Newbie Running Problem

[Simon Waters]

Richard Fila wrote:
> 
> It was the missing quote marks thanks - the deamon starts now however,
> nslookup still won't work on v3-computers.co.uk
> 
> I have pointed "ns3.planetserver.co.uk" and
> "ns4.planetserver.co.uk" to my two IP addresses for this machine from an
> external server, then registered them with Network Solutions and then
> pointed v3-computers.co.uk to them.

The planetserver.co.uk nameservers are delegated.

ns4 isn't answering.
ns3 is reporting servfail - so obviously has problems with the
zone.

My guess is ns3 is not able, or not configured, to transfer the
zone from your master.

> 
> ;authoritative data for v3-computers.co.uk

You probably want a "$TTL 86400" line here.... but it isn't
urgent.

> @  IN SOA
> ns3.planetserver.co.uk. hostmaster.ns3.planetserver.co.uk.
>     (
>     2002022700 ;Serial Number: YYYYMMDDxx
>     80000  ;Refresh time

This seems high, but isn't your problem.

>     3600  ;Retry Time

This can come down when the one above does.

>     604800  ;Time
>     86400  ;Minimum TTL

This is the negative TTL for which 86400 is rather large but
most nameservers truncate it to three hours. You can reduce this
when you add the $TTL line mentioned above.

>     )
>   IN NS ns3.planetserver.co.uk
>   IN NS ns4.planetserver.co.uk

The domain names without a dot on the end with get the domain
applied.

So the above reads: ns3.planetserver.co.uk.v3-computers.co.uk


>   IN MX 10 mail
>   IN A 217.204.208.242
> www  IN A 217.204.208.242
> ftp  IN A 217.204.208.242
> mail  IN A 217.204.208.242
> 
> Any suggestions?

Clean up the zone, then restart the daemon and try "dig
@localhost v3-computers.co.uk axfr"... you need to get that
working before you can expect ns3 to transfer it remotely.