CNAME question

[/dev/rob0]

In article <bvbnbg$1ig$1 at sf1.isc.org>, ike lozada wrote:
> I have bind working except for a minor problem with "CNAME"...

It does not look like a problem. It looks normal.

> working except that when I "ping" the alias name, the response doesnt
> come from the alias itself.
> i.e. normally when I ping a server (for example, ping
> smtp8.google.com)
> 
> C:\Documents and Settings\xal>ping smtp8.google.com
> 
> Pinging smtp8.google.com [216.239.33.28] with 32 bytes of data:
> [snip]
> the reply shows smtp8.google.com, in my case

You might find that the BIND tools for DNS provide better information
about DNS issues. For example, "host" tells you that this is an A
record:
#v+
    $ host -a smtp8.google.com
    Trying "smtp8.google.com"
    ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 30367
    ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 4, ADDITIONAL: 0
    
    ;; QUESTION SECTION:
    ;smtp8.google.com.              IN      ANY
    
    ;; ANSWER SECTION:
    smtp8.google.com.       2910    IN      A       216.239.33.28
    [snip]
#v-
You're comparing apples to oranges. Try to ping "www.google.com". That
is a CNAME, and you'll get the "A" record from your ping client.

> How could I make the reply come from "smtp.azcom.net" instead of
> "azcom.net?"

1. Get your OS vendor to release the source of your ping client, and
   patch it to show the CNAME. FWIW the Unix /bin/ping executables I
   have seen always seem to do this too.
2. Use "A" records as aliases.
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