bad referrals

[Mark.Andrews at iengines.com]

> 
> >> I've got a question about bad referrals. We're seeing a lot of them in 
> >> our log files but I don't necessarily see any queries failing due to the
> >> bad referrals. Is is safe to say that most queries are not affected by
> >> a bad referral? Is a bad referral just something that gets logged as a
> >> possible problem?
> >> 
> >
> >	Yes.
> >
> >	It's reporting problems with the server you are talking
> >	too.  We fixed some miss reporting in the 8.2.1/8.2.2 time frame
> >	so if you arn't running 8.2.2-P5 I would upgrade.
> >
> >	Mark
> 
> We recently upgraded from bind 8.1.2 to 8.2.2-P5 and started seeing lots
> more bad referrals. We see them for our own domain and subdomains and for
> .com and even ".". Each time I check the master servers for any of these
> zones they appear to be ok. We're also using forwarders. Is it possible 
> that packets are timing out and causing these bad referrals?
> 
> 
> 

	Well it is impossible to get a bad referral for ".".  The zone
	with the problem is on the RHS of "!<".
	e.g.
		228.153.208.IN-ADDR.ARPA and ticketek.COM.AU

Dec  5 01:23:20 bsdi named[20977]: bad referral (153.208.IN-ADDR.ARPA !< 228.153.208.IN-ADDR.ARPA)
Dec  5 09:04:18 bsdi named[20977]: bad referral (153.208.in-addr.arpa !< 228.153.208.IN-ADDR.ARPA)
Dec  5 23:36:06 bsdi named[20977]: bad referral (com.AU !< ticketek.COM.AU)

	Also as we don't log the IP address of the respondent you need to
	check all the servers listed in the parent zone and well as all the
	servers listed in the NS rrsets on those servers.

	Mark

Index: src/bin/named/ns_resp.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /proj/cvs/isc/bind/src/bin/named/ns_resp.c,v
retrieving revision 8.133
diff -c -r8.133 ns_resp.c
*** ns_resp.c	1999/11/05 04:40:57	8.133
--- ns_resp.c	1999/12/06 23:18:16
***************
*** 979,997 ****
  				case T_SOA:
  					if (!ns_samedomain(aname, name)) {
  						ns_info(ns_log_resp_checks,
! 						    "bad referral (%s !< %s)",
  							aname[0] ? aname : ".",
! 							name[0] ? name : ".");
  						db_freedata(dp);
  						continue;
  					} else if (!ns_samedomain(name,
  							       qp->q_domain)) {
  						if (!externalcname)
  						    ns_info(ns_log_resp_checks,
! 						    "bad referral (%s !< %s)",
  							 name[0] ? name : ".",
  							 qp->q_domain[0] ?
! 							 qp->q_domain : ".");
  						db_freedata(dp);
  						continue;
  					}
--- 979,999 ----
  				case T_SOA:
  					if (!ns_samedomain(aname, name)) {
  						ns_info(ns_log_resp_checks,
! 					    "bad referral (%s !< %s) from %s",
  							aname[0] ? aname : ".",
! 							name[0] ? name : ".",
! 							sin_ntoa(from));
  						db_freedata(dp);
  						continue;
  					} else if (!ns_samedomain(name,
  							       qp->q_domain)) {
  						if (!externalcname)
  						    ns_info(ns_log_resp_checks,
! 					    "bad referral (%s !< %s) from %s",
  							 name[0] ? name : ".",
  							 qp->q_domain[0] ?
! 							 qp->q_domain : ".",
! 							 sin_ntoa(from));
  						db_freedata(dp);
  						continue;
  					}
--
Mark Andrews, Internet Engines Inc. / Internet Software Consortium
1 Seymour St., Dundas Valley, NSW 2117, Australia
PHONE: +61 2 9871 4742                 INTERNET: Mark_Andrews at iengines.com