I originally asked:
> I am encountering a BIND problem with my AlphaServer 2100 Model 5/250
> running Digital UNIX v3.2B. I have configured it to be an NIS slave
> server and BIND client. This works OK locally -- "nslookup" works,
> and all hostnames are resolved (local, YP, and BIND all work).
>
> However, when *other* hosts on my network use the Alpha as their NIS
> server and use a hostname not in the NIS maps, it comes back "Host
> unknown". When I "ypset" to another NIS server (one of two SunOS v4.x
> machines), the problem goes away, and when I "ypset" back, the problem
> comes back.
Thanks to the several people who pointed out that the problem lies not
with DEC, but with Sun. To put it succinctly: SunOS 4.x expects the
NIS server to do the DNS/BIND lookup if needed; other UNIXes do it
themselves. On the server side, only Sun NIS servers do the DNS
lookups, and non-Suns don't. So Sun clients using non-Sun servers
means that neither one does the DNS lookup. We had used only Suns for
our NIS servers, so this quirk was undetectable until now. (Also, I
had neglected to notice that our IBM AIX machines did not exhibit this
behavior with the DEC NIS server.)
I would have been tempted to restrict our Sun clients to use only
specific Sun servers, but SunOS apparently doesn't support that (other
than having to type "ypset hostname" when needed -- forget that!).
One suggestion sent to me was to make the DEC Alpha a BIND server at
some level (secondary, caching, whatever) as well as an NIS server,
but I tried it and it didn't seem to fix the problem.
The fix mentioned by the majority of respondents is to install BIND
patches on the Suns so that they do their own DNS lookups.
--
David C. Tuttle, Biomathematics ----> dct_at_odin.mda.uth.tmc.edu <----
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center +1 713 792 2606
Mail Stop 237, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030-4096 USA
Today's anagram of "David Charles Tuttle" is: RIVALLED DUTCH STATE
Received on Thu Aug 24 1995 - 18:04:41 NZST