Question about /etc/named.data/db.cache

[Kevin Darcy]

John wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Question about /etc/named.data/db.cache
>
> # more /etc/resolv.conf
> domain amsterdam.nl berlin.de brussel.be vienna.at madrid.es helsinki.fi
>
> nameserver 194.229.188.24
> nameserver 194.229.188.25
>
> The last couple of lines in /etc/named.conf
>
> zone "berlin.de" {
>         type forward;
>         forwarders {
>               213.162.88.3;
>               213.162.88.4;
>               };
>         forward only;
> };
>
> zone "." {
>         type hint;
>         file "db.cache";
> };
>
> When the content of the db.cache are in comment, I mean every syntax is
> start with ";".
>
> ;
> ; FILL IN THE NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF THE ROOT SERVERS
> ;
> ;.  99999999 IN NS rotdns1.
> ;
> ;rotdns1. 99999999 IN A 194.229.188.24
> ;
>
> zone "holland" is resolved by local DNS's and germany.berlin.de is
> resolved by foreign DNS's using type forward.
>
> When I do
> # nslookup germany.berlin.de
> I get error.
> But if I do
> # nslookup holland
> it works.
>
> To troubleshoot why nslookup germany.berlin.de doesn't work, I use
> "sig_named -deb 9 germany.berlin.de".
> Inside the log file, I found the next strange behaviour...
>    germany.berlin.de.amsterdam.nl
> Why amsterdam.nl is added behind germany.berlin.de, I think that is the
> reason why I get error in "nslookup germany.berlin.de" Can somebody
> explain that??

That's exactly what you have told your resolver to do (with the
"domain" directive).

germany.berlin.de does not exist in the Internet DNS, so your resolver
appends the default domain (amsterdam.nl) to the name -- thus producing
germany.berlin.de.amsterdam.nl -- and tries querying that.

Are you using an *example* /etc/resolv.conf?

> When I remove the ";" in the db.cache.
> ;
> ; FILL IN THE NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF THE ROOT SERVERS
> ;
> ..  99999999 IN NS rotdns1.
> ;
> rotdns1. 99999999 IN A 194.229.188.24
> ;
>
> # nslookup germany.berlin.de
> it works.
> Can somebody explain why??
>
> Please let me know.

I have no idea what 194.229.188.24 is, but if someone gave that to you in a
hints file, then presumably it's an internal root server of some kind.
Maybe it has a wildcard entry, which would explain why it was able to
resolve a bogus name like germany.berlin.de. Why don't you ask whomever
gave you that hints file what the server is and how to use it?


- Kevin