<html><head><title>BIND server; dig vs dig +trace on failing lookup.</title>
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<span style=" font-family:'Courier New'; font-size: 9pt;">I've got a case, (and I see several other similar reports) where BIND is failing to find an A record for a domain.<br>
Yet a dig +trace does.<br>
<br>
(I'm doing the dig on the BIND server. It's set to be a root resolving server, not a forwarder.)<br>
<br>
As I understand this, +trace will also involve resolve.conf options. And in this case, I've got Google DNS as one of the resolve.conf entries.<br>
So, I can see how +trace would deliver different results than simply dig-ing - provided that +trace does involve resolve.conf.<br>
<br>
Here's a plain dig, using the BIND server itself - from the console.<br>
---<br>
dig cistus.com @10.8.20.5<br>
<br>
; <<>> DiG 9.11.3-1ubuntu1.14-Ubuntu <<>> cistus.com @10.8.20.5<br>
;; global options: +cmd<br>
;; Got answer:<br>
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 61786<br>
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1<br>
<br>
;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:<br>
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096<br>
; COOKIE: 13ec0c9b10770ea12426539e603957900a997f7258962cce (good)<br>
;; QUESTION SECTION:<br>
;cistus.com. IN A<br>
<br>
;; Query time: 0 msec<br>
;; SERVER: 10.8.20.5#53(10.8.20.5)<br>
;; WHEN: Fri Feb 26 12:18:24 PST 2021<br>
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 67<br>
<br>
---<br>
<br>
I could post the dig +trace, if it adds any information, but I suspect it doesn't.<br>
<br>
So, what methods or steps might I take to figure out why the above lookup/dig fails?<br>
[I intended +trace to do that, but since it's not doing the same thing a plain dig does, it's not very useful as a diagnostic tool.]<br>
<br>
I've done some searching to see how to accomplish this, but it's a difficult question to frame without a ton of worthless hits.<br>
So, can someone point me at a good source for a how-to/walk-through? A previous list posting?<br>
<br>
Again, the question is; what methods or steps (best practices) might I take to figure out why the above lookup/dig fails?<br>
<br>
TIA<br>
-Greg<br>
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