Host name lookup fails

[Bill Moseley]

Hi,

I was trying to track down why someone isn't receiving mail (on a machine
where I don't have root access).  

The sendmail queue says

            (Deferred: Name server: rain.org.: host name lookup failure)
                               Martha  <mar---- at rain.org>

That machine doesn't have dig installed AFAIK (it's not running named
locally), so I used nslookup and it returns "*** ns2.Berkeley.EDU can't
find rain.org.: Server failed", but I can use dig from my own machine and
lookup the MX.  nslookup will resolve for q=a, but not q=mx (shown below).

Clearly I'm missing something obvious but I just can see it.  Why can dig
resolve, yet not nslookup nor the resolver in sendmail.  (I just did a
sendmail -q and it hangs on the lookup of rain.org.)


95) /etc %cat resolv.conf
;
; BIND data file.
;
domain          Berkeley.EDU
nameserver      128.32.136.12
nameserver      128.32.136.9
nameserver      128.32.206.12
nameserver      128.32.206.9

94) /etc %nslookup
Default Server:  ns2.Berkeley.EDU
Address:  128.32.136.12

> rain.org.
Server:  ns2.Berkeley.EDU
Address:  128.32.136.12

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    rain.org
Address:  198.68.144.2

> set q=mx
> rain.org.
Server:  ns2.Berkeley.EDU
Address:  128.32.136.12

*** ns2.Berkeley.EDU can't find rain.org.: Server failed



; <<>> DiG 8.2 <<>> rain.org mx @128.32.136.12 
; (1 server found)
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 6
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 3, ADDITIONAL: 5
;; QUERY SECTION:
;;      rain.org, type = MX, class = IN

;; ANSWER SECTION:
rain.org.               3h54m12s IN MX  1 coyote.rain.org.
rain.org.               3h54m12s IN MX  1 mail.rain.org.


;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
rain.org.               3h54m12s IN NS  ns1.rain.org.
rain.org.               3h54m12s IN NS  ns2.rain.org.
rain.org.               3h54m12s IN NS  coyote2.rain.org.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
coyote.rain.org.        3h54m12s IN A   198.68.144.2
mail.rain.org.          3h54m12s IN A   198.68.144.2
ns1.rain.org.           26m15s IN A     198.68.144.2
ns2.rain.org.           26m15s IN A     198.68.144.20
coyote2.rain.org.       3h54m12s IN A   198.68.144.14

;; Total query time: 49 msec
;; FROM: mardy to SERVER: 128.32.136.12
;; WHEN: Sun Sep 10 11:41:40 2000
;; MSG SIZE  sent: 26  rcvd: 208


Bill Moseley
mailto:moseley at hank.org