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Plesk DNS doesn't work for some domains: checkhints: b.root-servers.net/A (203.0.113.2) missing from hints

Daniel Yordanov
Updated
Plesk for Linux kb: technical

Applicable to:

  • Plesk for Linux

Symptoms

  • Plesk Obsidian running on a Linux-based operating system

  • The Plesk DNS server doesn't answer DNS queries for some domains that are hosted on the Plesk server:

    CONFIG_TEXT: dig a +short example.com @203.0.113.2
    (empty output)

  • The following errors can be found in the BIND / named service

    # systemctl status named.service
    [...]
    Jan 01 00:00:00 example.com named[1234567]: checkhints: b.root-servers.net/A (203.0.113.3) missing from hints
    Jan 01 00:00:00 example.com named[1234567]: checkhints: b.root-servers.net/A (203.0.113.4) extra record in hints
    Jan 01 00:00:00 example.com named[1234567]: checkhints: d.root-servers.net/A (203.0.113.5) missing from hints
    Jan 01 00:00:00 example.com named[1234567]: checkhints: d.root-servers.net/A (203.0.113.6) extra record in hints
    Jan 01 00:00:00 example.com named[1234567]: checkhints: h.root-servers.net/A (203.0.113.7) missing from hints
    Jan 01 00:00:00 example.com named[1234567]: checkhints: h.root-servers.net/A (203.0.113.8) extra record in hints
    Jan 01 00:00:00 example.com named[1234567]: checkhints: j.root-servers.net/A (203.0.113.9) missing from hints
    Jan 01 00:00:00 example.com named[1234567]: checkhints: j.root-servers.net/A (203.0.113.10) extra record in hints
    Jan 01 00:00:00 example.com named[1234567]: checkhints: l.root-servers.net/A (203.0.113.11) missing from hints
    Jan 01 00:00:00 example.com named[1234567]: checkhints: l.root-servers.net/A (203.0.113.12) extra record in hints

  • The last named.root root nameservers update was a very long time ago

    # grep update /var/named/run-root/var/named.root
    ; last update: Aug 22, 1997

    # grep update /var/named/chroot/var/named.root
    ; last update: Aug 22, 1997

Cause

Severely outdated root nameservers. The named.root is a text file that contains names and IP addresses of the internet's root domain servers and should be kept up to date.

Resolution

  1. Connect to the server via SSH

  2. Update the named.root file by executing the following command:

    Ubuntu/Debian-based

    # wget -O /var/named/run-root/var/named.root https://www.internic.net/domain/named.root

    RHEL-based

    # wget -O /var/named/chroot/var/named.root https://www.internic.net/domain/named.root

  3. Restart the BIND DNS service in the Plesk server by executing the following command:

    # service named-chroot restart

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Comments

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Date Votes
  • Avatar
    Steve Cooke

    #  systemctl restart named
    Job for named.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status named.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

    #  systemctl status named.service
    ● named.service - Berkeley Internet Name Domain (DNS) <snip> Service 'named' was not restarted because Plesk uses 'named' in chroot environment. If you want to restart the 'named' service, please use 'service named-chroot restart'.";

    0

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