Lame Server Messages

[Kevin Darcy]

Arthur wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>I have a very simple setup.  I have a Windows 2000 box and I run my
>own mail server running  Mandrake 9.2.  I use Netscape as my email
>client
>
>About 2 weeks ago, all of a sudden, Netscape has been unable to send
>or receive messages.  After some serious searching in my log files,
>that is all I can come up with.  Everytime I try to get email from
>within Netscape, a new message goes into the log.
>
>I am not too Unix savy, so, what can I do to fix this???
>
>Feb  1 17:29:46 nitelife kernel: NET: 27 messages suppressed.
>Feb  1 17:29:46 nitelife kernel: martian source 192.168.0.110 from
>68.48.202.64, on dev eth1
>Feb  1 17:29:46 nitelife kernel: ll header:
>00:50:04:6e:54:1a:00:0c:41:6d:c6:d2:08:00
>Feb  1 17:29:46 nitelife named[2568]: lame server resolving
>'buttman.com' (in 'buttman.com'?): 207.71.94.50#53
>Feb  1 17:29:49 nitelife named[2568]: lame server resolving
>'buttman.com' (in 'buttman.com'?): 207.71.94.50#53
>Feb  1 17:29:51 nitelife kernel: NET: 34 messages suppressed.
>Feb  1 17:29:51 nitelife kernel: martian source 192.168.0.110 from
>207.44.162.81, on dev eth1
>Feb  1 17:29:51 nitelife kernel: ll header:
>00:50:04:6e:54:1a:00:0c:41:6d:c6:d2:08:00
>Feb  1 17:29:56 nitelife named[2568]: lame server resolving
>'buttman.com' (in 'buttman.com'?): 207.71.94.50#53
>Feb  1 17:29:56 nitelife kernel: NET: 22 messages suppressed.
>Feb  1 17:29:56 nitelife kernel: martian source 192.168.0.110 from
>80.143.31.13, on dev eth1
>Feb  1 17:29:56 nitelife kernel: ll header:
>00:50:04:6e:54:1a:00:0c:41:6d:c6:d2:08:00
>Feb  1 17:30:00 nitelife CROND[23800]: (mail) CMD (/usr/bin/python -S
>/usr/lib/mailman/cron/gate_news)
>Feb  1 17:30:01 nitelife kernel: NET: 28 messages suppressed.
>Feb  1 17:30:01 nitelife kernel: martian source 192.168.0.110 from
>24.10.88.57, on dev eth1
>Feb  1 17:30:01 nitelife kernel: ll header:
>00:50:04:6e:54:1a:00:0c:41:6d:c6:d2:08:00
>Feb  1 17:30:05 nitelife named[2568]: lame server resolving
>'buttman.com' (in 'buttman.com'?): 207.71.94.50#53
>Feb  1 17:30:06 nitelife kernel: NET: 31 messages suppressed.
>Feb  1 17:30:06 nitelife kernel: martian source 192.168.0.110 from
>212.59.147.90, on dev eth1
>Feb  1 17:30:06 nitelife kernel: ll header:
>00:50:04:6e:54:1a:00:0c:41:6d:c6:d2:08:00
>Feb  1 17:30:11 nitelife kernel: NET: 31 messages suppressed.
>Feb  1 17:30:11 nitelife kernel: martian source 192.168.0.110 from
>64.81.110.177, on dev eth1
>Feb  1 17:30:11 nitelife kernel: ll header:
>00:50:04:6e:54:1a:00:0c:41:6d:c6:d2:08:00
>Feb  1 17:30:11 nitelife named[2568]: lame server resolving
>'buttman.com' (in 'buttman.com'?): 207.71.94.50#53
>Feb  1 17:30:16 nitelife kernel: NET: 74 messages suppressed.
>Feb  1 17:30:16 nitelife kernel: martian source 192.168.0.110 from
>24.21.223.168, on dev eth1
>Feb  1 17:30:16 nitelife kernel: ll header:
>00:50:04:6e:54:1a:00:0c:41:6d:c6:d2:08:00
>Feb  1 17:30:17 nitelife named[2568]: lame server resolving
>'buttman.com' (in 'buttman.com'?): 207.71.94.50#53
>
Well, yes indeed, 207.71.94.50 is lame for the buttman.com zone -- it 
returns a SERVFAIL error. There's not a lot you can do about that, 
unless you happen to know the administrator of the nameserver. The "lame 
server" messages are mostly just annoyances, though: the name 
buttman.com should still be resolvable through the other delegated 
nameserver (ns.beprompt.com), although it's hanging by a thread.

As for why your mail client stopped working, I can't really tell you for 
sure, but it might have something to do with all of the (seemingly 
non-DNS-related) "martian source" errors in the log. Are you doing some 
sort of weird NAT stuff?

                                                                         
                                    - Kevin