Can't look up local names

[Kevin Darcy]

I've been using loopback in resolv.conf for *many* years, on a variety of
platforms, and never had any problem with it. Makes the resolv.conf much more
portable, and is less likely to break DNS if the machine gets re-addressed.

Note, however, that if you use loopback, nslookup will want to be able to
resolve 1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa, and unless you have this "customized" as a
master zone on every nameserver, the result of that query could be rather
confusing.


- Kevin

HAG.Keijzer at mindef.nl wrote:

> Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't there a problem with using localhost in
> your resolv.conf?
>
> I remember that under older versions of bind it was advised not to use the
> localhost as nameserver, especially in combination with multiple nameserver
> directives?
>
> Kind Regards,
> Gody Keijzer.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Vance [mailto:bobvance at alumni.caltech.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 3:12 PM
> To: bind-users at isc.org
> Subject: RE: Can't look up local names
>
> Looks like a resolver issue.
> In "/etc/resolv.conf", you need :
>
> search masspostroad.net
> nameserver 127.0.0.1
>
> nslookup (and clients, like 'telnet', that are linked with the resolver
> libraries) will append the domain names in the "search" list, one after
> the other, to an input name with no dots until a lookup is satisfied or
> the list is exhausted.  The first domain is considered to be the domain
> of the local host.
> So
>    xww.yahoo.com  ---> xww.yahoo.com
> but
>    warren   --> warren.masspostroad.net
>
> If "/etc/resolv.conf" is correct and you are using the vendor
> 'nslookup', then it may be that the vendor resolver libraries and their
> 'nslookup' support lookup facility switching via "/etc/nsswitch.conf".
> E.g., this is the case for HP-UX -- dunno 'bout FreeBSD.
>
> -------------------------------------------------
> Tks        | <mailto:BVance at sbm.com>
> BV         | <mailto:BobVance at alumni.caltech.edu>
> Sr. Technical Consultant,  SBM, A Gates/Arrow Co.
> Vox 770-623-3430           11455 Lakefield Dr.
> Fax 770-623-3429           Duluth, GA 30097-1511
> =================================================
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bind-users-bounce at isc.org [mailto:bind-users-bounce at isc.org]On
> Behalf Of Sir
> Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 12:17 AM
> To: bind-users at isc.org
> Subject: Can't look up local names
>
> I am running FreeBSD4.1 stable with bind 9.1.0. I have configured
> named.conf and all of the zone files associated with it. My problem was
> a basic one but pointed out a knowledge gap. At first, I couldn't look
> up names in the local domain i.e.;
>
> nslookup warren
>
> server : localhost
> address : 127.0.0.1
>
> **** localhost can't find warren : Non-existant host/domain
>
> my "hostname" was set to "warren". When I set it to
> warren.masspostroad.net the local lookups work fine. "domainname" still
> returns "". I've read all I could, even bought "the" O'Reiley book and I
> guess they assume you already know some things that I don't.  Does
> anyone in the know have the time to front me some background into what's
> going on here. I thought the zone file would suffice to explain to the
> name server who it is and it's SOA?