SERVFAIL response for dig but +trace works

[Ken Hays]

Hi folks,  I am in an unfortunate hurry. 


I have not found the FAQ for this list yet. Is there one?

I have found the archives and not yet found what I need. 

The server in question is the "main" server for the FSU.EDU. 
The good news is that it has only 197 zones. It is running  
BIND 9.2.2-P3 on a SUN, details follows: uname -a
SunOS dns1 5.8 Generic_108528-20 sun4u sparc SUNW,Sun-Fire-280R

fwiw - We have *NOT* activated the "delegation" only options in 
the named.conf.

I am seeing a number of domains getting either "SERVFAIL" or
";; connection timed out; no servers could be reached" in 
response to dig.  Suggestions for what "logging" or "debugging"
options to turn on are invited. I would like to get some 
handle on "For ow much of the DNS are we getting bad answers?"

I would like someone to explain the following dig output to me. 
I do not see the reason the +trace works and the original did not.

pamd1:~:130$ dig @128.186.6.103 mktrading.org.

; <<>> DiG 9.2.2 <<>> @128.186.6.103 mktrading.org.
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 6312
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;mktrading.org.                 IN      A

;; Query time: 1 msec
;; SERVER: 128.186.6.103#53(128.186.6.103)
;; WHEN: Fri Oct 10 16:44:51 2003
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 31

pamd1:~:131$ dig @128.186.6.103 mktrading.org. +trace

; <<>> DiG 9.2.2 <<>> @128.186.6.103 mktrading.org. +trace
;; global options:  printcmd
.                       276543  IN      NS      D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       276543  IN      NS      C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
;; Received 356 bytes from 128.186.6.103#53(128.186.6.103) in 2 ms

org.                    172800  IN      NS      TLD1.ULTRADNS.NET.
org.                    172800  IN      NS      TLD2.ULTRADNS.NET.
;; Received 113 bytes from 128.8.10.90#53(D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET) in 24 ms

MKTRADING.ORG.          172800  IN      NS      NS1.MOOSENET.COM.
MKTRADING.ORG.          172800  IN      NS      NS2.MOOSENET.COM.
;; Received 92 bytes from 204.74.112.1#53(TLD1.ULTRADNS.NET) in 33 ms

mktrading.org.          43200   IN      A       216.98.140.253
mktrading.org.          43200   IN      NS      ns2.aspadmin.com.
mktrading.org.          43200   IN      NS      ns3.aspadmin.com.
mktrading.org.          43200   IN      NS      ns1.aspadmin.com.
;; Received 161 bytes from 216.98.155.52#53(NS1.MOOSENET.COM) in 89 ms

Thanks for getting all the way through the message, Ken
-- 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 Kenneth M. Hays                                hays at acns.fsu.edu 
 Academic Computing and Network Services        aka kmh8 at the NIC
 Florida State University                       voice=850-644-2591x129
 2035 East Paul Dirac Drive                     fax=850-644-8722
 Tallahassee, Florida 32306-2760                eFax=773-913-0894
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