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13.6. Checking Name Service

Name server problems are indicated when the "unknown host" error message is returned by the user's application. Name server problems can usually be diagnosed with nslookup or dig. nslookup is discussed in detail in Chapter 8, "Configuring DNS"; dig is an alternative tool with similar functionality and is discussed in this chapter. Before looking at dig, let's take another look at nslookup and see how it is used to troubleshoot name service.

The three features of nslookup covered in Chapter 8, "Configuring DNS" are particularly important for troubleshooting remote name server problems. These features are its ability to:

  • Locate the authoritative servers for the remote domain using the NS query

  • Obtain all records about the remote host using the ANY query

  • Browse all entries in the remote zone using nslookup's ls and view commands

When troubleshooting a remote server problem, directly query the authoritative servers returned by the NS query. Don't rely on information returned by non-authoritative servers. If the problems that have been reported are intermittent, query all of the authoritative servers in turn and compare their answers. Intermittent name server problems are sometimes caused by the remote servers returning different answers to the same query.

The ANY query returns all records about a host, thus giving the broadest range of troubleshooting information. Simply knowing what information is (and isn't) available can solve a lot of problems. For example, if the query returns an MX record but no A record, it is easy to understand why the user couldn't telnet to that host! Many hosts are accessible to mail that are not accessible by other network services. In this case, the user is confused and is trying to use the remote host in an inappropriate manner.

If you are unable to locate any information about the hostname that the user gave you, perhaps the hostname is incorrect. Given that the hostname you have is wrong, looking for the correct name is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. However, nslookup can help. Use nslookup's ls command to dump the remote zone file, and redirect the listing to a file. Then use nslookup's view command to browse through the file, looking for names similar to the one the user supplied. Many problems are caused by a mistaken hostname.

All of the nslookup features and commands mentioned here are used in Chapter 8, "Configuring DNS". However, some examples using these commands to solve real name server problems will be helpful. The three examples that follow are based on actual trouble reports.[150]

[150]The host and server names are fictitious, but the problems were real.

13.6.1. Some Systems Work, Others Don't

A user reported that she could resolve a certain hostname from her workstation, but could not resolve the same hostname from the central system. However, the central system could resolve other hostnames. We ran several tests and found that we could resolve the hostname on some systems and not on others. There seemed to be no predictable pattern to the failure. So we used nslookup to check the remote servers:

% nslookup 
Default Server:  crab.wrotethebook.com 
Address:  172.16.12.1 
 
> set type=NS 
> foo.edu. 
Server:  crab.wrotethebook.com 
Address:  172.16.12.1 
 
foo.edu        nameserver = gerbil.foo.edu 
foo.edu        nameserver = red.big.com 
foo.edu        nameserver = shrew.foo.edu 
gerbil.foo.edu   inet address = 198.97.99.2 
red.big.com   inet address = 184.6.16.2 
shrew.foo.edu    inet address = 198.97.99.1 
> set type=ANY 
> server gerbil.foo.edu 
Default Server:  gerbil.foo.edu 
Address:  198.97.99.2 
 
> hamster.foo.edu 
Server:  gerbil.foo.edu 
Address:  198.97.99.2 
 
hamster.foo.edu        inet address = 198.97.99.8 
> server red.big.com 
Default Server:  red.big.com 
Address:  184.6.16.2 
> hamster.foo.edu 
Server:  red.big.com 
Address:  184.6.16.2 
 *** red.big.com can't find hamster.foo.edu: Non-existent domain

This sample nslookup session contains several steps. The first step is to locate the authoritative servers for the hostname in question (hamster.foo.edu). We set the query type to NS to get the name server records, and query for the domain (foo.edu) in which the hostname is found. This returns three names of authoritative servers: gerbil.foo.edu, red.big.com, and shrew.foo.edu.

