DNS server works but keep getting "host unreachable resolving" error

[Doug Barton]

Shi Jin wrote:
> Hi there,
> 
> I've setup a DNS server running bind9 in my LAN and set it up to ISP provided DNS servers as the forwarders. Currently this DNS server works in the sense both internal and external names are resolved without any problem. However, for each DNS query, the syslog shows entries of 
> 
> dhcp-dns named[18638]: host unreachable resolving 'google.com/A/IN': 216.171.238.66#53
> Where the IP 216.171.238.66 is the ISP provided DNS server. 

"host unreachable" is one of the clearer error messages, so you need
to do some digging. From the box that you've set up bind9 on you'll
need to use dig to query the ISP's name servers. If that works, then
you'll have to use tcpdump on that box to find out what named is doing.

You might also consider posting your entire named.conf file, and let
us know of any command line arguments you're using to start it with.
Also name and version number of your OS and exact version of named
wouldn't hurt.


Good luck,

Doug