question DNS issue Nameserver "xxxx" cannot be queried for SOA

[accastelli]

Hi,

I hope this can be posted safely in this forum . I saw similar topics have been discusses... years ago. However, no definitive solution appeared/

Recently we purchased a few domains ( on EuroDNS, which we have been using for years, but we may change given the quality of support), to use as sending domains for emails.

We had to point them to a different NS for the configuration. All went smooth for .com and .fr domains, but we have a .it domain that we cannot point.

Both Eurodns and the new NS support are blaming one another, and at this point we don't know what to do.

This is the error message we get:

Nameserver cannot be queried for SOA.

The most articulate answer from our registrar, so far, we received is this one:

Spoiler: Lines of text follows ^^

Domain: xxxxx.it
Validation time: 0.286 seconds
Validation status: FAILED
Nameservers associated to the domain name
Nameserver IP addresses
[....]
List of tests carried out
Test name Test Status
NameserversResolvableTest SUCCEEDED
NameserversAnswerTest WARNING
NameserverReturnCodeTest FAILED
AATest WARNING
NSCompareTest WARNING
NSCountTest WARNING
CNAMEHostTest WARNING
IPCompareTest NOT EXECUTED
MXCompareTest WARNING
MXRecordIsPresentTest WARNING
SOAMasterCompareTest WARNING
IPSoaTest NOT EXECUTED

Any clue on who is to blame, here?

Thank you all for your help.

Andrea

 

[Kate]

Some TLDs, including .fr, require that name servers comply with certain technical requirements.
For example at least two DNS servers NOT on the same (class C) IP range.
Some cheap webhosting services do not satisfy this requirement.
It could be one reason.

You can check your .it domains for compliance here: http://www.nic.it/dns-check/

What is the domain and the name servers ?

 

[accastelli]

First of all, thank you for your help.

It seems possible to me that you highlighted the correct issue. I found unusual that we experienced this issue only for the IT domain, while .COM and .FR went through correctly (But I am not aware of the difference in technical requirements).

The domain is "promo-netbet.it", the nameservers are:

ns0.dns.dotmailer.co.uk 94.143.104.162
ns1.dns.dotmailer.co.uk 80.249.108.165
ns2.dns.dotmailer.co.uk 79.125.127.185

We are currently unable to switch away from Eurodns, we receive the error "ns cannot be queried for SOA".

 

[Kate]

I don't think that the *.dns.dotmailer.co.uk are set up to serve your domain yet (no delegation).
Therefore the registry is rejecting the change request.

dig -t soa promo-netbet.it @ns1.dns.dotmailer.co.uk

; <<>> DiG 9.8.2rc1-RedHat-9.8.2-0.30.rc1.el6 <<>> -t soa promo-netbet.it @ns1.dns.dotmailer.co.uk
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 11427
;; flags: qr rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;promo-netbet.it.               IN      SOA

;; Query time: 88 msec
;; SERVER: 80.249.108.165#53(80.249.108.165)
;; WHEN: Mon Nov 17 17:36:49 2014
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 33

Working example:

dig -t soa dotmailer.co.uk @ns0.dns.dotmailer.co.uk.

; <<>> DiG 9.8.2rc1-RedHat-9.8.2-0.30.rc1.el6 <<>> -t soa dotmailer.co.uk @ns0.dns.dotmailer.co.uk.
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 56586
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;dotmailer.co.uk.               IN      SOA

;; ANSWER SECTION:
dotmailer.co.uk.        500     IN      SOA     ns0.dns.dotmailer.co.uk. admin.dns.dotmailer.co.uk. 2010031239 3600 600 1209600 500

;; Query time: 88 msec
;; SERVER: 94.143.104.162#53(94.143.104.162)
;; WHEN: Mon Nov 17 17:40:10 2014
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 98

 

[accastelli]

Hi sdsinc,

thanks a lot for your help! Unbelievable how many times we had to relate to an unsupportive customer support

 

[Kate]

To sum up:
The new DNS servers @dotmailer.co.uk are responding to the .fr, but not to the .com and the .it.

Working:

dig -t soa promo-netbet.fr  @ns0.dns.dotmailer.co.uk.

; <<>> DiG 9.7.0-P1 <<>> -t soa promo-netbet.fr @ns0.dns.dotmailer.co.uk.
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 22010
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;promo-netbet.fr.               IN      SOA

;; ANSWER SECTION:
promo-netbet.fr.        3600    IN      SOA     ns0.dns.dotmailer.co.uk. admin.dns.dotmailer.co.uk. 2014103114 3600 3600 3600 3600

;; Query time: 25 msec
;; SERVER: 94.143.104.162#53(94.143.104.162)
;; WHEN: Tue Nov 18 12:47:52 2014
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 98

Fail:

dig -t soa promo-netbet.it  @ns0.dns.dotmailer.co.uk.

; <<>> DiG 9.7.0-P1 <<>> -t soa promo-netbet.it @ns0.dns.dotmailer.co.uk.
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 24827
;; flags: qr rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;promo-netbet.it.               IN      SOA

;; Query time: 29 msec
;; SERVER: 94.143.104.162#53(94.143.104.162)
;; WHEN: Tue Nov 18 12:47:45 2014
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 33

Fail:

dig -t soa promo-netbet.com  @ns0.dns.dotmailer.co.uk.

; <<>> DiG 9.7.0-P1 <<>> -t soa promo-netbet.com @ns0.dns.dotmailer.co.uk.
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 40974
;; flags: qr rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;promo-netbet.com.              IN      SOA

;; Query time: 23 msec
;; SERVER: 94.143.104.162#53(94.143.104.162)
;; WHEN: Tue Nov 18 12:47:57 2014
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 34

PS: consider using a third party DNS service for flexibility and redundancy... you don't have to use the DNS provided by the webhost or the registrar.

But the registrar still has to provision the domain name(s) you want to host with them.

 

[accastelli]

Hi,

Thank you for the information, it is really helpful.

I have a doubt, though.

The DNS servers of the IT domain should respond as per your example on the .FR domain even if the domain has not been pointed yet?

In other words: the results you showed here are the results of a preliminary operation that dotmailer should perform in order to allow us to point the domain to them, or are a consequence of a successfully pointed domain?

p.s. the .com domain is slightly different so it does not surprise me that the result is negative.

Thank you again,