rsync throwing odd error

[John Almberg]

On Nov 21, 2008, at 12:50 PM, John Almberg wrote:

> This is the week for strange problems...
>
> I use rsync to copy tinydns data files to backup name servers. This  
> has been working for about a year with no problem. Suddenly, I am  
> getting odd errors:
>
> /usr/local/bin/rsync -az -e 'ssh ' data.cdb admin at qu.example.com:/ 
> usr/local/etc/tinydns/root/data.cdb
> channel 1: open failed: administratively prohibited: open failed
>
> The rsync does work. That is, the file is copied over. So this is  
> actually a warning, I guess.
>
> On the other server, the one the file is being copied TO, the  
> following is printed in /var/log/auth.log
>
> Nov 21 12:43:38 qu sshd[4604]: Address 67.111.0.194 maps to  
> on.example.com, but this does not map back to the address -  
> POSSIBLE BREAK-IN ATTEMPT!
> Nov 21 12:43:38 qu sshd[4604]: Accepted publickey for root from  
> 67.111.0.194 port 55777 ssh2
>
> I'm guessing this is some sort of DNS mis-match, but I don't quite  
> grasp what the problem could be.


Ahhhh... a reverse DNS problem!

Sorry for the dumb question, but it's amazingly helpful to just write  
down the question clear enough for the group. It frequently clarifies  
the problem to the point where the answer becomes obvious, even to a  
newbie like me.

DNS had been delegated to this server, but now that seems to be no  
longer working, so the reverse DNS look up is all wrong. That makes  
sense... an external change by the colo guys must have triggered this.

Will get on to them, and that should short this problem out.

-- John