I think the Internet hates my DNS server's new IP address.
July 17, 2011 6:00 PM Subscribe
I run my own DNS. Recently, I moved the DNS server to a new IP block. I meticulously changed all the zone files. Months later, phantom traces of one of the old IP addresses still linger in the public DNS at times. Unfortunately, that one IP address is the address of my DNS server itself. Help!
I'll try and explain this as succinctly as possible. I have a number of domain names. One of them is, let's say, example.com. And I have a machine at dns.example.com that provides DNS services for all of my domains, including example.com itself. (No worries; I have backup DNS elsewhere, and then use a free-but-about-to-not-be DNS service behind that as backup.)
Recently, because of a move across town, Speakeasy had to give me new IP addresses. So dns.example.com got a new IP. I changed all the zone files for all the various domains to reflect this. I used to have 66.x.y.z IP addresses; they're now all 71.a.b.c.
I even changed the "registration" (if that's the word) for my DNS server at Namecheap (where all but one of my domains are registered nowadays), so that it knows of the new IP.
But still, maybe about 1/5 of the time, if you do a lookup for dns.example.com, the old, 66.x.y.z IP address is returned. I'm almost positive this is why people sometimes e-mail me and get a bounceback -- even though they can e-mail me another day and it'll go through fine.
I do have one remaining theory about this. Over the course of the last year and a half or so, I moved off GoDaddy (ugh) to Namecheap. Back when I first set up example.com, I was with GoDaddy, so it was with them who I had to "register" the existence of dns.example.com as a valid DNS server. I would ultimately move all but one of my domains (a .name, which Namecheap doesn't support) to Namecheap. I never did any sort of "un-registration" with GoDaddy to remove dns.example.com from their system; it never even crossed my mind. Is this what's screwing things up?
It seems a bit unlikely, because the entire domain itself is with Namecheap now, and the IP address I "registered" with Namecheap for dns.example.com is the correct, current, 71.a.b.c one. And obviously, in the DNS zone file for example.com itself, dns.example.com is defined with the current, 71.a.b.c address, too.
So, what gives? (More details can be provided as needed.)
I'll try and explain this as succinctly as possible. I have a number of domain names. One of them is, let's say, example.com. And I have a machine at dns.example.com that provides DNS services for all of my domains, including example.com itself. (No worries; I have backup DNS elsewhere, and then use a free-but-about-to-not-be DNS service behind that as backup.)
Recently, because of a move across town, Speakeasy had to give me new IP addresses. So dns.example.com got a new IP. I changed all the zone files for all the various domains to reflect this. I used to have 66.x.y.z IP addresses; they're now all 71.a.b.c.
I even changed the "registration" (if that's the word) for my DNS server at Namecheap (where all but one of my domains are registered nowadays), so that it knows of the new IP.
But still, maybe about 1/5 of the time, if you do a lookup for dns.example.com, the old, 66.x.y.z IP address is returned. I'm almost positive this is why people sometimes e-mail me and get a bounceback -- even though they can e-mail me another day and it'll go through fine.
I do have one remaining theory about this. Over the course of the last year and a half or so, I moved off GoDaddy (ugh) to Namecheap. Back when I first set up example.com, I was with GoDaddy, so it was with them who I had to "register" the existence of dns.example.com as a valid DNS server. I would ultimately move all but one of my domains (a .name, which Namecheap doesn't support) to Namecheap. I never did any sort of "un-registration" with GoDaddy to remove dns.example.com from their system; it never even crossed my mind. Is this what's screwing things up?
It seems a bit unlikely, because the entire domain itself is with Namecheap now, and the IP address I "registered" with Namecheap for dns.example.com is the correct, current, 71.a.b.c one. And obviously, in the DNS zone file for example.com itself, dns.example.com is defined with the current, 71.a.b.c address, too.
So, what gives? (More details can be provided as needed.)
Best answer: Is this what's screwing things up?
Yes. I can't find an authoritive explanation for this (or what happens when you "register" a dns server) -- but I had the same issue a number of years ago with NetSol.
posted by SirStan at 6:29 PM on July 17, 2011
Yes. I can't find an authoritive explanation for this (or what happens when you "register" a dns server) -- but I had the same issue a number of years ago with NetSol.
posted by SirStan at 6:29 PM on July 17, 2011
Best answer: And to follow up my response -- when you "register" the DNS server Godaddy inserts a Glue Record for your domain.
I assume the 'Glue Record' is registered with the appropriate TLD root servers. As these are a group of DNS servers you query randomly, one out of the ten might have the wrong glue record from GoDaddy.
http://www.webdnstools.com/dnstools/domain_check
See if that tool detects the inconsistent Glue Records. It might even give you the exact TLD root with the bad record to report to GoDaddy.
posted by SirStan at 6:38 PM on July 17, 2011
I assume the 'Glue Record' is registered with the appropriate TLD root servers. As these are a group of DNS servers you query randomly, one out of the ten might have the wrong glue record from GoDaddy.
http://www.webdnstools.com/dnstools/domain_check
See if that tool detects the inconsistent Glue Records. It might even give you the exact TLD root with the bad record to report to GoDaddy.
posted by SirStan at 6:38 PM on July 17, 2011
Response by poster: SirStan: Bingo. I got a "Server returned an incorrect number of 'glue' records" error using your link. I guess it's time to call up GoDaddy and get them to fix this. Thanks!
posted by CommonSense at 6:44 PM on July 17, 2011
posted by CommonSense at 6:44 PM on July 17, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Maybe you can find what their DNS server is and query it for your domain name. That might give you the answer. If their server has the old number, and still thinks it is the authoritative DNS for that domain name, I think your only choice is to talk to them.
posted by gjc at 6:27 PM on July 17, 2011