Hi guys - has anyone noticed anything funky with Xtra's DNS over the
last 2 or 3 days? I have a client that had periodic mail buildups on
outbound SMTP and the error was 'Unable to bind to the destination
server in DNS'. After lots of false starts I got to Xtra DNS...
>Nslookup
>Set vc (to force TCP which is I think SMTP's default lookup
protocol)
>Set q=mx
>Server 202.27.184.3
I tried that and got much strangeness when I put in
>swiftlink.co.nz
I should have gotten...
>Server: alien.xtra.co.nz
>Address: 202.27.184.3
>
>Non-authoritative answer:
>swiftlink.co.nz MX preference = 10, mail exchanger =
mail.swiftlink.co.nz
>
>swiftlink.co.nz nameserver = dns1.clear.net.nz
>swiftlink.co.nz nameserver = dns2.clear.net.nz
>mail.swiftlink.co.nz internet address = 203.167.202.72
>dns1.clear.net.nz internet address = 203.97.33.1
>dns2.clear.net.nz internet address = 203.97.37.1
And in fact, I often do, but I also get...
>Server: alien.xtra.co.nz
>Address: 202.27.184.3
>
>Non-authoritative answer:
That's right, end of report - I have received stranger though - how
about this???
>Server: alien.xtra.co.nz
>Address: 202.27.184.3
>Non-authoritative answer:
>swiftlink.co.nz MX preference = 10, mail exchanger =
mail.swiftlink.co.nz
>swiftlink.co.nz nameserver = Invalid Name at offset 66!
>*** Error: record size incorrect (-326254 != 17)
>Non-authoritative answer:
>swiftlink.co.nz MX preference = 10, mail exchanger =
mail.swiftlink.co.nz
>swiftlink.co.nz nameserver = Invalid Name at offset 66!
>*** Error: record size incorrect (-326254 != 17)
>*** alien.xtra.co.nz can't find swiftlink.co.nz: Unspecified error
(Blank lines removed for readability - sorry if they were important)
I have reproduced these results from 3 different Internet connections, 2
Jetstreams (Both with Xtra) and a Jetstart with Attica. Same results at
all 3 places...
Oh, if I type
>server 203.97.33.14
It all works perfectly...
I rang Xtra and did speak to someone that sounded as if they knew what
they were talking about, and even emailed copies of the above logs, and
they claimed that nothing was wrong.
Have I missed something blindingly obvious?
Also, omitting 'set vc' to leave it on UDP makes alien.xtra.co.nz play
nice again.
Late discovery - 202.27.184.5 seems ok - this makes me suspect Xtra has
problems even more, but my problems have been manifest over the last 3-4
days and they have denied any problems.
Cheers - Neil Gardner
Swiftlink NZ.
