DNS server fails without forwarder

[James Ervin]

I have realized that my DNS server will not function without a forwarder 
entry.  Is this normal?  I took out the forwarder entry as I was changing 
my upstream provider and noticed the error then.  I would like to make a 
stand alone server that can either answer for zones it is authoritative for 
or look them up using the root servers in the event that my forwarder 
(currently UUNET's caching servers) are down or unreachable.  Is my 
named.root file bad?  Where can I get the current copy?

Here is heavy debug with and without the forwarder entry (not that the 
client in this case is itself and each time I am trying to resolve www.hp.com):

Without forwarder:

client 24.197.31.131#32777: UDP request
client 24.197.31.131#32777: request is not signed
client 24.197.31.131#32777: recursion approved
client 24.197.31.131#32777: query
client 24.197.31.131#32777: query approved
client 24.197.31.131#32777: replace
clientmgr @0x20000604080: createclients
clientmgr @0x20000604080: create new
client @0x200006ca7e0: create
createfetch: www.hp.com. A
fctx 0x200006cb010: join
fetch 0x200006d8000 (fctx 0x200006cb010): created
fctx 0x200006cb010: timeout
fctx 0x200006cb010: try
fctx 0x200006cb010: query
resquery 0x200006d4580 (fctx 0x200006cb010): send
fctx 0x200006cb010: too many timeouts, disabling EDNS0
resquery 0x200006d4580 (fctx 0x200006cb010): sent
resquery 0x200006d4580 (fctx 0x200006cb010): senddone
fctx 0x200006cb260: timeout
fctx 0x200006cb260: try
fctx 0x200006cb260: query
resquery 0x200006d4838 (fctx 0x200006cb260): send
fctx 0x200006cb260: too many timeouts, disabling EDNS0
resquery 0x200006d4838 (fctx 0x200006cb260): sent
resquery 0x200006d4838 (fctx 0x200006cb260): senddone
fctx 0x200006cb4b0: timeout
fctx 0x200006cb4b0: try
fctx 0x200006cb4b0: query
resquery 0x200006d4af0 (fctx 0x200006cb4b0): send
resquery 0x200006d4af0 (fctx 0x200006cb4b0): sent
resquery 0x200006d4af0 (fctx 0x200006cb4b0): senddone

With forwarder:

client 24.197.31.131#32776: UDP request
client 24.197.31.131#32776: request is not signed
client 24.197.31.131#32776: recursion approved
client 24.197.31.131#32776: query
client 24.197.31.131#32776: query approved
client 24.197.31.131#32776: replace
clientmgr @0x20000604080: createclients
clientmgr @0x20000604080: recycle
createfetch: www.hp.com. A
fctx 0x200006cc260: create
fctx 0x200006cc260: join
fetch 0x200006d6000 (fctx 0x200006cc260): created
fctx 0x200006cc260: start
fctx 0x200006cc260: try
fctx 0x200006cc260: cancelqueries
fctx 0x200006cc260: getaddresses
fctx 0x200006cc260: query
resquery 0x200006d2010 (fctx 0x200006cc260): send
resquery 0x200006d2010 (fctx 0x200006cc260): sent
resquery 0x200006d2010 (fctx 0x200006cc260): senddone
resquery 0x200006d2010 (fctx 0x200006cc260): response
fctx 0x200006cc260: answer_response
fctx 0x200006cc260: cache_message
fctx 0x200006cc260: cancelquery
fctx 0x200006cc260: done
fctx 0x200006cc260: stopeverything
fctx 0x200006cc260: cancelqueries
fctx 0x200006cc260: sendevents
fetch 0x200006d6000 (fctx 0x200006cc260): destroyfetch
fctx 0x200006cc260: shutdown
client 24.197.31.131#32776: send
client 24.197.31.131#32776: sendto
client 24.197.31.131#32776: senddone
client 24.197.31.131#32776: next
client 24.197.31.131#32776: endrequest
fctx 0x200006cc260: doshutdown
fctx 0x200006cc260: destroy


My named.root file:



A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.      3600000      A     198.41.0.4
D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.      3600000      A     128.8.10.90
.                        3600000      NS    E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.      3600000      A     192.203.230.10
.                        3600000      NS    F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.      3600000      A     192.5.5.241
.                        3600000      NS    G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.      3600000      A     192.112.36.4
.                        3600000      NS    H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.      3600000      A     128.63.2.53
.                        3600000      NS    I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.      3600000      A     192.36.148.17
.                        3600000      NS    J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.      3600000      A     198.41.0.10
.                        3600000      NS    K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.      3600000      A     193.0.14.129
.                        3600000      NS    L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.      3600000      A     198.32.64.12
.                        3600000      NS    M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.      3600000      A     202.12.27.33