resolving the ip address for the root servers

[Mark.Andrews at nominum.com]

	Because "hints" are just that "hints".  They are used to prime the
	cache.

	Mark
> 
> Hi all,  I've just spent the better part of the day trying to debug this
> and reading newsgroups to no avail.  We are running Bind 8.2.2-P3 on
> RedHat Linux. Everything appears to be working fine but it appears that
> we are going to the root servers to resolve the address of the root
> servers!   Our root.cache file must be working,
> seeing as Bind knows the address of the root servers, but nslookup
> a.root-servers.net generates traffic instead of resolving locally.  This
> becomes apparent when the connection to the internet is down, because
> then
> nslookup a.root-servers.net fails.   Why is this.
> 
> This is the named.conf entry:
> 
> zone "." in {
>         type hint;
>         file "root.cache";
> };
> 
> And the file root.cache is:
> 
> .                       999999  IN      NS      A.root-servers.net.
>                         999999  IN      NS      B.root-servers.net.
>                         999999  IN      NS      C.root-servers.net.
>                         999999  IN      NS      D.root-servers.net.
>                         999999  IN      NS      E.root-servers.net.
>                         999999  IN      NS      F.root-servers.net.
>                         999999  IN      NS      G.root-servers.net.
>                         999999  IN      NS      H.root-servers.net.
>                         999999  IN      NS      I.root-servers.net.
> A.root-servers.net.     999999  IN      A       198.41.0.4
> B.root-servers.net.     999999  IN      A       128.9.0.107
> C.root-servers.net.     999999  IN      A       192.33.4.12
> D.root-servers.net.     999999  IN      A       128.8.10.90
> E.root-servers.net.     999999  IN      A       192.203.230.10
> F.root-servers.net.     999999  IN      A       129.5.5.241
> G.root-servers.net.     999999  IN      A       192.112.36.4
> H.root-servers.net.     999999  IN      A       128.63.2.53
> I.root-servers.net.     999999  IN      A       192.36.148.17
> 
> Can anyone explain this?  Thanks in advance.
> 
> --
> Ragnar Paulson    ragnar at thesoftwaregroup.on.ca
> The Software Group Limited  705 725 9999
> 
> "Of course I don't believe in it.  But I understand that it brings you
> luck whether you believe in it or not."
> 
> -- Nuclear physicist Niels Bohr explaining why he had hung a horseshoe
> on the wall.
> 
> 
> 
> 
--
Mark Andrews, Nominum Inc.
1 Seymour St., Dundas Valley, NSW 2117, Australia
PHONE: +61 2 9871 4742                 INTERNET: Mark.Andrews at nominum.com