DNS server's PTR record wrong?

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DNS server's PTR record wrong?

I have a server I frequent that has an IP address of 10.1.1.2. It acts as an OD and AD server, DNS server, IM server and a few other things.

As of now, the DNS server only has 1 entry in it, for the DNS server itself. I got a request to add a second A record for a new accounting server. Easy enough right? I added an A record under my primary zone and made sure it was FQDN. I went to ping it by name and by IP and no luck - no resolution.

Whats odd is when I look at my records, I have 2 groupings of PTR records. One is my new one which makes sense : 1.1.10.in-addr.arpa. The other is the one that the DNS server originally had: 2.1.1.10.in-addr.arpa.

I'm thinking this is why I can't get my new A record to work.

I really REALLY don't want to kill OD or AD here. I know they lean on DNS to live. I have to get this fixed though. Can I delete both those records our of my primary zone, readd them, and all will work OK as long as I don't poke the primary zone? I'm assuming I can't rename a PTR record directly, right?

Any help would be super-duper appreciated! I have to fix this ASAP (obviously, right?).

Thanks!

Posted on May 13, 2011 5:46 AM

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Answer 1

MrHoffman

Level 10

146,575 points

May 13, 2011 8:30 AM in response to karatehero

Your DNS server isn't really serving out much in the way of DNS, it's running the self-hosted configuration that's the default when no DNS services were established during the Mac OS X Server installation and configuration.

And if DNS services aren't right, then yes, the rest of the stack tends to be spotty. Including OD.

Here is how to set up DNS on Mac OS X Server and then you should be able to migrate to correct DNS services without wrecking OD. This if your existing domain choice and set-up for the self-hosted DNS was correct.

Basically, you get to nuke the existing forward and reverse zone (the default install creates one of each), and establish a forward zone for your domain name (and not the host's FQDN), and add your host name (which doesn't need to be an FQDN in this context) into the forward zone. This will then apply the zone name to create the FQDN. Server Admin should then establish one or more reverse zones, and as needed.

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Answer 2

karatehero Author

Level 1

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May 13, 2011 8:47 AM in response to MrHoffman

Cool, thanks for the help!

From what you sent me though, you are suggesting killing the whole zones, not just the records. Thats OK with OD?

Also, it mentions making a backup before doing this. What backup are they referring to specifically? What all should be backed up before trying this? I might even make an image and try it on that first, just in case.

Thanks!

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Answer 3

MrHoffman

Level 10

146,575 points

May 13, 2011 11:17 AM in response to karatehero

If your DNS was returning back valid translations and those matched OD, then rebuilding or rehosting your DNS under the same host name should be OK with OD.

If your original DNS services were stuffed, then all bets are off.

What can happen here starts out with DNS either wrong or skipped during the set-up, and folks then start turning (other) stuff on and configuring it, and rebuilding those configurations can get involved.

Backups recommended all around, as usual. When I do these sorts of disk backups, I boot the installation DVD and do a whole-disk backup to an external device using Disk Utility. Brute-force, but effective. Carbon Copy Cloner and some other tools are also popular with some folks.

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Answer 4

karatehero Author

Level 1

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May 17, 2011 8:16 AM in response to karatehero

Just so you know, that fixed my problem without a hitch. After I made the change, it actually took some time to propogate through (even though there were only 2 records to propogate) but it eventually worked.

thanks for saving me - I really appreciate it!!!!!

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