Next, we set the query type to ANY to look for any records related to the hostname in question. Then we set the server to the first server in the list, gerbil.foo.edu, and query for hamster.foo.edu. This returns an address record. So server gerbil.foo.edu works fine. We repeat the test using red.big.com as the server, and it fails. No records are returned.

The next step is to get SOA records from each server and see if they are the same:

> set type=SOA 
> foo.edu. 
Server:  red.big.com 
Address:  184.6.16.2 
 
foo.edu        origin = gerbil.foo.edu 
   mail addr = amanda.gerbil.foo.edu 
   serial=10164, refresh=43200, retry=3600, expire=3600000, 
   min=2592000 
> server gerbil.foo.edu 
Default Server:  gerbil.foo.edu 
Address:  198.97.99.2 
 
> foo.edu. 
Server:  gerbil.foo.edu 
Address:  198.97.99.2 
 
foo.edu        origin = gerbil.foo.edu 
   mail addr = amanda.gerbil.foo.edu 
   serial=10164, refresh=43200, retry=3600, expire=3600000, 
   min=2592000 
 > exit

If the SOA records have different serial numbers, perhaps the zone file, and therefore the hostname, has not yet been downloaded to the slave server. If the serial numbers are the same and the data is different, as in this case, there is a definite problem. Contact the remote domain administrator and notify her of the problem. The administrator's mailing address is shown in the "mail addr" field of the SOA record. In our example, we would send mail to amanda@gerbil.foo.edu reporting the problem.

13.6.2. The Data Is Here and the Server Can't Find It!

This problem was reported by the administrator of one of our slave name servers. The administrator reported that his server could not resolve a certain hostname in a domain for which his server was a slave server. The master server was, however, able to resolve the name. The administrator dumped his cache (more on dumping the server cache in the next section), and he could see in the dump that his server had the correct entry for the host. But his server still would not resolve that hostname to an IP address!

The problem was replicated on several other slave servers. The master server would resolve the name; the slave servers wouldn't. All servers had the same SOA serial number, and a dump of the cache on each server showed that they all had the correct address records for the hostname in question. So why wouldn't they resolve the hostname to an address?

Visualizing the difference between the way master and slave servers load their data made us suspicious of the zone file transfer. Master servers load the data directly from local disk files. Slave servers transfer the data from the master server via a zone file transfer. Perhaps the zone files were getting corrupted. We displayed the zone file on one of the slave servers, and it showed the following data:

% cat /usr/etc/events.wrotethebook.com.hosts 
PCpma      IN   A       172.16.64.159 
           IN   HINFO   "pc" "n3/800eventsnutscom" 
PCrkc      IN   A       172.16.64.155 
           IN   HINFO   "pc" "n3/800eventsnutscom" 
PCafc      IN   A       172.16.64.189 
           IN   HINFO   "pc" "n3/800eventsnutscom" 
accu       IN   A       172.16.65.27 
cmgds1     IN   A       172.16.130.40 
cmg        IN   A       172.16.130.30 
PCgns      IN   A       172.16.64.167 
           IN   HINFO   "pc" "(3/800eventsnutscom" 
gw         IN   A       172.16.65.254 
zephyr     IN   A       172.16.64.188 
           IN   HINFO   "Sun" "sparcstation" 
ejw        IN   A       172.16.65.17 
PCecp      IN   A       172.16.64.193
           IN   HINFO   "pc" "n Lsparcstationstcom"

Notice the odd display in the last field of the HINFO statement for each PC.[151]

[151]See Appendix C, "A named Reference" for a detailed description of the HINFO statement.

