[TriLUG] Bind Question

[Aaron S. Joyner]

Nick trilug wrote:

>Hey,
>
>I am having trouble figuring out why a domain which my company hosts is
>not resolving. When I dig I receive a SERVFAIL error. However I am
>unaware of any changes either on the DNS box or the network. I have
>googled but have not found anything that clearly explains what to look
>for. Any help is appreciated. Below is the output of dig.
>
>  
>
>>dig sedrasmith.org
>>    
>>
Well this domain certainly has a problem... where shall we begin?

A whois lookup of the domain results in 3 DNS servers theoretically
configured for this domain, which are as follows:
MELPOMENE.OUP-USA.ORG
DNS0.HK.HUB.OUP.COM
DNS1.UK.HUB.OUP.COM

Let's see if that lines up with reality.  First we'll query the root
servers (a.root-servers.net, for example), which will tell us that
tld1.ultradns.net is responsible for .org names.  Then we'll ask
tld1.ultradns.net, something like this:

> [asjoyner at bobjr asjoyner]$ dig -t any sedrasmith.org
> @tld1.ultradns.net    
> <<unimportant bits removed>>
> ;; QUESTION SECTION:
> ;sedrasmith.org.                        IN      ANY
>
> ;; ANSWER SECTION:
> sedrasmith.org.         86400   IN      NS      melpomene.oup-usa.org.
> sedrasmith.org.         86400   IN      NS      dns1.uk.hub.oup.com.
> sedrasmith.org.         86400   IN      NS      dns0.hk.hub.oup.com.
>
> ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
> MELPOMENE.OUP-USA.ORG.  172800  IN      A       12.107.205.10


Which lines up with what the whois record shows.  So far, so good. 
Next, we'll try the first server returned by ultradns.org, and that's
where it gets flakey.  melpomene.oup-usa.org is the only server we get a
glue record for, and it doesn't respond at all.  dns1.uk.hub.oup.com
doesn't believe it's authoratative for sedrasmith.org, and doesn't have
any information about it, so it refers us back to the root servers, and
dns2.hk.hub.oup.com doesn't even resolve.  I considered that the hk in
that domain name *might* be a typo (although it makes logical sense as
united kingdom and hong kong), and tried it as dns2.uk.hub.oup.com which
does resolve, but does not respond.

So in short, I'm not sure who's responsible for your domain, or who's
responsible for any of your DNS servers, but essentially  *every*
oup.com server involved but the registrar is dropping the ball.  It
looks like the oup.com folks are mostly at fault, although that might be
two branches of the same organization, it's not likely I'd say. 

A quick glance at oup.com brings up Oxford University Press, and
oup-usa.com is Oxford World's Classics.  Now I'm quite curious about
what you're having hosted by Oxford University Press, is this a website
for the pair of authors who wrote things such as
/Microelectronic Circuits, Fifth Edition and Laboratory Explorations/? 
:)  Best of luck in chasing down Oxford press and getting them to get
their act together.

Further investigation shows that you are likely Oxford University Press,
in some fashion.  Didn't know they were based in Cary.  :)  If you are
responsible for the servers mentioned above, and you are unable to chase
down the problems with those particular servers, post again and I'll see
what I can do to help.

Aaron S. Joyner