SOTA Cluster/Spotter DNS issues

There’s is something funny happening in the world of DNS, the way in which web names get converted to IP addresses.

I’m seeing DNS lookup failures on any dynamic name provided by dtdns.com. OpenDNS resolvers find my servers but GoogleDNS & VirginMedia DNS all fail.

This means that you may not be able to connect to elgur.dtdns.net. The server is working so whilst this problem exists people can connect to the IP address not the name.

i.e. instead of telnet elgur.dtdns.net 7300 you should use

telnet 151.236.24.42 7300

I’ve made some changes to the SMS spotter and it’s working based on the test I just sent.

Erk - the NS records for dtdns.net seem to have gone from the authoritative servers for “net.” :frowning:

; <<>> DiG 9.8.1-P1 <<>> +tcp @a.gtld-servers.net. -t ns dtdns.net
; (2 servers found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 58098
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;dtdns.net. IN NS

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
net. 900 IN SOA a.gtld-servers.net. nstld.verisign-grs.com. 1422456027 1800 900 604800 86400

;; Query time: 94 msec
;; SERVER: 2001:503:a83e::2:30#53(2001:503:a83e::2:30)
;; WHEN: Wed Jan 28 14:40:53 2015
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 103

I presume that the servers which work are surviving on cached records, but will die soon.

I wonder if this is something to do with the security exploit announced in glib gethosbyname() in the last 24hrs. Has someone busted dtdns security and is now playing silly buggers with their dns.

Just in case you can now use the (awful but free) name elgur.crabdance.com

Doubt it. Their DNS servers are answering queries just fine. But they’ve lost authority from the root.

Maybe they forgot to renew their domain registration…

There is very recent (last few hours) activity on the “whois” record at their registrar’s site. But it looks still valid. My guess is that they’re on the case and are waiting for an update of the GTLD servers. No mention of a problem at dndns.com though.

I use dtdns.net too, though not for any names that anybody else knows.

I raised a ticket even though I’m on the free service… it was timed at 8.48am (in the US somewhere). I see their domain was renewed at 9.22am. I get the feeling that someone from support came in and was drinking coffee as they started work at 9.00am and read my message and did some checks only to find the domain had expired, probably at 9.02am. The time between 9.02 and 9.22 when the domain was registered was when the coffee that was sprayed over the keyboard and screen was cleaned up and the headless chickens ran about!

I’ve received a reply "We are currently working to resolve an issue with the dtdns.net domain. We apologize for any inconvenience and will let you know as soon as this domain is working again. This is only affecting hostnames on the dtdns.net domain; our other dynamic domains are up and running. "

For what I pay (zero, zilch, nada) I cannot fault the service nor the free support. I’d expect to see it all back to normal during the next 24 hours. I’ll continue to use them as dtdns.net is a pleasant domain name to use for free. Well it’s better than crabdance.com!

So if elgur.dtdns.net doesn’t work, try elgur.crabdance.com.

I received an email from dtdns.com saying that all the issues with dtdns.net were now resolved and they also appologised for the any disruption. The service I use is free and I’m very impressed with the speed and quality of response from the provider. I’d have been happy if I was paying for this, but for a free service it’s exceptional.

Anyway, elgur.dtdns.net is working fine for anyone wanting cluster access.