Non-authoritative answer...

[Kevin Darcy]

Joe Fisher wrote:

> I'm new to DNS, but still managed to get a DNS server up and running at my
> place of work (on Linux)... All forward and reverse lookups appear to be
> resolving properly, but I'm getting the following response to all queries...
>
>         Non-authoritative answer:
>         Name:     M.........
>         Address:    1.........
>         Aliases:     n........
>
> Is it normal to get the "Non-authoritative answer"?

It just means that the answer is coming from the local nameserver's cache.
You'll should expect to see this for *all* queries except a) ones from the
local nameserver's own master/slave zones, or b) answers which have just been
"passed through" your local nameserver from an authoritative source.

If you're getting non-authoritative answers for names in a zone for which your
local nameserver should be primary master, then it's usually caused by the zone
not loading properly, probably because of some syntax error. If you're getting
non-authoritative answers for names in a zone for which your local nameserver
should be slave, then the zone has probably expired (probably because zone
transfers broke because the master isn't answering authoritatively, see above).

> If it is, what is it trying to tell me? (I can't find anything on
> "Non-authoritative answer" in the DNS and BIND book by O'Reilly...)

Which edition? Third Edition has an index entry for "nonauthoritative nslookup
answers".


- Kevin