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I'm looking to set up BIND to return the same IP address for every A record, no matter what the request is. It's working based on the configuration below, however what is not working is that the ns records are not being returned correctly, as is required by some domain registrars.

/etc/named.conf:

zone "." IN {
    type master;
    file "named.root";
};

/var/named/named.root:

$ORIGIN .
$TTL 1H
@       IN      SOA     . hostmaster.uafrica.net. ( 20121020 1D 1H 1W 3H );
@       IN      NS      ns1.uafrica.net.
@       IN      NS      ns2.uafrica.net.
*.      IN      A       46.38.178.141
ns1.uafrica.net.        IN      A       184.106.174.139
ns2.uafrica.net.        IN      A       31.222.155.45

Querying the nameserver directly using dig: 

$ dig @ns1.uafrica.net ubookings.co.za
; <<>> DiG 9.7.3-P3 <<>> @ns1.uafrica.net ubookings.co.za
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 46866
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;ubookings.co.za.       IN  A
;; ANSWER SECTION:
ubookings.co.za.    3600    IN  A   46.38.178.141
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
.           3600    IN  NS  ns1.uafrica.net. // <b>*The domain is not being returned (only a period)</b>
.           3600    IN  NS  ns2.uafrica.net.
;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns1.uafrica.net.    3600    IN  A   184.106.174.139
ns2.uafrica.net.    3600    IN  A   31.222.155.45
;; Query time: 443 msec
;; SERVER: 184.106.174.139#53(184.106.174.139)
;; WHEN: Tue Oct 30 14:41:17 2012
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 126

It seems the problem might be that only a period is being returned under the AUTHORITY SECTION above (instead of the domain name). Also, doing a dig for the nameserver records does not return the ns records as expected:

dig @ns1.uafrica.net ubookings.co.za ns
; <<>> DiG 9.7.3-P3 <<>> @ns1.uafrica.net ubookings.co.za ns
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 39694
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; QUESTION SECTION:
ubookings.co.za.        IN  NS
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
.           3600    IN  SOA . hostmaster.uafrica.net. 20121020 86400 3600 604800 10800
;; Query time: 716 msec
;; SERVER: 184.106.174.139#53(184.106.174.139)
;; WHEN: Tue Oct 30 14:43:34 2012
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 89

Any ideas on how to get bind to return the ns records as part of this wildcard configuration would be very much appreciated (if I create a zone with a specific domain the ns records get returned correctly but I need this to work as a wildcard without having to create specific zones for each domain).

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Everything you describe sounds normal. The zone you are serving is "." so of course the nameservers in the authority and/or additional section are going to be for that zone. What else would you have them be? Is the current configuration causing any problems? – Celada Oct 30 '12 at 15:19
Thanks for the response. Yes, this configuration is causing a problem in that when trying to register a domain with a .co.za cTLD, the registrar gives an error saying that no ns records exist for the domain. I think the registrar needs to get a specific answer to the query dig @ns1.uafrica.net ubookings.co.za ns which is not happening with this configuration. – Andy Higgins Oct 30 '12 at 15:27
2  
Why are you trying to make it answer for every domain instead of just having a wildcard record within ubookings.co.za? – mgorven Oct 31 '12 at 0:28
We need it to answer for every domain because at the time a domain is registered we do not know what the domain is going to be and we do not want to have to add entries beforehand (and have wait for propagation to happen). – Andy Higgins Oct 31 '12 at 8:16
@AndyHiggins I guess it's the way /everyone/ does it. And for authoritative DNS you do not need any propagation, the registrars contact the authoritative nameservers directly. If you're using AXFR, abandon it (if you are controlling both nameservers) and configure both ns1 and ns2 in parallel. – Michuelnik Oct 31 '12 at 9:15
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2 Answers

up vote 0 down vote

What about just adding the required NS RRs?

Say your want to register ubookings.co.za, your registrar needs corresponding IN NS records like this in your zone above:

ubookings.co.za     IN  NS   ns1.uafrica.net.
ubookings.co.za     IN  NS   ns2.uafrica.net.

It might be possible that your zone also needs a matching IN SOA also for your domain.

share|improve this answer
Yes. That would work but only for that specific domain. We need it to work as a wildcard for any domain without having to specify each domain individually. – Andy Higgins Oct 31 '12 at 8:18
might that work with a wildcard also? * IN NS ns1....? – Michuelnik Oct 31 '12 at 9:12
I tried various options including the wildcard for the NS records e.g. * IN NS ns1.uafrica.com or *. IN NS ns1.uafrica.com or @ IN NS ns1.uafrica.com or IN NS ns1.uafrica.com but they do not work. With the wildcard when restarting the named service it gives the following error "invalid NS owner name (wildcard)" – Andy Higgins Oct 31 '12 at 10:17
Then it looks like it's not going to work - with bind. Perhaps unbound (although being a caching resolver) with the python-module. There you can respond to every IN NS query with very little scripting. – Michuelnik Oct 31 '12 at 14:53
up vote 0 down vote 
*.*     IN  NS   ns1.uafrica.net.
*.*.*   IN  NS   ns2.uafrica.net.

(But I still convinced that you are trying to achieve something absolutely wrong)

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