This data might have been corrupted in the transfer or it might be bad on the master server. We used nslookup to check that:

% nslookup 
Default Server:  crab.wrotethebook.com 
Address:  172.16.12.1 
 
> server 24seven.events.wrotethebook.com 
Default Server:  24seven.events.wrotethebook.com 
Address:  172.16.6.1 
 
> set query=HINFO 
> PCwlg.events.wrotethebook.com 
Server:  24seven.events.wrotethebook.com 
Address:  172.16.6.1 
 
PCwlg.events.wrotethebook.com     CPU=pc  OS=ov 
packet size error (0xf7fff590 != 0xf7fff528)
> exit

In this nslookup example, we set the server to 24seven.events.wrotethebook.com, which is the master server for events.wrotethebook.com. Next we queried for the HINFO record for one of the hosts that appeared to have a corrupted record. The "packet size error" message clearly indicates that nslookup was even having trouble retrieving the HINFO record directly from the master server. We contacted the administrator of the master server and told him about the problem, pointing out the records that appeared to be in error. He discovered that he had forgotten to put an operating system entry on some of the HINFO records. He corrected this, and it fixed the problem.

13.6.3. Cache Corruption

The previous problem was caused by the name server cache being corrupted by bad data. Cache corruption can occur even if your system is not a slave server. All servers cache answers. If those answers are corrupted, entries in the cache may become corrupted. Dumping the cache can help diagnose these types of problems.

For example, a user reported intermittent name server failures. She had no trouble with any hostnames within the local domain or with some names outside the local domain, but names in several different remote domains would not resolve. nslookup tests produced no solid clues, so the name server cache was dumped and examined for problems. The root server entries were corrupted, so named was reloaded to clear the cache and reread the named.ca file. Here's how it was done.

The ndc dumpdb command or the SIGINT signal causes named to dump the name server cache to the file /var/tmp/named_dump.db. The following example uses the signal:

# kill -INT 'cat /etc/named.pid'

The process ID of named can be obtained from /etc/named.pid, as in the example above, because named writes its process ID in that file during startup.[152]

[152]On our Linux system the process ID is written to /var/run/named.pid.

Once named writes its cache to the file, we can examine the file to see if the names and addresses servers are correct. The named_dump.db file is composed of three sections: the zone table section, the Cache & Data section, and the Hints section.

13.6.3.1. The zone table section

The first section of the dump file is the zone table, which shows the zones loaded when the server started. The zone table from the master server for zones wrotethebook.com and 16.172.in-addr.arpa would show the following:

; Dumped at Tue Jul 17 16:08:18 2001
;; ++zone table++
; . (type 6, class 0, source Nil)
;       time=0, lastupdate=0, serial=0,
;       refresh=0, retry=0, expire=0, minimum=0
;       ftime=0, xaddrcnt=0, state=0000, pid=0
; . (type 3, class 1, source named.ca)
;       time=0, lastupdate=965723221, serial=0,
;       refresh=0, retry=0, expire=0, minimum=4294967295
;       ftime=965723221, xaddrcnt=0, state=0040, pid=0
; 0.0.127.in-addr.arpa (type 1, class 1, source named.local)
;       time=0, lastupdate=0, serial=1997022700,
;       refresh=0, retry=14400, expire=3600000, minimum=86400
;       ftime=965723221, xaddrcnt=0, state=0041, pid=0
; wrotethebook.com (type 1, class 1, source wrotethebook.com.hosts)
;       time=0, lastupdate=0, serial=2001070501,
;       refresh=0, retry=1800, expire=604800, minimum=900
;       ftime=982967703, xaddrcnt=0, state=0041, pid=0
; 16.172.in-addr.arpa (type 1, class 1, source 172.16.rev)
;       time=0, lastupdate=0, serial=2001071602,
;       refresh=0, retry=1800, expire=604800, minimum=900
;       ftime=982968091, xaddrcnt=0, state=0041, pid=0
;; --zone table--

The section begins by displaying the date and time that the dump was taken. Labels at the start and end of the section delimit the zone table. As indicated by the fact that each line begins with a semicolon, all of these lines are comments meant to provide information to the system administrator. None of these are real database entries used by DNS. From the example above, you can tell that this server has a zone statement in its named.conf file for the following domains:

. (dot)

The root domain that was loaded from a source file called named.ca. This is the hints file described in Chapter 8, "Configuring DNS".

