From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Sep 22 20:15:18 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C2245106566B for ; Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:15:18 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bonomi@mail.r-bonomi.com) Received: from mail.r-bonomi.com (mx-out.r-bonomi.com [204.87.227.120]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 77EFB8FC0A for ; Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:15:18 +0000 (UTC) Received: (from bonomi@localhost) by mail.r-bonomi.com (8.14.4/rdb1) id p8MKEobt083145; Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:14:50 -0500 (CDT) Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:14:50 -0500 (CDT) From: Robert Bonomi Message-Id: <201109222014.p8MKEobt083145@mail.r-bonomi.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, kline@thought.org In-Reply-To: <20110922193051.GA22429@thought.org> Cc: Subject: Re: much to my surprise.... X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:15:18 -0000 > From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Thu Sep 22 14:30:49 2011 > Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:30:54 -0700 > From: Gary Kline > To: FreeBSD Mailing List > Cc: > Subject: much to my surprise.... > > > guys, > > well, after a forced, unexpected, and emergency 5 days away, i got > back to my desk and could not ping. while mail seemed to be working, > and my *local* ping worked---I could ping around from my freebsd server > to my other computers--i spent 3+ hours trying to ping various > sites. Zero. i tried everything i could think of. NOTHING worked. > i tried the -d -f -f to named and on and on and on. nothing. > > *Finally*, i saw that my telco router was displaying "INT" in red > LED's. i didn't know they displayed in any other color but the > default green, but after power-cycling, voila! back to green. > and now, yes, i can ping freebsd.org. and i'm pretty sure other > network things will work too. > > from any/all sysadmin types or others:: > i would like tricks, tips, insights--whatever--about named and > whatever else. i thought i had collected many. nope. i've got > bind 9.8 installed and it was working fine until my recent > 'vacation.' Other than checking one's routers (hub/switch), and other > hardware (including server, computers, cables, etc) does anybody have a > checklist of what to do to diagnose this? are there any other > utilities i can try besides ping and named -d 3 -f -g? other > network utilities with a debug flag? i'm running 7.3 on a dell 530. > > tia for any insights, You should _really_ consider hiring a professional to maintain your systems. Diagnosing _this_ problem should have taken no more than about 30 *seconds*. If you can't get somewhere 'by name', you try to get there 'by address'. If 'by address' works and 'by name' doesn't, *that* is the indication of a DNS problem. If you can't get there 'by address', it is *NOT* a DNS problem, and you start looking for a 'connectivity' problem. The *BASIC* tools for that start with 'traceroute'. Which would have *immediately* (well, within abut ten seconds :) indicated exactly _where_ the problem was. Those who don't understand these kind dof things are "too dangerous" to be trusted with the superuser password. Bluntly, not only do you not know the things you need to know to manage a (even 'personal') network, you "DON'T KNOW _what_ you don't know", and until you *do* learn the basics, you'll save youself a *LOT* of hair- tearing if you hire someone to solve the problems for you.