Resolving troubles;

[Leon van Dongen]

I am receiving messages from sendmail that my nameserver won't resolve
certain domains,  the bottom line is that all populair domains will be
resolved but the rare ones that are used quite often are referred to as
unexistant domains.

When I do nslookup with debugging on I will get this output;

$nslookup -debug sta.nl
; res_nmkquery(QUERY, 1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa, IN, PTR)
------------
Got answer:
    HEADER:
        opcode = QUERY, id = 24269, rcode = NOERROR
        header flags:  response, auth. answer, want recursion, recursion
avail.
        questions = 1,  answers = 1,  authority records = 1,  additional
= 1

    QUESTIONS:
        1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa, type = PTR, class = IN
    ANSWERS:
    ->  1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa
        name = localhost
        ttl = 86400 (1D)
    AUTHORITY RECORDS:
    ->  0.0.127.in-addr.arpa
        nameserver = ns1.thewebcircle.net
        ttl = 86400 (1D)
    ADDITIONAL RECORDS:
    ->  ns1.thewebcircle.net
        internet address = 212.78.188.156
        ttl = 86400 (1D)

------------
Server:  localhost
Address:  127.0.0.1

;; res_nmkquery(QUERY, sta.nl, IN, A)
------------
Got answer:
    HEADER:
        opcode = QUERY, id = 24270, rcode = NOERROR
        header flags:  response, want recursion, recursion avail.
        questions = 1,  answers = 0,  authority records = 1,  additional
= 0

    QUESTIONS:
        sta.nl, type = A, class = IN
    AUTHORITY RECORDS:
    ->  sta.nl
        ttl = 9266 (2h34m26s)
        origin = ns0.demon.nl
        mail addr = hostmaster.demon.nl
        serial = 2001021561
        refresh = 21600 (6H)
        retry   = 1800 (30M)
        expire  = 1209600 (2W)
        minimum ttl = 86400 (1D)

------------
;; res_nmkquery(QUERY, sta.nl.thewebcircle.net, IN, A)
------------
Got answer:
    HEADER:
        opcode = QUERY, id = 24271, rcode = NXDOMAIN
        header flags:  response, auth. answer, want recursion, recursion
avail.
        questions = 1,  answers = 0,  authority records = 1,  additional
= 0

    QUESTIONS:
        sta.nl.thewebcircle.net, type = A, class = IN
    AUTHORITY RECORDS:
    ->  thewebcircle.net
        ttl = 86400 (1D)
        origin = ns1.thewebcircle.net
        mail addr = hostmaster.thewebcircle.net
        serial = 2001062720
        refresh = 14420 (4h20s)
        retry   = 3600 (1H)
        expire  = 604800 (1W)
        minimum ttl = 86400 (1D)

------------

*** localhost can't find sta.nl: Non-existent host/domain

I have read a document on Ask Mr.DNS's site about nameserver's acting
like a root server.
But when I analyze the output of nslookup I see that it first ask's the
"origin" and that is
ns0.demon.nl.

However the query continues and end's on my nameserver that fails to
lookup the domainname "sta.nl".

I anyone can help me out here, please do so.

Kind regards,

Leon van Dongen
<leonvd at vizzavi.nl>