Can't get nameservers to work

T

toxpal

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Joined
Sep 24, 2019
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I've been using cPanel/WHM for 15+ years, and got DA server recently to test. I don't know if I'm that dumb, but I can't simply get my nameservers to work. Yes, I read the knowledgebase and searched forum, but...

All I want is to use my private nameservers (ns1.parent-domain.com / ns2.parent-domain.com) for all domains (like child-domain.com) hosted on the server. So this is what I did:

1. Created ns1.parent-domain.com / ns2.parent-domain.com with domain registrar. My server (VPS) comes with single IP (let's say 1.2.3.4), so I assigned the same IP to both nameservers.
2. Using Server Manager > Server Settings changed server hostname to hostname.parent-domain.com and set nameservers to ns1.parent-domain.com / ns2.parent-domain.com.
3. Using Server Manager > DNS Administration added 2 x A records for parent-domain.com - ns1 (1.2.3.4) and ns2 (1.2.3.4).
4. Pointed parent-domain.com to ns1.parent-domain.com / ns2.parent-domain.com using registrar.

And nothing else happens. I can't access server via hostname.parent-domain.com, I can't ping ns1.parent-domain.com/ns2.parent-domain.com (they don't resolve anywhere) and obviously if I create a new domain on server (let's say child-domain.com) and point it to ns1.parent-domain.com / ns2.parent-domain.com, domain doesn't even resolve.

What important step did I miss here? My VPS provider suggests me to use their nameservers, which is not a solution to my issue. One of KB solutions at DA website suggested to check if named works. Yes, it does:

Code: 
netstat -lnp | grep named
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:953           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      2205/named          
tcp        0      0 LOCAL_SERVER_IP:53         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      2205/named          
tcp        0      0 EXTERNAL_SERVER_IP:53         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      2205/named          
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:53            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      2205/named          
tcp6       0      0 ::1:953                 :::*                    LISTEN      2205/named          
tcp6       0      0 :::53                   :::*                    LISTEN      2205/named          
udp        0      0 LOCAL_SERVER_IP:53         0.0.0.0:*                           2205/named          
udp        0      0 EXTERNAL_SERVER_IP:53         0.0.0.0:*                           2205/named          
udp        0      0 127.0.0.1:53            0.0.0.0:*                           2205/named          
udp6       0      0 :::53                   :::*                                2205/named

P.S. I did all these changes about 40 hours ago, so please don't suggest to wait for changes to take effect :) Thank you in advance.
 
toxpal said:
[..]
3. Using Server Manager > DNS Administration added 2 x A records for parent-domain.com - ns1 (1.2.3.4) and ns2 (1.2.3.4).
Click to expand...

Without knowing the real domains and name servers, it is hard to do anything but making guesses. Here is my guess:

What does your A records in step 3 look like, does they look like this?:
Code: 
ns1.parent-domain.com.	14400 A	1.2.3.4
ns2.parent-domain.com.	14400 A	1.2.3.5

Please make sure that the format for the A records is exactly as above including the ending dot
 
Thank you for such a fast reply. These A records were listed simply as ns1/ns2 (I came from cPanel world, where it was enough to simply add ns1/ns2 as A record). Updated them just now and will wait a little. If that doesn't work, I guess I should post my real parent domain (which I use for server's hostname/nameservers)?
 
If your TTL was 14400 (wich is default in DirectAdmin), then I would wait up to four hours before making any conclusion.

In step 2 it seem you have changed the name servers wich was used when installing DirectAdmin, maybe best to double check /usr/local/directadmin/conf/directadmin.conf wich should have the new name servers like this:

Code: 
ns1=ns1.parent-domain.com
ns2=ns2.parent-domain.com

If not change them and restart DirectAdmin. If problem is not solved after four hours, then maybe the best would be to contact DirectAdmin support at https://tickets.directadmin.com and give them access to check the server setup.
 
NS are listed properly in conf file. I tried to contact DA support, but my login was rejected - "This is an Internal License on guest login. Please contact your license provider for technical support."

So I guess my only option now is to wait up to 4 hours. I still have some hope VPS provider will forward my ticket to someone who understands what private nameservers are :)
 
Unfortunately, nothing works. By the way, you wrote:

Code: 
ns1.parent-domain.com.	14400 A	1.2.3.4
ns2.parent-domain.com.	14400 A	1.2.3.5

However, DA help says the opposite ( https://help.directadmin.com/item.php?id=689 ):

Code: 
and add 2 "A" records for ns1/ns2:
ns1    A    1.2.3.4
ns2    A    1.2.3.5

In other words, my original setup was exactly as listed in DA help section, but it didn't work either. So I'm confused, which one (ns1 or ns1.domain.com.) is correct?
 
Did you try something like the DNS Check on mxtoolbox.com? This service queries the nameservers directly and doesn't cache the result, so once you make a change, you wait a few seconds for your server to restart the dns service and you try again.
 
Yes, I used lots of tool to test. It's also important to note that I'm doing this for 2 days so far, and no success. And my VPS provider only keeps sending me links to DA admin help section, even after I sent them screenshots that my server is configured exactly as per instructions. Time4VPS support is amazing! :)
 
And do the tools give you the expected result? Like said earlier, without knowing the domain name we can only make guesses...
 
Issue solved. I did everything properly, but port 53 was blocked by default for some reason. Since this is the first time in my life when I see some provider blocking DNS port, I didn't even consider checking it (I only tested if DNS service listens to port 53). Once I opened port 53, everything started working the same second.

Hope this thread will be useful for someone in future.
 
I am happy to hear you solved the issue. Regarding the seutp I told you to use:

Code: 
ns1.parent-domain.com.	14400 A	1.2.3.4
ns2.parent-domain.com.	14400 A	1.2.3.5

This is the setup I use, but I first setup the name servers for more then 10 years ago, so DirectAdmin must have changed what they recommend after that. However the setup I mentioned should also work.
 
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