much to my surprise....

[Frank Shute]

On Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 04:28:50PM -0500, Ryan Coleman wrote:
>
> 
> On Sep 22, 2011, at 3:14 PM, Robert Bonomi wrote:
> 
> >> From owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org  Thu Sep 22 14:30:49
> >> 2011 Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:30:54 -0700 From: Gary Kline
> >> <kline at thought.org> To: FreeBSD Mailing List
> >> <freebsd-questions at freebsd.org> Cc: Subject: much to my
> >> surprise....
> >> 
> >> 
> >> guys,
> >> 
> >> well, after a forced, unexpected, and emergency 5 days away, i
> >> got back to my desk and could not ping.  while mail seemed to be
> >> working, and my *local* ping worked---I could ping around from my
> >> freebsd server to my other computers--i spent 3+ hours trying to
> >> ping various sites.  Zero.  i tried everything i could think of.
> >> NOTHING worked.  i tried the -d -f -f to named and on and on and
> >> on.  nothing.
> >> 
> >> *Finally*, i  saw that my telco router was displaying "INT" in
> >> red LED's.  i didn't know they displayed in any other color but
> >> the default green, but after power-cycling, voila! back to green.
> >> and now, yes, i can ping freebsd.org.  and i'm pretty sure other
> >> network things will work too.  
> >> 
> >> from any/all sysadmin types or others:: i would like tricks,
> >> tips, insights--whatever--about named and whatever else.  i
> >> thought i had collected many.  nope.    i've got bind 9.8
> >> installed and it was working fine until my recent 'vacation.'
> >> Other than checking one's routers (hub/switch), and other
> >> hardware (including server, computers, cables, etc) does anybody
> >> have a checklist of what to do to diagnose this?  are there any
> >> other utilities i can try besides ping and named -d 3 -f -g?
> >> other network utilities with a debug flag?  i'm running 7.3 on a
> >> dell 530.
> >> 
> >> tia for any insights,
> > 
> > You should _really_ consider hiring a professional to maintain
> > your systems.
> > 
> > Diagnosing _this_ problem should have taken no more than about 30
> > *seconds*. 
> > 
> > If you can't get somewhere 'by name', you try to get there 'by
> > address'.
> > 
> > If 'by address' works and 'by name' doesn't, *that* is the
> > indication of a DNS problem.
> > 
> > If you can't get there 'by address', it is *NOT* a DNS problem,
> > and you start looking for a 'connectivity' problem.
> > 
> > The *BASIC* tools for that start with 'traceroute'.  Which would
> > have *immediately* (well, within abut ten seconds :) indicated
> > exactly _where_ the problem was.
> > 
> > Those  who don't understand these kind dof things are "too
> > dangerous" to be trusted with the superuser password.
> > 
> > Bluntly, not only do you not know the things you need to know to
> > manage a (even 'personal') network, you "DON'T KNOW _what_ you
> > don't know", and until you *do* learn the basics, you'll save
> > youself a *LOT* of hair- tearing if you hire someone to solve the
> > problems for you.
> 
> I whole-heartedly agree with Robert's points.
> 
> I host in my apartment... but I have more than a decade's experience
> maintaining networks and systems and, while the occasional issue
> stumps me, I'm pretty good at getting to the root of issues in
> minutes vs hours.
> 
> Yes, I was once a... for lack of a better term... moron on these
> things and I relied heavily on the tech who pushed me (gently)
> towards ?BSD from RHL and I am gracious every day for that nudge.
> 
> Experience is the best way to pick up the "quick list" of things to
> check on if there's a problem on your connectivity... but there's
> one thing I *must* stress: NEVER EVER EVER run your own DNS service.
> It's too much of a PITA. When I quit doing my own DNS my issues
> revolving around that ended. I use DynDNS to run my primary domain
> and all the others run through GoDaddy's free DNS manager. This is
> because I use the primary domain's hostname as my MX record on all
> the others. While GD's DNS is functional, it's also cumbersome, too
> cumbersome to update on a semi-regular basis.  I highly suggest that
> you do the same. $20/year for DynDNS' full domain service is worth
> the price.
> 
> My two bits (and a nibble).  --
> Ryan_______________________________________________


It's $30/year for DynDNS where I am (UK).

I had to use them because my static IP all of a sudden became dynamic
(crappy ISP). Now it seems to have gone back to static again.

I certainly wouldn't consider running my own DNS server (having done
it). It's more trouble than it's worth and is just one more
vulnerability/thing to go wrong. You can just use hosts for a small
network.


Regards,

-- 

 Frank

 Contact info: http://www.shute.org.uk/misc/contact.html


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