0.0.127.in-addr.arpa

The loopback domain that was loaded from the source file named.local.

wrotethebook.com

The wrotethebook.com domain that was loaded from the wrotethebook.com.hosts source file.

16.172.in-addr.arpa

The reverse domain 16.172.in-addr.arpa that was loaded from the 172.16.rev source file.

The values from the SOA record of each zone are also printed. In the sample shown above, every zone except the root (.) has an SOA record.

The zone table section identifies every zone for which the server has authority. It tells you where the server obtained the information about the zone, and it tells you what defaults are set for the zone by the SOA record. If a zone is missing or is loading from the wrong source, correct the zone statement in the named.conf file.

13.6.3.2. The Cache & Data section

The second section of the dump file is by far the longest. This is the section that contains all of the DNS information known to the server. Because of the section's length, the Cache & Data information shown below is just an excerpt:

; Note: Cr=(auth,answer,addtnl,cache) tag only shown for non-auth RR's
; Note: NT=milliseconds for any A RR which we've used as a nameserver
; --- Cache & Data ---
$ORIGIN .
.    513482    IN    NS    H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
    513482    IN    NS    A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cr=auth
... Many Lines Deleted ...

$ORIGIN ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
K    599882    IN    A    193.0.14.129    ;NT=9 Cr=answer
A    599882    IN    A    198.41.0.4    ;NT=10 Cr=answer
L    599882    IN    A    198.32.64.12    ;NT=5 Cr=answer
    599882    IN    A    202.12.27.33    ;NT=15 Cr=answer
B    599882    IN    A    128.9.0.107    ;NT=5 Cr=answer
C    599882    IN    A    192.33.4.12    ;NT=165 Cr=answer
D    599882    IN    A    128.8.10.90    ;NT=12 Cr=answer
E    599882    IN    A    192.203.230.10    ;NT=6 Cr=answer
F    599882    IN    A    192.5.5.241    ;NT=1021 Cr=answer
G    599882    IN    A    192.112.36.4 ;NT=1023 Cr=answer
H    599882    IN    A    128.63.2.53    ;NT=6 Cr=answer
I    599882    IN    A    192.36.148.17    ;NT=7 Cr=answer
J    599882    IN    A    198.41.0.10    ;NT=6 Cr=answer
... Many Lines Deleted ...

