SERVFAIL - need advice on diagnosing

[Kevin Darcy]

SERVFAIL is a very generic error, like "general failure". There should be
something in the logs. Regardless, you should upgrade to a later version of
BIND, like BIND 9.2.0. Maybe the SERVFAILs are the result of a bug that has
long since been fixed.


- Kevin

Whit Blauvelt wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have bind 9.1.1 (compiled from source) running identically on two Debian
> Linux systems. One is literally a clone of the other, except with a
> different public connection. Both are identically configured as secondary
> DNS for a couple of domains. Both were working fine until recently. Now, one
> of them is doing "SERVFAIL" instead, whether accessed locally or remotely.
> Like:
>
> # dig @localhost some.com
>
> ; <<>> DiG 9.1.1 <<>> @localhost some.com
> ;; global options:  printcmd
> ;; Got answer:
> ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 44692
> ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
>
> ;; QUESTION SECTION:
> ;some.com.               IN      A
>
> ;; Query time: 1 msec
> ;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(localhost)
> ;; WHEN: Tue Nov 27 15:38:22 2001
> ;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 33
>
> There is nothing showing up in the logs, and I can't find anything on
> SERVFAIL in the docs except for an RFC that has nothing much to do with
> diagnosis. The named daemon is running, it's just SERVFAILing. What are
> useful diagnostic steps? Is there a guide somewhere?
>
> Thanks,
> Whit