillennium.com, the zone
	top.  All zones must have both an SOA record and a NS rrset
	at the zone's top.

	Your first problem would appear to be that what you though
	where NS records for 2000themillennium.com were actually
	ns records for IN.2000themillennium.com.  Zone files are
	sensitive to white space (spaces and tabs) at the start of
	the line.  If there is white space there then the owner
	name is inherited from the previous record's owner name.
	If not you have a new owner name.  You did not have any
	white space in front of the "IN" on the lines where you
	tried to declare the NS RRs.

	You second problem is that www.2000themillennium.com has
	both CNAME and MX records.  This is illegal.

	I generally don't declare the class in a zone file (it is
	inherited from the config file) and have the type at the
	second tab stop and the RR data start at the third tab stop
	even with continuation lines.  If you follow this (or a
	similar layout style) you will not accidently do what you
	did.

	I also always use unqualified names on the LHS and fully
	qualified names on the RHS.  I also keep all records
	belonging to a single owner name together.

e.g.
@		SOA	dns.resell.net. hostmaster.resell.net. (
			96091552 ; Serial
			10800 ; Refresh after 3 hours
			3600 ; Retry after 1 hour
			608400 ; Expire after 1 week
			86400 ) ; Minnimum TTL of 1 day
		NS	dns.resell.net.
		NS	ns1.dn.net.
		A	207.226.185.152
		MX	10 dns.resell.net.
;
localhost	A	127.0.0.1
;

	Mark

> Sep 18 11:10:33 dns.resell.net named[3366]: master zone
> "2000themillennium.com" (IN) rejected due to errors (serial 96091552)
> 
> 
> @      IN      SOA      dns.resell.net. hostmaster.resell.net. (
> 96091552 ; Serial
> 10800 ; Refresh after 3 hours
> 3600 ; Retry after 1 hour
> 608400 ; Expire after 1 week
> 86400 ) ; Minnimum TTL of 1 day
>  
> IN  NS     dns.resell.net.
> IN  NS     ns1.dn.net.
>  
> ;
> localhost               IN  A      127.0.0.1
> ;
>  
> 2000themillennium.com.      IN      A      207.226.185.152
> www.2000themillennium.com.  IN      MX      10 dns.resell.net.
> 2000themillennium.com.      IN      MX      10 dns.resell.net.
> www         IN      CNAME      2000themillennium.com.
> ftp         IN      CNAME      2000themillennium.com.
> 
> 
> 
--
Mark Andrews, Internet Software Consortium
1 Seymour St., Dundas Valley, NSW 2117, Australia
PHONE: +61 2 9871 4742                 INTERNET: marka at isc.org