$ORIGIN com.
foobirds 86400 IN RP admin.foobirds.org. hotline.foobirds.org. ;Cl=2
    86400    IN    MX    10 wren.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
    86400    IN    MX    20 parrot.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
    86400    IN    NS    wren.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
    86400    IN    NS    parrot.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
    86400    IN    SOA    wren.foobirds.org. admin.wren.foobirds.org. (
             2000020501 21600 1800 604800 900 )    ;Cl=2
$ORIGIN foobirds.org.
ducks    86400    IN    NS    ruddy.ducks.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    NS    wren.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    NS    bear.mammals.org.    ;Cl=2
news     86400    IN    CNAME    parrot.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
robin    86400    IN    RP    admin.foobirds.org. hotline.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    MX    5 wren.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    A    172.16.5.2    ;Cl=2
puffin   86400    IN    RP    admin.foobirds.org. hotline.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    MX    5 wren.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    A    172.16.5.17    ;Cl=2
wren     86400    IN    RP    admin.foobirds.org. hotline.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    A    172.16.5.1    ;Cl=2
parrot   86400    IN    RP    logan.parrot.foobirds.org. logan.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    A    172.16.5.3    ;Cl=2
logan    86400    IN    TXT    "Logan Little (301)555-2021"    ;Cl=2
crow     86400    IN    RP    doris.crow.foobirds.org.foobirds.org. crowRP.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    A    172.16.5.5    ;Cl=2
localhost   86400    IN    A    127.0.0.1    ;Cl=2
terns    86400    IN    NS    sooty.terns.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    NS    arctic.terns.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
www      86400    IN    CNAME    wren.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
hotline  86400    IN    TXT    "Support hotline (301)555-2000"    ;Cl=2
bob      86400    IN    CNAME    robin.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
redbreast    86400    IN    CNAME    robin.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
hawkRP   86400    IN    TXT    "Clark Smart (301)555-2099"    ;Cl=2
kestrel   86400    IN    RP    clark.foobirds.org.foobirds.org. hawkRP.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    A    172.16.5.20    ;Cl=2
crowRP   86400    IN    TXT    "Doris Nathan (301)555-2078"    ;Cl=2
kestral  86400    IN    CNAME    kestrel.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
hawk     86400    IN    RP    clark.foobirds.org.foobirds.org. hawkRP.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=2
         86400    IN    A    172.16.5.4    ;Cl=2
foobirds-net    86400    IN    PTR    0.0.16.172.in-addr.arpa.    ;Cl=2
$ORIGIN terns.foobirds.org.
arctic   86400    IN    A    172.16.30.251    ;Cl=2
sooty    86400    IN    A    172.16.30.250    ;Cl=2
$ORIGIN 172.in-addr.arpa.
16       86400    IN    NS    wren.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=4
         86400    IN    SOA    wren.foobirds.org. admin.wren.foobirds.org. (
        2000021602 21600 1800 604800 900 )    ;Cl=4
$ORIGIN 6.16.172.in-addr.arpa.
1    86400    IN    PTR    arctic.terns.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=4
$ORIGIN 12.16.172.in-addr.arpa.
3    86400    IN    PTR    wren.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=4
$ORIGIN 5.16.172.in-addr.arpa.
20   86400    IN    PTR    kestrel.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=4
4    86400    IN    PTR    hawk.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=4
2    86400    IN    PTR    robin.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=4
17   86400    IN    PTR    puffin.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=4
5    86400    IN    PTR    crow.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=4
3    86400    IN    PTR    parrot.foobirds.org.    ;Cl=4
$ORIGIN 0.127.in-addr.arpa.
0    86400    IN    NS    localhost.    ;Cl=5
     86400    IN    SOA    localhost. root.localhost. (
        1997022700 28800 14400 3600000 86400 )    ;Cl=5
$ORIGIN 0.0.127.in-addr.arpa.
1    86400    IN    PTR    localhost.    ;Cl=5

The example is long even though the dump was taken shortly after the server started, and many lines have been deleted from the listing. The bulk of the data shown is information loaded from the local zone files, but a dump file also contains a good deal of cached information. Large chunks of the cache are the result of information provided in the authority and additional sections of the query responses. At least as much data enters the cache in this manner as enters as a result of specific answers to queries. The large number of NS entries and the A records for those NS entries make this clear.

The Cache & Data section is segmented by $ORIGIN directives. All of the other lines in this section are clearly identifiable DNS resource records. But some additional information is appended to the end of each record as a comment. Three comments that the server commonly adds to a record include the following:

Cl

Identifies the number of fields in the current origin. Therefore, when the origin is 0.0.127.in-addr.arpa, the Cl value is 5, and when the origin is wrotethebook.com, the Cl value is 2. The root (.) is assigned a Cl value of 0.

Nt

The round trip time for queries to the specified name server. This comment is added only to the address records of name servers. The round trip time helps named select the best server for a given query.

Cr

The "credibility" tag identifies the authority level of the source of cached information. BIND has three authority levels:

auth

An authoritative answer.

answer

An answer from a non-authoritative source.

addtnl

A record learned from the authority or additional section of a query response.

The Cr value is used by named when a record is received that already exists in the name server's cache. If the record received has a higher credibility rating than the record in the cache, the new record replaces the cached record. If the new record has a lower credibility rating than the record in the cache, the cached record is retained. Of the Cr values, auth is the most credible and addtnl is the least credible.

