howto check if DNS sever caches queries correctly ?

['chris']

hi

howto check if DNS sever caches queries correctly ?
I've installed an internal DNS server BIND 9 on Debian.

under options I have forwarders of my ISP:

options {
directory "/var/cache/bind";

forwarders { 211.12.X.X; 211.12.X.X; 194.15.X.X; };

forward first;

.....................................................................................................


howto be sure, that caches all queries
and doesn't go each time to the internet to ask DNS servers of my ISP ?

kind regards
chris

[Kodjo Agbenu]

Hello Chris,

Quite straightforward :
* nslookup or dig
* unplug the network cable
* nslookup or dig

You may also try a "soft" method by using tcpdump or ethereal as a spy for outgoing network traffic (monitor port 53, TCP and UDP).

Good lcuk.
Kodjo

['chris']

thanks,

I've tried and this is working,
but I cannot find any Bind cache files.

/var/cache/bind is always empty.

where is Bind putting its cache files ?

greetings
chris

[Stuart Browne · Accepted solution]

It's in memory.

[Karsten Breivik_1]

Interesting thread. At my work I have discovered that the DSN servers may in some cases return different answers depending on if your client computer is logged on to the domain or not. We are using MS based DNS servers and I have not bothered to look into why this is happening. I am sure The Sysadmin in all his wisdom propably have a perfectly good explanation for this. However, it is useful to be aware that this behavior can happen.

[Stuart Browne]

Windows PC's also have local caching of DNS names. Unfortunately, it frequently also caches failed lookups, and doesn't honor TTL's nicely.

If you get weird results like that, you can flush the DNS cache using the command 'ipconfig /flushdns' (on the windows box).

anyway ;)

['chris']

@Stuart Browne

"It's in memory"

You mean RAM Memory ?

[Stuart Browne]

In the proces memory space, yea. As in a 'ps' will show how much memory it is using.

[Bejoy C Alias]

Dear Cris,
The dns cache is in ur ram memory . When u restart ur dns server all the cache is lost . Bind is not storing any dns cache in files . U cant modify the amount of memory bind uses to allocate for the cache , bind allocates the memory depending on ur total memory . U can check whether the query is resolved from the cache or from the isp server by using the steps from Kodgo or u can see the query time it takes to check whether it is resolving from cache or ur isp server. Pls see the attachment and see the query time difference.

[Schmid Marco]

i understand why the cache is held in ram, but how to deal with the following situation:

in a large scale structure the dns cache helps to avoid
a lot of unnescessary querys for the same domain. but if someone moves a server from one ip to another and i have to update the cache entrys just for that specific host what would be the best method ???

remember, i dont want to loose the whole cache with a restart