From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Sep 23 01:31:20 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 6B7C5106564A for ; Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:31:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kline@thought.org) Received: from thought.org (plato.thought.org [209.180.213.209]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3B1CD8FC0A for ; Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:31:19 +0000 (UTC) Received: by thought.org (Postfix, from userid 1001) id A3109E80718; Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:31:19 -0700 (PDT) Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:31:19 -0700 From: Gary Kline To: Ryan Coleman Message-ID: <20110923013119.GA8424@thought.org> References: <201109222014.p8MKEobt083145@mail.r-bonomi.com> <4B62F4A4-4B49-4CB5-91F1-A3C3E624251F@d3photography.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <4B62F4A4-4B49-4CB5-91F1-A3C3E624251F@d3photography.com> Organization: Thought Unlimited. Public service Unix since 1986. Of_Interest: With 25 years of service to the Unix community. User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, Robert Bonomi 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: Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:31:20 -0000 On Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 04:28:50PM -0500, Ryan Coleman wrote: > Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:28:50 -0500 > From: Ryan Coleman > Subject: Re: much to my surprise.... > To: Robert Bonomi > Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, kline@thought.org > X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1244.3) > > > On Sep 22, 2011, at 3:14 PM, Robert Bonomi wrote: > > >> 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. points all well taken, robert, thanks. i was ready to fire off a few shots of my colt bisley 454, then took two deep breaths and soldiered on. [note that at least one other fellow has suggested that i just hire somebody to maintain my connectivity.] but i've been doing this for a while, and until i was away for five days, everything had been going fine for over a month. oh:: one power-out. the UPS saved the server, but everything else needed to be reinitialized. > > > > The *BASIC* tools for that start with 'traceroute'. Which would have > > *immediately* (well, within abut ten seconds :) indicated exactly _where_ > > the problem was. would traceroute have told me to check the "modem"/router? > > > > 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. > > I whole-heartedly agree with Robert's points. > > I host in my apartment... but I have more than a decade's experience maintaining networks and systems and, while the occasional issue stumps me, I'm pretty good at getting to the root of issues in minutes vs hours. would you believe: i'm slow at typing, ? > > Yes, I was once a... for lack of a better term... moron on these things and I relied heavily on the tech who pushed me (gently) towards ?BSD from RHL and I am gracious every day for that nudge. > i've used REAL UNIX [[$1100] for SVR4; and before than VAT, a 286 version of SVR2; then chose FreeBSD with 2.0.5. things started out as a dialup BBS and evolved since july '86 system administration is something i do reluctantly. adding system calls to the tera kernel plus other kernel work on the the hardware version of a 128-stream CPU seemed infinitely easier than this.... > Experience is the best way to pick up the "quick list" of things to check on if there's a problem on your connectivity... but there's one thing I *must* stress: NEVER EVER EVER run your own DNS service. It's too much of a PITA. When I quit doing my own DNS my issues revolving around that ended. i dont want to sound like a goodie two-shoes, but i've been running a web site for a builder friend hereabouts. gratis. tiny business; guy and two others, and since builders are hurting, why not. everything runs off my own ./master and named.conf are the only file i had to bother with. that took several days to get right since i've only been on-the-net since '01. some guy in Dallas saved my ancient system from collapse in jan '08 by some voodoo. how his DNS was set up was around 2/3rds different than the nutshell setup i learned from the Cricket Liu's book. it really was a superb read. cricket thought i was being a smart alec when i said that his book read like a novel. maybe i'm geekier than i thought. > I use DynDNS to run my primary domain and all the others run through GoDaddy's free DNS manager. This is because I use the primary domain's hostname as my MX record on all the others. While GD's DNS is functional, it's also cumbersome, too cumbersome to update on a semi-regular basis. > I highly suggest that you do the same. $20/year for DynDNS' full domain service is worth the price. ok, here's just the fax, man:: since i finished me m.a. in ethics, i have a truckload of philosophical-type mumblings continually ooozing forth. at the same time, i want to finish my key-click project in C++, and add that to my speech-computer. (i talked to whoever at the OLCP in '09 and learned that there at 100million disabled children in the world. 10m or 100million, (?), something implausible from where i am... . my typing-to-speech with keyboard click would be a win on the OLPC. but most kids can learn to press the membrane keyboard hard and most watch the screen. i keep my eyes on the keyboard.) nutshell, when that project is done, i can make use of my philosophy degree. i'm to the point where letting somebody else handle the dns-and-outward side sounds better by the day. i'v got more question if you care to answer them. i've been using gkg.net for a few years--8 or 9 anyway. but if switching to dyndns saves a lot of my flubs, hey. gaary > > My two bits (and a nibble). > -- > Ryan -- Gary Kline kline@thought.org http://www.thought.org Public Service Unix Journey Toward the Dawn, E-Book: http://www.thought.org The 8.51a release of Jottings: http://jottings.thought.org