The comments at the end of a record are not the only comments that you might see in the Cache & Data section of a dump file. Negative cached information also appears in the dump as a comment. There are no examples of this in our sample dump file, but if there were, you would see a normal resource record that starts with a semicolon. In other words, the negative cached information appears as a resource record that has been commented out of the file. Additionally, the tag NXDOMAIN is written near the end of the record.

Examine the Cache & Data section to discover if the data you entered in your zone file has been loaded as you expect. Also use this section to see if the information you have loaded from a remote server is what you expect. Local data can be corrected locally. Incorrect data from a remote server may require coordination with the administrator of a remote domain.

13.6.3.3. The Hints section

The last section in the dump file is the Hints section. This section contains the list of root name servers loaded from the hints file. (Defining and using the hints file is discussed in Chapter 8, "Configuring DNS".) This hints file is used only when the name server starts. Once the server starts, one of the root servers is queried for an authoritative list of root servers. It is the authoritative list obtained from the root server that you see in the Cache & Data section following the $ORIGIN . statement.

The Hints section from our sample system is shown below. Notice that all of the name servers in the Hints section have an Nt number assigned. named queries each server to establish a round trip time to select the best root server to use.

; --- Hints ---
$ORIGIN .
.   3600000    IN    NS    A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
    3600000    IN    NS    M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.    ;Cl=0
$ORIGIN ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
K    3600000    IN    A    193.0.14.129    ;NT=2 Cl=0
L    3600000    IN    A    198.32.64.12    ;NT=5 Cl=0
A    3600000    IN    A    198.41.0.4      ;NT=6 Cl=0
    3600000    IN    A    202.12.27.33    ;NT=10 Cl=0
B    3600000    IN    A    128.9.0.107     ;NT=134 Cl=0
C    3600000    IN    A    192.33.4.12     ;NT=8 Cl=0
D    3600000    IN    A    128.8.10.90     ;NT=24 Cl=0
E    3600000    IN    A    192.203.230.10  ;NT=2 Cl=0
F    3600000    IN    A    192.5.5.241     ;NT=22 Cl=0
G    3600000    IN    A    192.112.36.4    ;NT=2 Cl=0
H    3600000    IN    A    128.63.2.53     ;NT=22 Cl=0
I    3600000    IN    A    192.36.148.17   ;NT=2 Cl=0
J    3600000    IN    A    198.41.0.10     ;Cl=0

The purpose of dumping the DNS cache is to examine what data is stored internally by DNS and how it is stored. Examining the authoritative information that you provide to the server in the zone files will give you insight into how that data is being stored. Examining the other data in the cache shows you how your users use DNS. Learning how DNS is normally used can help identify when usage patterns change.

If you see problems in the dump file, force named to reload its cache with the ndc reload command (on BIND 9, use rndc reload), or with the SIGHUP signal as shown below:

# kill -HUP 'cat /etc/named.pid'

This clears the cache and reloads the valid root server entries from your named.ca file.

If you know which system is corrupting your cache, instruct your system to ignore updates from the culprit by using a server statement in the /etc/named.conf file with the bogus option set to yes. The server statement lists the IP address of a name server. Setting bogus to yes in the server statement tells named that information from that server cannot be trusted. For example, the previous section described a problem where 24seven.events.wrotethebook.com (172.16.16.1) was causing cache corruption with improperly formatted HINFO records. The following entry in the named.conf file would reject answers from 24seven.events.wrotethebook.com and thus prevent the cache corruption:

 server 172.16.16.1 {
    bogus yes;
};

Setting bogus to yes is only a temporary measure, designed to keep things running while the remote domain administrator has a chance to diagnose and repair the problem. Once the remote system is fixed, remove the server statement from named.conf.

13.6.4. dig: An Alternative to nslookup

An alternative to nslookup for making name service queries is dig. dig queries are usually entered as single-line commands, while nslookup is usually run as an interactive session. But the dig command performs essentially the same function as nslookup. Which you use is mostly a matter of personal choice. They both work well.

