BIND 8.2.2 can return referral for recursive query

[Barry Margolin]

In article <Uir*XrKso at news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>,
Ian Jackson  <ijackson at chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>I've discovered that BIND 8 (and perhaps other versions of BIND) can
>sometimes return a referral (ie, a reply with no answers, no error,
>and some NS records and no SOA record in the authority section) even
>if recursion is desired and available.

It's simply forwarding the answer it got from the authoritative server when
it recursed.  Notice:

% dig -x 209.121.196.1 ptr @pri1.dns.psi.ca

; <<>> DiG 8.1 <<>> -x ptr @pri1.dns.psi.ca 
; (1 server found)
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 10
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2
;; QUERY SECTION:
;;	1.196.121.209.in-addr.arpa, type = PTR, class = IN

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
*.121.209.in-addr.arpa.  1D IN NS  pri1.dns.psi.ca.
*.121.209.in-addr.arpa.  1D IN NS  pri2.dns.psi.ca.

Wildcards in delegation records aren't really allowed.  Read the lookup
algorithm in RFC 1034 -- the server only recognizes a zone cut if it
encounters an explicit NS record for a suffix of the name being looked up.

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar at genuity.net
Genuity, Burlington, MA
*** DON'T SEND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO ME, post them to newsgroups.
Please DON'T copy followups to me -- I'll assume it wasn't posted to the group.