reverse dns lookup

M

mluke45

New member
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
4
I have a problem with this ptr record thing.
I have setup my first ever server and first time ever seeing direct admin.
I followed site-helper.com pretty much to the letter and at first everything seemed fine.
site-helper didnt really give much detail on ptr record,,,it showed an example that was simple enough but not where to put it. Do I put it inside the domains dns records, there is a ptr line there(which is what I originally did) but it clearly didnt work as now I get most emails returned for reverse dns not found.
I tried making a domain,ip#,ns1,ns2 entry and checking the box for making a reverse lookup which didnt seem to help either.
I am stumped and really need help, I have almost 400 members on my site and cant send email to almost half of them.
I dont know just what info I should or should not put here so will wait and hope some kind and knowledgable person can tell me what I can do.
 
DNS can be a very complicated matter.

Many have tried and continue to try explaining how that works in simpler words for beginners, and that's why you should search on this forum and on the Web for answers... if you just can't help it or don't have the time, you can always hire someone to take a look at your configuration, or at least write down all your DNS data (domain names, nameserver adresses) in this thread and ask for direct help.

Saying "it doesn't work" and asking for a generic guide without us knowing exactly what you are doing, who owns your addresses, what configuration you have done (and what you think you have done) etc. won't probably help much :)

What I can tell you, and may help, is that most datacenters won't let you use your own nameservers for your IP addresses.
This is probably your case, with 99.9% probability if you don't have at least 128 or 256 addresses. Ask your datacenter support team for more information: if they use their own nameservers, you will have to tell them what to configure as reverse DNS.
 
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thanks for such a quick reply and I have been browsing the web for help for a long time as well as looked in these forums and havent come up with anything as good as you have just said.
Now I can try explaining better I hope lol...
what I have is a dedicated server (virtual) with of course diradmin, appache, centos on it.
I was given 3 ip numbers
lets say
1.2.3.12
1.2.3.13
1.2.3.15
13 and 15 became my sites name servers
my site is running on 13
I have added ptr record
12.3.2.1.in-addr.arpa PTR mysite.com.
and even made it
12.3.2.1.in-addr.arpa PTR www.mysite.com.
tried both ways using the period after arpa also
then I did this same stuff using 13
not having a clue if this stuff works right away I would wait till next day and try email again and it still gets returned. No this isnt a matter of it being banned as I have already been told by email that if I got it right the email would go thru (comcast)...
When I mention this stuff to the place I got the server from they also suggested either paying their support guys or someone else to do it for me.
I just recently took a paycut rather then be laid off and have not one extra dime to pay their support team. lol gotta eat and feed the family. :)
 
Ok, now I can investigate your problem.

I found two major problems:

  1. you didn't share your domain nameserver addresses at the register

    This is a common mistake. When setting nameservers for a domain, you have the choice: either you use another domain (like setting ns1.onedomain.example and ns2.onedomain.example for otherdomain.example) or you use the same one (your case: ns1.myplacedesign.com and ns2.myplacedesign.com for myplacedesign.com) AND you register the two hostnames at the register (in your case: Tucows).

    This isn't related to the pointer problem, but it will make your domain to not work at all.

    Code: 
    $ dig +trace www.myplacedesign.com

; <<>> DiG 9.5.1-P1 <<>> +trace www.myplacedesign.com
;; global options:  printcmd
.                       228646  IN      NS      K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       228646  IN      NS      A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
;; Received 408 bytes from 85.17.207.63#53(85.17.207.63) in 0 ms

com.                    172800  IN      NS      A.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      J.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      H.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      E.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      C.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      G.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      F.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      M.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      D.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      K.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      B.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      I.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      L.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
;; Received 511 bytes from 192.33.4.12#53(C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET) in 78 ms

myplacedesign.com.      172800  IN      NS      ns1.myplacedesign.com.
myplacedesign.com.      172800  IN      NS      ns2.myplacedesign.com.
;; Received 107 bytes from 192.55.83.30#53(M.GTLD-SERVERS.NET) in 33 ms

dig: couldn't get address for 'ns1.myplacedesign.com': not found
  2. your IP addresses reverse nameservers are not assigned to you

    Like I explained before, most datacenters don't bother changing the NS records for the IP addresses they assign to their customers. The real nameservers for 217.26.218.12 (and the entire 217.26.218.0/24 CIDR) are ns1.datagate.net.uk and ns2.datagate.net.uk. Ask the support team of datagate.net.uk to insert the correct PTR record for 12.218.26.217.in-addr.arpa., only them can do it.

    Code: 
    $ dig -t ptr 12.218.26.217.in-addr.arpa.

; <<>> DiG 9.5.1-P1 <<>> -t ptr 12.218.26.217.in-addr.arpa.
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 39207
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;12.218.26.217.in-addr.arpa.    IN      PTR

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
218.26.217.in-addr.arpa. 360    IN      SOA     NS1.datagate.net.uk. hostmaster.datagate.net.uk. 2009040901 3600 1800 86400 360

    Code: 
    $ dig -t ns 218.26.217.in-addr.arpa.

; <<>> DiG 9.5.1-P1 <<>> -t ns 218.26.217.in-addr.arpa.
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 34528
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 2

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;218.26.217.in-addr.arpa.       IN      NS

;; ANSWER SECTION:
218.26.217.in-addr.arpa. 360    IN      NS      ns2.datagate.net.uk.
218.26.217.in-addr.arpa. 360    IN      NS      ns1.datagate.net.uk.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns1.datagate.net.uk.    314     IN      A       62.204.32.3
ns2.datagate.net.uk.    314     IN      A       62.204.32.5
 
wow thats a lot of info.
I read and re-read and not sure at all about the first part but I believe I do understand the second part
I setup the nameservers at hover (aka itsyourdomain)
ns1 217.26.218.13
ns2 217.26.218.15
domain name is registered thru godaddy using those nameservers

OH just remembered the "server name" (whats shown in diradmin) is www.myplacedesign.com but in dns I setup just myplacedesign.com thinking that since www was one of the records I didnt need to add the www. part.
is what yer meaning in the first part is I shouldnt have used the nameservers for the site being that the names are the same and/or site is also using ip number from ns1.
I think that in the second part I should send that info to the guy I got the server from and tell him this is what was said since he is only way I have to contact the datacenter. makes me think he knows this stuff and just wanted to get more money from me.

I really apreciate the help so far and hope you can see your way to helping me get this worked out. I'm a pretty smart guy but admit that I'm in over my head here but I do learn quick.... :)
 
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1. Your nameservers are registered at your register but you don't have A records for ns1 and for ns2 the myplacedesign.com onefile on your server. You need those, ns1 pointing to 217.26.218.13, and ns2 pointing to 217.26.218.15.

2. The rDNS entries at your server won't work because your upstream provider of your IP#s hasn't delegated rDNS authority to you. They probably won't; generally they don't unless you have at least a class-C (256 IPs) allocation. So you have to ask them to set your rDNS, most likely to your server's hostname (but see below).

3. By servername, do you mean your hostname? Your hostname cannot be your domain name either with or without the www at the beginning. It must be something else, for example server.myplacedesign.com. More information can be found here.

Jeff
 
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