As an example, we'll use dig to ask the root server b.root-servers.net for the NS records for the mit.edu domain. To do this, enter the following command:

% dig @b.root-servers.net mit.edu ns

In this example, @b.root-servers.net is the server that is being queried. The server can be identified by name or IP address. If you're troubleshooting a problem in a remote domain, specify an authoritative server for that domain. In this example we're asking for the names of servers for a top-level domain (mit.edu), so we ask a root server.

If you don't specify a server explicitly, dig uses the local name server or the name server defined in the /etc/resolv.conf file. (Chapter 8, "Configuring DNS" describes resolv.conf.) Optionally, you can set the environment variable LOCALRES to the name of an alternate resolv.conf file. This alternate file will then be used in place of /etc/resolv.conf for dig queries. Setting the LOCALRES variable will affect only dig. Other programs that use name service will continue to use /etc/resolv.conf.

The last item on our sample command line is ns. This is the query type. A query type is a value that requests a specific type of DNS information. It is similar to the value used in nslookup's set type command. Table 13-1 shows the possible dig query types and their meanings.

Table 13-1. dig query types

Query type

DNS record requested

a

Address records

any

Any type of record

mx

Mail Exchange records

ns

Name Server records

soa

Start of Authority records

hinfo

Host Info records

axfr

All records in the zone

txt

Text records

Notice that the function of nslookup's ls command is performed by the dig query type axfr.

dig also has an option that is useful for locating a hostname when you have only an IP address. If you have only the IP address of a host, you may want to find out the hostname because numeric addresses are more prone to typos. Having the hostname can reduce the user's problems. The in-addr.arpa domain converts addresses to hostnames, and dig provides a simple way to enter in-addr.arpa domain queries. Using the -x option, you can query for a number-to-name conversion without having to manually reverse the numbers and add "in-addr.arpa." For example, to query for the hostname of IP address 18.72.0.3, simply enter:

% dig -x 18.72.0.3 
 
; <<>> DiG 2.2 <<>> -x  
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch 
;; got answer: 
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 4
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 3, ADDITIONAL: 3
;; QUERY SECTION:
;;      3.0.72.18.in-addr.arpa, type = ANY, class = IN

;; ANSWER SECTION:
3.0.72.18.in-addr.arpa.  6H IN PTR  BITSY.MIT.EDU.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
18.in-addr.arpa.        6H IN NS        W20NS.MIT.EDU.
18.in-addr.arpa.        6H IN NS        BITSY.MIT.EDU.
18.in-addr.arpa.        6H IN NS        STRAWB.MIT.EDU.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
W20NS.MIT.EDU.          6H IN A         18.70.0.160
BITSY.MIT.EDU.          6H IN A         18.72.0.3
STRAWB.MIT.EDU.         6H IN A         18.71.0.151

;; Total query time: 367 msec
;; FROM: wren.foobirds.org to SERVER: default -- 0.0.0.0
;; WHEN: Thu Jul 19 16:00:39 2001
;; MSG SIZE  sent: 40  rcvd: 170 

The answer to our query is BITSY.MIT.EDU, but dig displays lots of other output. For the purposes of this specific query, the only important information is the answer.[153] However, the additional information displayed by dig is useful for gaining an insight into the format of a DNS response packet and for learning where the various pieces of DNS information come from.

[153]To see a single-line answer to this query, pipe dig's output to grep; e.g., dig -x 18.72.0.3 | grep PTR.

The format of the DNS message is defined in RFC 1035, Domain Names - Implementation and Specification. The RFC defines a standard message format composed of up to five parts:

Header

Provides administrative information about the message, including information about what is contained in subsequent sections of the message.

Question

Defines the question being asked by a query. When the question section is returned in a response, it is used to help determine which question the response is answering.

Answer

The part of a response that contains the answer to the specific question sent in the query.

