zone ./IN: has 0 SOA records

[Mark Andrews]

> 	Yesterday I described a problem with an experimental DNS
> configuration in which the very first message as the system starts up
> is:
> 
> zone ./IN: has 0 SOA records 
> 
> Mark Andrews writes:
> >	All real zones require a SOA record and a NS RRset at the top.
> >	The zone you supplied does not have a SOA record at the top.
> 
> 	That is correct.  I began to think I was using the wrong file
> for the root zone and double-checked against "DNS and Bind 4TH
> Edition" which tells one to get it from ftp.rs.internic.net.  That's
> what I've been doing all along, but the book also says that one
> doesn't really need the root zone defined in named.conf although they
> supply an example for those who feel funny without one.  That's where
> I discovered what I had done wrong.  
> 
> The root zone definition I have for every single DNS I run has a
> slight syntax omission which incorrectly defines the root zone.  The
> weird thing is that I never noticed any problem with recursive lookups
> until I set up this experimental box with all the private zones and it
> couldn't resolve anything external.
> 
> 	The bad example follows:
> 
> zone "." {
> 	type hint;
> 	file "db.cache";
> }; /*Don't use this.  It is bad.*/
> 
> 	When I changed it to a shameless ripoff of DNS and Bind's example,
> it looks almost the same except for the class designation:
> 
> zone "." in {
>         type hint;
>         file "db.cache";
> };
> 
> 	Needless to say, what you name the root zone file is up to you
> as long as your configuration references the desired file and it is
> owned by bind in the case of a root sandbox, but that small change
> made the error go away and the external recursion begin.
> 
> 	It makes me curious as to why all the other DNS's work or what
> subtile failure modes we have had as a result of the bad definition.
> 
> Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
> OSU Information Technology Department Network Operations Group
> .-- -... ..... .- --. --..


	"type hint;" isn't a real zone.  

	To get the error message above you had type master/slave/stub.

	Mark

	
--
Mark Andrews, ISC
1 Seymour St., Dundas Valley, NSW 2117, Australia
PHONE: +61 2 9871 4742                 INTERNET: Mark_Andrews at isc.org