Name server confusion

Help! (Home for newbies)
1

Yes, another confused user! Sorry!

I have a domain registered with Hostroute - jmb-webserver.com with A record and MX record pointing to 92.27.7.240 - my static IP address.

The nameservers for the domain are the Hostroute nameservers.

In Virtualmin I have added the NS records ns1.jmb-webserver.com. and ns2.jmb-webserver.com. in the jmb-webserver.com DNS settings.

In the DNS settings at Hostroute I have registered the nameservers ns1.jmb-webserver.com and ns2.jmb-webserver.com pointing to my IP address.

Now, I have another domain - tardisnetwork.com - registered with Hostroute and I’ve set the nameservers for that domain to ns1.jmb-webserver.com and ns2.jmb-webserver.com - the server is also created in Virtualmin.

However, tardisnetwork.com reports:

Nameservers for www.tardisnetwork.com:
ns1.jmb-webserver.com returned (SERVFAIL)
ns2.jmb-webserver.com returned (SERVFAIL)

I am doing something wrong but can’t work out what! Please help! Many thanks in advance.

John

2

Howdy,

Well, it sounds like your nameserver setup is correct… but, BIND isn’t answering queries on 92.27.7.240.

Is your server by chance behind a NAT router? If so, is port 53 UDP being forwarded into your server?

Or, is there a firewall blocking port 53?

Otherwise, you may want to verify that port 53 UDP is listening on your server. What does this command output:

netstat -an | grep :53

3

The given IP address does not react to ping or traceroute either. The route leading there looks like it’s a dedicated server as opposed to a home-hosted one?

So what Eric suggested is valid and should be checked. Additionally, this sentence here struck me:

In Virtualmin I have added the NS records ns1.jmb-webserver.com. and ns2.jmb-webserver.com. in the jmb-webserver.com DNS settings.

Are you sure you mean NS records? You configured your Virtualmin to have those host names as NS records for “jmb-webserver.com”? Those entries then clash with what your registrar has recorded as NS for that domain:

jmb-webserver.com. 172800 IN NS ns.srv2.com. jmb-webserver.com. 172800 IN NS ns2.srv2.com. ;; Received 111 bytes from 192.5.6.30#53(a.gtld-servers.net) in 130 ms

Those entries don’t hurt either though, since your Virtualmin is not hosting the jmb-webserver.com zone at all. It only would be if you configured the NS entries at your registrar too, which might or might not be what you want.