Cannot resolve a specific domain

[Howard Wilkinson]

David E. Meier wrote:
>> David E. Meier wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi list,
>>>
>>> I got a complaint from a client of mine not being able to mail to a
>>> certain domain (apexshipping.com.tw). Otherwise I am not aware of any
>>> resolving problems of my DNS.
>>>
>>> First thing, I downloaded the current named.root file and restarted
>>> named.
>>> Then I ran:
>>>
>>> $ dig apexshipping.com.tw +trace
>>>
>>> ; <<>> DiG 9.3.4-P1 <<>> apexshipping.com.tw +trace
>>> ;; global options:  printcmd
>>> :
>>> ;; Received 488 bytes from 193.17.199.10#53(193.17.199.10) in 5 ms
>>> :
>>> ;; Received 423 bytes from 192.203.230.10#53(E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET) in 161
>>> ms
>>> :
>>> ;; Received 356 bytes from 61.220.48.1#53(C.DNS.tw) in 291 ms
>>>
>>> apexshipping.com.tw.    86400   IN      NS      dns.apexshipping.com.tw.
>>> apexshipping.com.tw.    86400   IN      NS
>>> dns1.apexshipping.com.tw.
>>> ;; Received 106 bytes from 220.229.225.196#53(f.twnic.net.tw) in 318 ms
>>>
>>> dig: couldn't get address for 'dns.apexshipping.com.tw': not found
>>>
>>> My DNS runs on FreeBSD 6.2-STABLE and the current version of bind is:
>>> $ named -v
>>>
>>>       
>>>> BIND 9.3.4-P1
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> The server is used exclusively as DNS. I know the domain exists and is
>>> resolvable through other DNS. I wonder if I could track down the problem
>>> in any other way. Or would upgrading bind solve the problem?
>>>
>>> Thanks for input. David.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>> Looks like the domain is badly configured! dns.apexshipping.com.tw does
>> not respond for the domain but dns1.apexshipping.com.tw does. You should
>> contact their Hostmaster!
>> --
>>
>> Howard Wilkinson
>>
>>     
>
> Thanks for the quick reply, Howard.
>
> So the domain is badly configured and this will happen to all other DNS
> querying for the domain as well. So I wonder why others can and what's
> wrong with my DNS. Is there a way to force bind to query both DNS at
> apexshipping?
>
> David
>
>   
David,
the problem is one of intermittent response and the timings of network 
traffic. On average 50% of the sites trying to get to the name servers 
will fail as only one of the 2 servers will respond properly. However, 
the BIND server does a timing checks on responses from Nameservers and 
picks the nearest. And it caches the result as the server it has spoken 
to is authoritative. So once you have got the wrong data you keep the 
wrong data until it times  out, which may be days or weeks depending and 
then you have a skewed 50% chance of getting the wrong answer again.

So you are damned both ways! Your server is doing the right thing and 
getting the right answer but is not the answer you client wants it to 
get! Send an Email to the Hostmaster of the apexshipping.com.tw zone and 
see if they can fix it.

Good luck

Howard.

-- 

Howard Wilkinson

	

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