Reverse DNS doesn't work - NXDOMAIN

Question

I'm trying to setup a slave DNS server but the reverse mapping doesn't seem to resolve.

When I try 'nslookup nslookup 94.249.214.137' it returns

Server:         66.96.208.21
Address:        66.96.208.21#53

** server can't find 137.214.249.94.in-addr.arpa.: NXDOMAIN

I've tried setting up a reverse zone, but it still doesn't work.

$ttl 38400
137.214.249.94.in-addr.arpa.    IN  SOA ns2.madtek.co.za. xxx.xxx.xxx. (

            1338041739

            10800

            3600

        604800

            38400 )

137.214.249.94.in-addr.arpa.    IN  NS  ns2.madtek.co.za.

137.214.249.94.in-addr.arpa.    IN  PTR ns2.madtek.co.za.

Can anyone help please?

Solution 1

The nameserver which resolves the PTR records for that subnet is ns1.ghostdns.de which, I'm guessing, you do not operate. It looks like it is operated by [email protected].

You need to contact whoever does operate that nameserver and ask them to add a PTR entry for 137.214.249.94.in-addr.arpa.

$ dig -x    94.249.214.137 -t SOA
; <<>> DiG 9.7.0-P1 <<>> -x 94.249.214.137 -t SOA
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 35612
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;137.214.249.94.in-addr.arpa.   IN  SOA

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
214.249.94.in-addr.arpa. 0  IN  SOA ns1.ghostdns.de. hostmaster.ghostnet.de. 2012032301 10800 1800 604800 10800

;; Query time: 32 msec
;; SERVER: 172.16.255.1#53(172.16.255.1)
;; WHEN: Sat May 26 15:16:41 2012
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 116

Solution 2

As James has noted you unlikely to be the administrator for the reverse zone (PTR records). Contact whoever provides your IP address and ask them to make the change. This usually takes a few days. You There will be a further day after they implement until cached values expire on other DNS servers.

You could ask them if they support delegating reverse lookups. This is defined in RFC 2317. You will need to make slight modification to the above zone file for it to work.

For IPv6, it should be easier to get the reverse zone delegated to you. In IPv4, you usually don't get the reverse zone delegated unless you have at least a /24 block allocated to you.

Comments

[James Youngman]

+1. Good additional info!