DynDNS and Zimbra

[afterwego]

I have posted on this once already, but my post wasn't really geared towards this.

Is there anybody on here the has been able to get Zimbra up and running using a DynDNS domain? I have signed up for Custom DNS through DynDNS and have my domain and MX records setup there, however, when I try to install Zimbra it still gives a lovely DNS Error. I have modified my hosts file as the Zimbra guide says, but that doesn't seem to help.

I am almost ready to give up because its just frustrating me, so any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

[phoenix]

If you are behind a NAT device then you'll need to setup a split-DNS, have a look in the WIKI for details. Are you sure that your DNS records are correct? You can check them here.

[afterwego]

I have setup splitDNS per this guide:
http://www.tickus.com/?q=node/15

I am behind a router, but I am not sure if it is NAT or not. The A name records were automatically created for me when I brought my domain to DynDNS. I used the host command from linux to check my setup and it appeared to be ok there.

So maybe the SplitDNS guide I found is wrong.

*Update*
I have since switched from using Custom DNS to using my registrar's service since I can specify MX records through them as well. So basically I have an MX record pointing to a free DynDNS Dynamic Host (ex: jzserve.dyndns.org) just so it can grab my external IP.

These are my results from Pingability: http://pingability.com/zoneinfo.jsp?domain=jzeller.com

However, my server isn't running at the moment, so it says it cannot connect to the MX host. Everything looks right to me, so its just flustering me.

Also thank you phoenix and jholder(different thread) for all your help.

[dijichi2]

Well what are the symptoms?

What is the hostname you are installing onto?

What does that resolve to from the machine you're installing on?

[afterwego]

The symptoms are that during Zimbra setup when it goes to configure it gives me a DNS ERROR, so I assume it is not seeing the MX record properly.

The hostname I am trying to use is jzeller.com which I have already setup an MX record for which points to jzserve.dyndns.org with a priority of 10. This has been setup using my registrars DNS options.

I did the split DNS setup using the link I posted above, and I just kind of assumed that it was a good tutorial. Since I understand the concept of Split DNS, but I don't know BIND very well.

As far as what it resolves to I will have to post that later since I am at work and don't have access to the machine. SSH is blocked here.

[dijichi2]

I might be wrong but I would have thought it's more likely to be an A record issue than MX. MX should report a specific error in the installer.

jzeller.com is a domainname, what hostname ie FQDN is the server called, and what does this resolve to on the server?

As far as what it resolves to I will have to post that later since I am at work and don't have access to the machine. SSH is blocked here.

Hint: Putty, socks proxy, company firewall port 443

[afterwego]

Here is the output from the installer...

Create Domain: [jzeller.com]
MX: jzserve.dyndns.org (66.41.217.148)

Interface: 192.168.1.110
Interface: 127.0.0.1


DNS ERROR - none of the MX records for jzeller.com
resolve to this host
It is suggested that the MX record resolve to this host

My Hosts file:

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 jzeller.hsd1.mn.comcast.net. jzeller
192.168.1.110 jzeller.com mail

Hint: Putty, socks proxy, company firewall port 443

Thats a good idea, I would just have to figure out how to set it up.

Also thanks for all the help so far

[dijichi2]

Hmm. Try replacing this line:

192.168.1.110 jzeller.com mail
with
192.168.1.110 mail.jzeller.com mail

Technically you can have an A record pointing to your domainname (jzeller.com, special SOA A record called @), but I don't think that's what you intend here.

Also, you must make sure that your split dns is working - it seems the really important thing for the zimbra installer is that it can correctly lookup your hostname. Whatever 'hostname' returns on the server, you must be able to do: 'dig hostname' and get a correct answer back to the network you are on. In your case, it's probably easiest to call your server 'mail.jzeller.com', add this line to /etc/hosts:
192.168.1.110 mail.jzeller.com mail
and then make sure your internal dns returns 192.168.1.110 when you do 'dig mail.jzeller.com'. Don't worry about the DNS ERROR for MX for now, just get the package installed and running.

[afterwego]

Ok after fiddling with it a bit I have found that by doing a 'dig mx mail.jzeller.com' I get a correct response to the MX record I setup.

However, when I do a 'dig a mail.jzeller.com' or a 'dig mail.jzeller.com' I do not get the answer section I got with 'dig mx mail.jzeller.com'

So what I am thinking is something in my hosts file still is not correct or something in my Split DNS setup is not right. The question then becomes does this make sense and what is the best way of pinpointing where the issue really is.

Here are the results from my 'dig mail.jzeller.com'

; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> mail.jzeller.com
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 1340
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;mail.jzeller.com. IN A

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
jzeller.com. 362 IN SOA ns1.dreamhost.com. hostmaster.dreamhost.com. 2007033000 16248 1800 1814400 14400

;; Query time: 5 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.1.110#53(192.168.1.110)
;; WHEN: Sat Mar 31 00:57:54 2007
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 95

nslookup results (not sure if these make any difference)

Server: 192.168.1.110
Address: 192.168.1.110#53

Non-authoritative answer:
*** Can't find mail.jzeller.com: No answer

Also for informations sake this is the guide I followed:

http://www.tickus.com/?q=node/15

[phoenix]

You still seem to have incorrect DNS records (at least the external ones). Is dreamhost the host for your domain name? If it is, do they have any DNS configuration that would allow you to set-up A & MX records? If they can't do that is there a facility to forward your DNS requests to your new DNS hosting provider?

This command 'dig mail.jzeller.com' isn't correct, you run all the dig commands against your domain name i.e. 'dig jzeller.com any' and that should tell you whether your records are correct. From here that command gives the following:

dig jzeller.com any

; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> jzeller.com any
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 25628
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 3, ADDITIONAL: 3

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;jzeller.com.                   IN      ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
jzeller.com.            121726  IN      NS      ns2.dreamhost.com.
jzeller.com.            121726  IN      NS      ns3.dreamhost.com.
jzeller.com.            121726  IN      NS      ns1.dreamhost.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
jzeller.com.            121726  IN      NS      ns1.dreamhost.com.
jzeller.com.            121726  IN      NS      ns2.dreamhost.com.
jzeller.com.            121726  IN      NS      ns3.dreamhost.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns1.dreamhost.com.      12870   IN      A       66.33.206.206
ns2.dreamhost.com.      12870   IN      A       66.201.54.66
ns3.dreamhost.com.      171270  IN      A       66.33.216.216

;; Query time: 1 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.1.15#53(192.168.1.15)
;; WHEN: Sat Mar 31 09:20:57 2007
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 183

which, as you can see, gives you no valid A or MX records. They all stop at your domain hosting provider - that's why you need to forward your DNS to dynDNS.org. That's certainly why it won't work from the 'outside'.

Post the configuration files that you're actually using on your DSN server.