I have multiple domains and nameservers that I have add to my resolv.conf to resolv hostnames on two subnets. Running Solaris10 x86. System has two Nics, each connected to a different network.

Trying to have my system resolve hosts on two different domains. I have read a post (2008) but the file details were missing:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...le-dns-643610/

My /etc/resolv.conf:

domain spartans
nameserver 172.20.0.1
nameserver 128.197.253.183
nameserver 128.197.253.120
options domain-name "bu.edu"


I can resolve hosts in the spartan domain, but not the bu.edu domain

hecate:/etc> host userB.spartans
userB.spartans has address 172.20.0.3

hecate:/etc> host morta.bu.edu
Host morta.bu.edu not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)

My nsswitch.conf file has the following:
hosts: files dns

/etc/hosts file also lists the hosts/ip's


Seems like I am missing a directive or the order of the directives is overwriting something..

Any help/advice appreciated.
Thanks
mef

It should just be:
That will allow you to search by shortname for either domain - If it finds it in spartans then it won't look in bu.edu. If it doesn't find it in spartans it will look in bu.edu.

So "host userB" and "host morta" should find userB.spartans and morta.bu.edu respectively.

However, that's not your probelm - Your problem is your name servers don't know or aren't reporting morta.bu.edu - I know this because you put in the long name and got the NXDOMAIN response:
If you put in long name (Fully Qualified Domain Name a/k/a FQDN) as you did then it shouldn't search by short name.

Thanks... I did update the resolv.conf as you suggested and it still does not resolve short or long on the bu.edu domain.

hecate:/etc> host morta
Host morta not found: 2(SERVFAIL)

hecate:/etc> host morta.bu.edu
Host morta.bu.edu.bu.edu not found: 2(SERVFAIL)

But I can ping the system by host name:
hecate:/etc> ping morta.bu.edu
morta.bu.edu is alive

"However, that's not your probelm - Your problem is your name servers don't know or aren't reporting morta.bu.edu - I know this because you put in the long name and got the NXDOMAIN response:"

Could you point me to where should I be looking to resolve the issue?

Do you have morta.bu.edu in /etc/hosts on the system you're trying this from? If it is in /etc/hosts then ping will find it but host and nslookup won't because they only interrogate name servers.

Your response from host this time indicates the name servers still don't know the answer.

As to troubleshooting:
1) You have 127.0.0.1 in resolv.conf - Unless you're running DNS (e.g. BIND) on the local host that shouldn't be there. It just causes it to take longer to search because it has to timeout on that one before going to the next one.
2) The two nameservers you listed - one of them must be have DNS (e.g. BIND) running and report an answer for bu.edu domain or know where to refer it to. In BIND you'd need to have zone file for bu.edu and an entry in named.conf for bu.edu that tells it where the zone file is.

1 members found this post helpful.

Shouldn't it be...

Each "search" is it's own line AFAIK

Ah... yes, the morta is in the hosts file
the resolv.conf does not have 127.0.0.1

And the nameserver 172.20.0.1 is running dns for my CentOS cluster. The named.conf file on my dns server (172.20.0.1) does not list the bu.edu domain. Interestingly, the centos systems can resolv hostnames on both domains/network with basically the same resolv.conf file.

I'll have to check the my dns setup.
Thanks

No - you can have multiple domains specified in one search line - We have 3 in all our internal systems which include Solaris, Linux, HP-UX and SCO.

From the man page for resolv.conf on CentOS5:

Apparently I have a mild form of dyslexia or I just wasn't paying attention. I saw your first line and somehow thought it was 127.0.0.1.

If you have others hosts using the same resolv.conf that are finding it I wonder if perhaps the issue is that you're somehow not getting to one of the nameservers from the host having the issue but are from the others. This could be due to no route to the network, blocked port (e.g. 53 for query) or random block for return packets in a firewall or iptables. Trying a ping from the host that does work and comparing to the one that doesn't might instructive. Similarly trying a "telnet <nameserver> 53" might help.

1 members found this post helpful.

Ahh...I've always put them on separate lines.

Learn something new everyday

-C

No worries.. I figured as much.

Name resolution is working now. Thanks for your advice/help. Provided detail incase others have same issue.

I updated the named.conf file on my DNS server to forward to the bu.edu nameservers.

};
forward only;
forwarders{
128.197.253.183;
128.197.253.120;
};

restarted named

hecate:/etc> host morta
morta.bu.edu has address 128.197.129.132
hecate:/etc> host userb

my resolv.conf:
search spartans bu.edu
nameserver 172.20.0.1
nameserver 128.197.253.183
nameserver 128.197.253.120


Thanks again.

No problem. Glad you got it working.

Don't forget to mark it SOLVED.