text: stopping dnscontroller crashes server | Plesk Forum
  stopping dnscontroller crashes server
  Discussion in 'Plesk Expand 2.0 and Legacy General Discussion' started by bsandiford, Sep 15, 2005.
  bsandiford Guest
  I'm having a real weird problem with dnscontroller.
  On my server (Pentium 4 with HT, RH9 smp), the dnscontroller rpm installed flawlessly. The service started up no problem, and everything appeared to be fine.....until I tried to reboot my server !!!
  As soon as the server tries to stop the dnscontroller, the whole machine locks up and requires a physical push of the power or reset button. At first I thought this was caused by something else, but I confirmed it to be dnscontroller because when I tried to stop dnscontroller using the rc script, it had the same effect (crashed the server). So then I wanted to verify that it wasn't the rc script causing the problem, so I just found out the pid of dnscontroller and tried stopping it using kill -9 <pid> and that crashed the box as well.
  Has anyone else experienced this, or am I the only *lucky* one?
  Edit: dnscontroller installed was dnscontroller-1.0.0-7.i586.rpm
  bsandiford, Sep 15, 2005
  I stayed up pretty much all night and I have found the problem.
  The current version of dnscontroller DOES NOT work on an SMP system. If I boot up to the Uni-processor kernel everything works fine, no crashes etc. but if I use the SMP kernel (which of course I *want* to use), the dnscontroller crashes the entire system if/when you try to stop the process (either by reboot which fails, or by rc script or kill), and the only way to get it back is push reset or power (the reboot hangs)
  I've sent the same message as this post to the expand support people, so hopefully we will get a response soon.
  bsandiford, Sep 16, 2005
  FYI, dnscontroller 1.0.0-7 appears to run fine on Redhat Enterprise 3 AS as long as you are using a uniprocessor kernel. The dnscontroller 1.0.0-7 will cause the SMP kernel to crash on RHEL 3 the same way it crashed the RH9 kernel described above.
  I've read a lot of other posts in these forums where people say that SW-Soft Support is unresponsive to issues. Well I have to say that I totally disagree.
  After emailing support about this issue late last night, I got a response today that included (among other things) a new rpm of dnscontroller 1.0.0-9 which is soon to be released as a part of an Expand patch.
  I have to say that I am very pleased in how fast support responded, and I am happy to report that the dnscontroller now works properly (without crashing my server) on my RHEL 3 and RH9 machine, both of which use SMP.
  Were you running a redhat kernel, or a custom kernel? If it was a redhat kernel I'm surprised the bug got past testing.
  Anyway, how are you finding distributed DNS via expand? Have you used centralised mail?
  Cranky, Sep 16, 2005
  I am using a standard redhat kernel, nothing customised at all.
  Plain - vanilla - out of the box - redhat smp kernel.
  As far as expand as a whole goes, I'll answer that for you in a couple of weeks, we are just getting it setup now.
  Cranky, Sep 17, 2005
  Installed Centralized DNS on my expand box, and have set it up to be the DNS controller for another of my Plesk servers. It has made the corresponding changes in the DNS records on the server it is managing, but it is not reporting any information.
  The default port for the centralized DNS is 8441 if I try to do an nslookup using the ip address of the centralized DNS for one of the domains it is supposedly controlling I get a 'no respones' from the DNS server. I also show that the Centralized DNS is a 'Lame Server' when I check it using DNSREPORT.com.
  However, if I do an nslookup <domainname.com> ipaddress:8441 I DO get an authoratative answer regarding the domain in question.
  Does anybody know what exactly is happening? (I guess that means you Cranky...lol)
  ZopfWare, Oct 10, 2005
  What exactly do you mean by "it is not reporting any information"?
  Cranky, Oct 11, 2005
  I mean that I was told that I would be able to set up DNS on the box and it would function as a DNS for one or more of the plesk servers I have registered.
  Server 1 (Plesk 7.5.4 hosting 35 domains)
  Server 2 (Plesk 7.5.3 Hosting 28 Domains)
  Server 3 (Plesk 7.54 w/Expand 1.1.2. I am currently hosting my modernbill installation under the Plesk on this Server)
  I have set up 2 dedicated ip's on Server 3 that I have assigned to ns1.intelliwebhosting.com and ns2.intelliwebhosting.com. I am currently using them as nameserver names for domains that are HOSTED on server 3 {Just one domain.]
