Zombie Changes to Domain/Host Name in Mail Settings Window

Same strange behavior here also !!!!

About working for a week with the correct values then the domain name changes to "server1.local" and the host name to "local".

Please any suggestions.



Thanks in advance
Antonios

No one ?
I have a big problem with this.

Usual triggers for this reversion to .local domains are DNS server issues, or DNS referencing issues, or a failure to have the DNS servers in the DHCP information, or having disparate DNS servers referenced.

(10.6.3 slightly changed the rules around DNS server references when multiple servers are specified; the whole list is now tried, which is better and also worse than the older behavior.)

I just worked a case for a client after a 10.6.3 upgrade that involved apparent changes in the parsing rules and an incompatibility with an existing set of DNS configuration zone files (or a weirdness where Server Admin wasn't writing entirely valid DNS, I didn't revert and check that). That trigger was tracked down using the DNS server gonzo, err, debug diagnostics. That was also manifesting a domain change, but it was also showing slowdowns.

What does the following shell command report?

sudo changeip -checkhostname

I have this problem as well and changeip -checkhostname reports correct FQDN. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

So is your LAN DNS configured and working, and are you configured with static IP address(es)?
Is your LAN DNS correctly configured?
Do you have multiple DNS servers referenced?
Are you attempting to use your Mac as a multiple-network-controller system or as a firewall?

Thanks for your reply!

The server is configured with static IP and running DHCP, DNS and mail, connectet to a D-Link router (the router also acting as a firewall). The DNS is configured with forwarder IP-addresses to the ISP and Google. Domain/hostname is changed from server.ljungh.net to server.local in postfix/main.cf (and other config files) and triggered if internet connection is lost by rebooting the router (or if internet connection to ISP is down for some other reason). Everything is working fine as long as the internet is up and running. The server is not acting as a firewall or multiple-network-controller.

Output from changeip -checkhostname:

Primary address = 192.168.0.196

Current HostName = server.ljungh.net
DNS HostName = server.ljungh.net

The names match. There is nothing to change.
dirserv:success = "success"

Output from dig server.ljungh.net:

; <<>> DiG 9.6.0-APPLE-P2 <<>> server.ljungh.net
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 61515
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;server.ljungh.net. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
server.ljungh.net. 10800 IN A 192.168.0.196

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
ljungh.net. 10800 IN NS server.ljungh.net.

;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Sun May 30 16:45:38 2010
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 65

Output from dig -x 192.168.0.196:

; <<>> DiG 9.6.0-APPLE-P2 <<>> -x 192.168.0.196
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 27573
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1

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

;; ANSWER SECTION:
196.0.168.192.in-addr.arpa. 10800 IN PTR server.ljungh.net.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
0.168.192.in-addr.arpa. 10800 IN NS server.ljungh.net.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
server.ljungh.net. 10800 IN A 192.168.0.196

;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Sun May 30 16:46:01 2010
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 105

The following presumes you are using your Mac OS X Server box as your LAN DNS. On the Mac OS X Server box, please check your System Preferences > Network > select the network connection > Advanced > DNS setting, and see see what address is listed for the DNS server. I'd guess you have 192.168.0.196 there, possibly more than one address. If you do have that IP address listed, then try switching that to (just) the entry 127.0.0.1; to the localhost address. (Unless you're running a secondary DNS server on your LAN, and then you can add that to the list, too.)

I have only 127.0.0.1 listed under DNS Servers.

Ok; next guess is that the D-Link firewall/router is somehow getting in the way.

Try the same configuration with a generic/unmanaged switch.

Internet > Firewall > Switch > Server

And for completeness, what's the default domain (on the System Preferences)?

What's in the primary zone (in the DNS zone set-up)?

Yes, that sounds likely however I don't have a switch to test with, it's a home server so if there's a work around without buying new hardware I'd prefer that route. I tried using a script using launchd that is set to detect any changes to the main.cf file and replace it with a correct one which works great if a manually change the main.cf but for some reason is not triggered when the system changes the main.cf.

The primary zone name in Server Admin is set to ljungh.net. (fully qualified) and nameserver hostname set to server.ljungh.net. (fully qualified).

Where do I find the default domain in system preferences? There's a search domains which is set to ljungh.net

Thanks for the help.

Message was edited by: KennethL

In the primary zone I have:

'*' as an alias to server.ljungh.net. (without quotes)
dlink as a machine with IP 192.168.0.1 (the router)
mail as an alias to server.ljungh.net.
server as a machine with IP 192.168.0.196
www as an alias to server.ljungh.net.

'*' as an alias to server.ljungh.net. (without quotes)

As a test, remove that record.

dlink as a machine with IP 192.168.0.1 (the router)
mail as an alias to server.ljungh.net.
server as a machine with IP 192.168.0.196
www as an alias to server.ljungh.net.

Ok, an A record, a CNAME, an A for the server itself, and a CNAME, respective.

Great that was it, thanks! No more updates of postfix/main.cf and others when rebooting the router. I was using that alias so that virtual web domains would be aliased to the server. Is there a better way to do it?

Add CNAMEs for the Apache virtual domains.

The asterisk wildcard and the domain name alias has traditionally worked, but I've encountered issues with the DNS implementation circa 10.6.3; whether the change is considered a bug that's been fixed or a feature that's been broken, donno. Interestingly, the syntax is locked out in recent Server Admin.

Unfortunally my problem is back again, is there any way to disable the feature of auto updating config files based on network changes?