Authority

Contains pointers to the authoritative servers for the domain being queried.

Additional

Contains other resource records that provide additional, important information that supports the answer. This is not the answer to the query, but it helps in interpreting or utilizing the answer.

The core of the output of the dig command is found in the various sections from the DNS response packet. The header data from the example above is:

;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 4
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 3, ADDITIONAL: 3 

dig does not display the header data in the order in which it occurs in the header section, but it is easy to map the dig display to the header described in RFC 1035. The various values displayed in the example and their meanings are listed here:

opcode: QUERY

Indicates that this is a standard query.

status: NOERROR

Indicates that no error code was found in the RCODE field of the header, which means that the RCODE field contains a 0.

id: 6

Indicates that the identifier used for this message was the number 6.

flags: qr aa rd ra

flags groups together all of the one-bit fields from the header. In this case it covers four different fields in the header section and gives us information about three others. This flag group means that QR is set to 1, indicating this is a response. AA is set to 1 because this answer came from an authoritative server. RD is set to 1 to indicate that recursion was requested by the query. RA is set to 1, indicating that recursion is available on the server. TC is not listed, meaning it is set to 0 and that the response was not truncated. AD and CD are also set to 0 because DNSSEC is not in use.

QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 3, ADDITIONAL: 3

These represent the header fields QDCOUNT, ANCOUNT, NSCOUNT, and ARCOUNT, which indicate the number of resource records in the remaining sections of the response. This display says that there is one entry in the question section, one resource record in the answer section, three records in the authority section, and three records in the additional section.

The sample dig command displays the following query data:

;; QUERY SECTION:
;;      3.0.72.18.in-addr.arpa, type = ANY, class = IN

The three fields of this query are clearly shown. The class field is IN because this is a query for Internet records. The query is asking for any record (type = any) associated with 3.0.72.18.in-addr.arpa. Notice how dig reversed the address and created the proper reverse domain name for this query.

Next, the dig command displays the answer, authority, and additional sections:

;; ANSWER SECTION:
3.0.72.18.in-addr.arpa.  6H IN PTR  BITSY.MIT.EDU.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
18.in-addr.arpa.        6H IN NS        W20NS.MIT.EDU.
18.in-addr.arpa.        6H IN NS        BITSY.MIT.EDU.
18.in-addr.arpa.        6H IN NS        STRAWB.MIT.EDU.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
W20NS.MIT.EDU.          6H IN A         18.70.0.160
BITSY.MIT.EDU.          6H IN A         18.72.0.3
STRAWB.MIT.EDU.         6H IN A         18.71.0.151

The answer is just what you would expect: the PTR record for 3.0.72.18.in-addr.arpa. The record tells us that the hostname for the address 18.72.0.3 is bitsy.mit.edu.

The authority section lists the servers that are authoritative for the 18.in-addr.arpa domain. There are three NS records, each providing the name of an authoritative server. From this, we know that w20ns.mit.edu, bitsy.mit.edu, and strawb.mit.edu are authoritative for the reverse domain 18.in-addr.arpa.

The additional section completes the message by providing the address of each of the authoritative servers. The addresses are important because if the local server wants to send future queries directly to these authoritative servers, it needs to know the servers' addresses. In this case, the addresses are 18.70.0.160, 18.72.0.3, and 18.71.0.151.

In addition to the DNS response, dig provides status information in the first three lines and the last four lines of the display. The first line echoes the dig command-line options (-x in the example). The second line displays the resolver library settings, and the third line states whether or not an answer was found for the query. The last four lines show the query response time, the name and address of the server that answered the query, when the query was received, and the size of the query and response packets. All of this can be helpful information when debugging a DNS problem.

dig is useful because the format of the DNS message is clearly shown in the dig output. dig is included with Linux, but it is not found on all Unix systems. Don't worry if you don't have it on your system. nslookup can be used to attack the same problems as dig. nslookup and dig both test DNS very effectively.



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