  When I go into Expand I tell it the ip address of the dedicated ip assigned to ns1.intelliwebhosting.com and give it the host name ns1.intelliwebhosting.com. Then I assign server 1 as a server that is managed by this new DNS server.
  When I look at the DNS records on Server 1 they have all been modified to include a ns1.intelliwebhosting.com NS record. Expand appears to do this automatically to a managed server.
  NOW.. everything looks good and DNSC is running, however if I try to lookup one of the domains on server 1 by asking "nslookup domain.name ns1.intelliwebhosting.com" I get the following response:
  C:\Documents and Settings\Karl>nslookup bullfrogscafe.com ns1.intelliwebhosting.
  Server: ns1.intelliwebhosting.com
  Address: 82.165.161.241
  *** ns1.intelliwebhosting.com can't find bullfrogscafe.com: Server failed
  C:\Documents and Settings\Karl>
  Also When I run a check using dnsreport.com it tells me that I have a lame nameserver (ns1.intelliwebhosting.com)
  I have opened up port 8441 for both incoming and outgoing (UDP and TCP) on server 3 but I'm figuring that since dnscontroller and expand are running on the same physical server I shouldn't have had to open any ports...
  sorry this is so lengthy... I'm probably going to also give Todd C. a call and see if he knows what I might be doing wrong...
  any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.... you can use cbcrossroad.com as a test domain to see what I am saying is happening at dnsreport.com
  ZopfWare, Oct 11, 2005
  Have you enabled tcp:53 and udp:53 on server 3? in your iptables?
  Also. Look into getting two plain rhel boxes for your dns so you can use expand correctly. Depending if you are doing your own hosting or if you are co-hosting your services will depend on if you can do this because of cost.
  All you need is to DC's (preferably seperate) to plug a rhel 3 box into with the dnscontroller which isn't that complicated as I'm no linux buff and I've sucessfully set it up. (with a bit of help from Todd).
  I still don't think it should be a firewall or port issue... I have sucessfully set up Several Plesk Servers to be their own name servers and the Server 3 I mentioned above IS functioning and responding on port 53....how I know this is because the domain "intelliwebhosting.com" is on that server and so are the 2 nameservers ns1 and ns2....
  IF I do a check on dnsreport for that domain the only warning I will get is that bot my nameservers are on the same class C.
  so I'm still at a loss here... I don't mind getting some other servers on-line, but I would still think that I could run one server as the expand server AND then DNS (of course as time and money permit we would like to have several mail servers as well..!!)
  ZopfWare, Oct 12, 2005
  Hosting of DNS
  You need for stability your dns on different boxes. The only way to correctly manage this operation smoothly is with expand and two clean rhel3 boxes with the dnscontroller as per expand documentation. To try and attempt to host this on an existing plesk/expand server will bring you down some time or later which isn't worth the risk.
  Modernbill has a lot of cool stuff in it to manage expand but you don't need the hassle of a modernbill patch bringing down a services and your dns then stops and you have to wait 48 hours for customers propogation again etc
  Hosting of Mail
  Hosting of mail with expand needs to be on a seperate clean server with plesk installed onto it. You can purchase a funky cmail license from sw-soft for nix and then the dr web key for antivirus and it gives you a great total mail solution
  My expand server has plesk installed on it and I use the plesk side of things for testing enviroment only. The only other thing on the box is expand. Dns is off on two other boxes so is mail and expand holds it together nice with 1.1.2-9
  Then you can add your server 1 and server 2 into expand to manage it correctly.
  BTW you can't use your mailbox for hosting once you dedicate it as a mail server in expand. It locks a lot of functionality out and if you add a domain onto it it starts to stuff up.
  Main question. If you are wanting to have dns on your expand server eg. dns1 and dns2 for your propogation.
  Why use two name servers when they are both on the same box? it's useless. Just create 1 and create a cname for ns2 to point to ns1?