timeout algorithm for forwarding

[Barry Margolin]

In article <381648569.945097093485.JavaMail.root at web39.pub01>,
j j  <miffy_bunny at mail.com> wrote:
>If neither forwards reply, would my name server return a "NXDOMAIN" back to
>the client?  Or would it just not respond ...  And has this change between
>BIND 8.2 and earlier versions.

If a server never gets a response from either any forwarder or other
nameserver, when it finally times out it will respond with a SERVFAIL error
code.  NXDOMAIN is only returned if a server actually responded saying that
there is no such name.  SERVFAIL is the catch-all error used for
configuration errors (a server is supposed to be authoritative but it
doesn't have the domain loaded) or "I don't know" responses.

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar at bbnplanet.com
GTE Internetworking, Powered by BBN, Burlington, MA
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