From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Mar 31 12:36:29 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6959537B404 for ; Mon, 31 Mar 2003 12:36:29 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail.airnet.com.au (mail.airnet.com.au [202.174.32.5]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id A21A743F85 for ; Mon, 31 Mar 2003 12:36:27 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from ws@senet.com.au) Received: (qmail 6580 invoked from network); 31 Mar 2003 20:36:25 -0000 Received: from dsl2-81.gw1.adl1.airnet.com.au (HELO predatorii) (202.174.37.81) by mail.airnet.com.au with SMTP; 31 Mar 2003 20:36:25 -0000 Message-ID: <024501c2f7c6$080ab560$0264a8c0@regional.net.au> From: "W. Sierke" To: Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 06:12:21 +0930 Organization: OVirt Technologies MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Subject: localhost name resolution problem X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 20:36:32 -0000 Hi, In the course of trying to resolve a problem with sendmail (refusing to deliver even local mail), I saw a note in the sendmail configuration docs which says "host localhost must resolve to 127.0.0.1". However, when I checked my system I instead found (details obscured): # host localhost localhost.my.domain is a nickname for my.domain my.domain has address 202.x.x.x Someone suggested I check localhost.: # host localhost. Host not found. I'm not (wasn't) running a nameserver, my host.conf contains the entries hosts and bind in that order, resolv.conf has a single, automatic (from PPPoE) nameserver entry which works, hostname is set to this_machine.my.domain. hosts contains ::1 localhost.my.domain localhost 127.0.0.1 localhost.my.domain localhost 192.168.100.1 this_machine.my.domain this_machine 192.168.100.2 another_machine.my.domain another_machine ... The domain I'm using is one serviced by dyndns.org, and I have a dynamic IP address. I've now installed bind and have got to the point where localhost again resolves to 127.0.0.1 (and sendmail appears to be happy again). Notably in the process of doing this I've changed my domain name from "something.fictitious" to "my.domain". Now, however, (in part): # host -v localhost Trying domain "my.domain" rcode = 3 (Non-existent domain), ancount=0 Trying domain "domain" rcode = 0 (Success), ancount=1 The following answer is not authoritative: The following answer is not verified as authentic by the server: localhost.domain 66929 IN A 127.0.0.1 # host -v localhost. rcode = 3 (Non-existent domain), ancount=0 Host not found. Even though I've overcome my initial problem, I'm not happy and rather feel as though I've begun creating a monster (and that's the last thing I wanted to be doing when moving to FreeBSD). For example, I feel somewhat uncomfortable that localhost is now resolving from "domain" instead of "my.domain". I'm also confused about how I should be configuring bind when dyndns.org handles the dns for my domain (and whether I should really be running it at all). But I've exhausted my pitiful knowledge and searching capabilities for the moment. The handbook doesn't appear to be complete (following its example doesn't appear to help with the localhost resolution issue) and all of the material I've trawled up from the 'net is either too hard to follow or too old. Thanks, Wayne