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Level 2

161 points

How to Reset DNS ( Completely Clear and Start Over )

I've got a server that has DNS totally messed up.

How do I remove all zones and begin again.

Why you might ask? I moved this server from one DNS zone to another and used the command line to changeip and that seemed to work but I cannot seem to get the DNS set properly.

The current behavior is that when view the Server Admin> DNS> The ZONES shows 2 zones off and on..... as in one zone disappears and reappears at intervals and then I get the follow dialog: Uncaught exception raised in DNS client-side plugin. Sorry but the feature you tried to access cannot be used. Exception is......etc. " the rest is pretty unintellegable to me....

So this server more or less works but DNS is a mess. How can I force it to no DNS service used state. Delete whatever it is that is stuck and then add a new zone back in.... I think I can do that part... I've done it before.

Any advice or suggestions appreciated.

Terry

Mac Pro 2.88GHz/14GB, 2 X G5-2GHz, and others, Mac OS X (10.5.6), Server and Clients of various vintages.

Posted on Mar 1, 2009 3:29 PM

20 replies

Mar 3, 2009 5:26 AM in response to Terry Fundak

Terry

Have you tried booting the server in safe mode? Shift key on restart. Can you access the DNS Service and remove the settings that way?

Tony

davidh

Level 4

1,890 points

Mar 3, 2009 5:30 AM in response to Antonio Rocco

Let me be very clear:

This is not running Server Admin in debug mode, it is enabling the *Debug menu* in Server Admin,
for the very specific purpose of allowing you to view the transaction log.

Sorry Tony, I doubt that Safe Mode will change the symptom. Booting to Safe Mode will cause fsck to be run and disable any 3rd-party extensions & startup items.

Mar 3, 2009 5:46 AM in response to davidh

Hello david

You are right of course. Still you never know? To be honest and judging from the amount of time he's spent trying to 'fix' it, it might be quicker if he started from scratch?

Its a never-ending circle at the moment. Have to admire his perseverance though.

Tony

Tim Haigh

Level 7

24,198 points

Mar 28, 2009 3:24 AM in response to Terry Fundak

I setup a new leopard server and configured dns like I always do. Thought everything was fine however using a tool I use on my router called bandwidthd that graphs bandwidth useage by IP it was not resolving any of my lan ip addresses I was getting the message 'confgure dns to reverse this ip'

So opened server admin went to dns and lo and behold a messed up dns.

I had setup the dns as per my previous leopard server installations and they are all fine.

The problem is a ghost reverse zone for subnet 10.0.0.x which I dont use. No matter how many times a delete it as soon as you hit save it comes back. exactly like you are describing.

The guys a lynda,com in their leopard essentials course state that if dns is messed up the only way to fix it is to reinstall the OS. Surely this cant be the case?

Terry Fundak Author

Level 2

161 points

May 10, 2009 12:57 PM in response to Tim Haigh

This Post helped me clean out and start over. Thank you again to everyone for there suggests and Big Thank you to Bervzy for figuring out how to start clean ....

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9289958#9289958

How to Reset DNS ( Completely Clear and Start Over )