Reverse lookup works, but forward doesn't...

Joe Fisher jfisher at quantumshift.com
Fri Sep 1 00:00:42 UTC 2000


I'm attempting to setup an "inhouse DNS server", and I've followed all
of the instructions I could find, to a "T"...

I've consulted the following references:  "Ask Mr DNS", "Linux Network
Administrator's Guide", "Linux Administration", "Essential System
Administration" and the "Linux Encyclopedia"...

I've done everything correctly, as far as I can tell, yet my network
can't do a forward nslookup on a hostname... (The reverse lookup finds
the hostname, from a typed IP address.)

A few examples (run from the DNS server itself) follow:

   --> nslookup 172.20.2.26
   Server:  thekey.quantumshift.com   
   Address:  172.20.2.26

   Name:    thekey.quantumshift.com
   Address:  172.20.2.26

   --> nslookup thekey
   Server:  thekey.quantumshift.com
   Address:  172.20.2.26

   *** thekey.quantumshift.com can't find thekey: Server failed

Actually, if I do an nslookup from one, different server, it answers as
follows: (Almost correct)... We're missing the IP address from the first
example, and the server failed on the second...

   --> nslookup thekey
   Name Server:  thekey.quantumshift.com
   Address:  172.20.2.26
 
   Trying DNS
   Name:    thekey.quantumshift.com
   
   --> nslookup MVX_Nike
   Name Server:  thekey.quantumshift.com
   Address:  172.20.2.26
 
   Trying DNS
   *** thekey.quantumshift.com can't find MVX_Nike: Server failed
                                                                 
If I run the same commands from the 3rd server, both of the above
forward nslookups fail...
Again, the reverse lookups work fine from all servers...                

Although not complete, my /etc/named.conf file looks something like
this:

   zone "." IN {
           type hint;
           file "MVX.hint";
   };
 
   zone "thekey.quantumshift.com" IN {
           type master;
           file "MVX.db";
   };
 
   zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa" IN {
           type master;
           file "MVX.db.local";
   };
 
   zone "2.20.172.in-addr.arpa" IN {
           type master;
           file "MVX.db.rev";
   };
  
My MVX.db master file looks like this:

   @                       IN SOA  thekey.quantumshift.com.
jfisher.quantumshift.com. (
                                        42              ; serial
                                        3H              ; refresh
                                        15M             ; retry
                                        1W              ; expiry
                                        1D )            ; minimum
                                IN NS           thekey.quantumshift.com.
   localhost.                      IN A            127.0.0.1
   thekey                          IN A            172.20.2.26
   thor                            IN A            172.20.2.20
   nike                            IN A            172.20.2.22
   MVX_Thor                        IN CNAME        thor
   mvx_thor                        IN CNAME        thor
   MVX_Nike                        IN CNAME        nike
   mvx_nike                        IN CNAME        nike    

My last question:  If I had a large number of servers (I don't have at
this point...), would all of their entries be included in the above
file, using the "A" record?  Or is their another file, that could
contain all of the system "definitions"...

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance, and have a great holiday weekend...

Joe Fisher



More information about the bind-users mailing list