ns2.telstraclear.net (203.97.78.44) intermittant SERVFAIL

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Ragnor

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#143531 17-Apr-2014 20:01

The last week or so I've noticed web pages intermittently not loading, I've tacked it down to ns2.telstraclear.net (203.97.78.44) which is intermittently returning SERVFAIL responses for queries that resolve fine on other DNS servers including ns1.telstraclear.net and which also sometimes resolve fine on this server too.

This is on a Vodafone/ex Telstraclear business VDSL connection in Takapuna, Auckland.

Short sample from google namebench csv log which used my Chrome history for sample addresses to query

IP,Name,Test_Num,Record,Record_Type,Duration,TTL,Answer_Count,Response
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,code.google.com.,A,20.6308755402,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,xamarin.com.,A,20.0077067292,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,nbnmyths.wordpress.com.,A,19.987046545,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,groups.google.com.,A,19.9087300329,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,my.opera.com.,A,19.0410022976,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,hardocp.com.,A,19.8578002766,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,farmers.co.nz.,A,19.9077690941,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,nicegear.co.nz.,A,19.8899917263,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,www.thefreespamfilter.com.,A,20.2200742037,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,www.atlassian.com.,A,19.9274683395,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,aspnetwebstack.codeplex.com.,A,19.870292481,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,www.dotnetperls.com.,A,19.8770190526,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,www.brentozar.com.,A,18.9285724581,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,browserhappy.com.,A,18.8353613947,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,social.msdn.microsoft.com.,A,19.3312058148,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,www.mindscapehq.com.,A,19.1832212398,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
203.97.78.44,203.97.78.44,0,bootstrap-switch.org.,A,18.6984276158,-1,-1,SERVFAIL,
etc

I suggest this server needs some TLC.

freitasm

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#1027134 17-Apr-2014 22:32

I heard in the rumour mill that Vodafone is working towards updating the TelstraClear HFC network to 200Mbps service... I think they should first worry about their crazy transparent proxy and DNS servers.

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Coil

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#1027135 17-Apr-2014 22:33

freitasm: I heard in the rumour mill that Vodafone is working towards updating the TelstraClear HFC network to 200Mbps service... I think they should first worry about their crazy transparent proxy and DNS servers.

Oooo that would be nice :)
Entice the Government to make it the UFB of Wellington lol.

asherfan

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#1027139 17-Apr-2014 22:39

At my friend's place which is with Vodafone

using DNS servers as

203.97.78.43
203.97.78.44

seems having issue loading some sites

it's a ADSL2+ connection as well.

i just change those to Google's public dns again

very strange .. ... ..

johny99

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#1027169 18-Apr-2014 05:06

those dns addresses, do not look right.

Ragnor

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#1027472 18-Apr-2014 18:07

asherfan: At my friend's place which is with Vodafone

using DNS servers as

203.97.78.43
203.97.78.44

seems having issue loading some sites

it's a ADSL2+ connection as well.

i just change those to Google's public dns again

very strange .. ... ..

Yeah those are the Telstraclear DNS servers, is that an ex telstraclear residential dsl customer? Are the dns servers hard coded or obtained via pppoa?

If on Vodafone ADSL2+ DNS should be:
203.109.129.67
203.109.129.68

ref: http://help.vodafone.co.nz/app/answers/detail/a_id/5239/~/what-are-my-vodafone-adsl-broadband-settings

Ragnor

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#1027474 18-Apr-2014 18:09

TimA:
freitasm: I heard in the rumour mill that Vodafone is working towards updating the TelstraClear HFC network to 200Mbps service... I think they should first worry about their crazy transparent proxy and DNS servers.

Oooo that would be nice :)
Entice the Government to make it the UFB of Wellington lol.

Too much kool aid Tim, cable isn't going to last 50+ years like fibre will.

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Ragnor

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#1027477 18-Apr-2014 18:14

freitasm: I heard in the rumour mill that Vodafone is working towards updating the TelstraClear HFC network to 200Mbps service... I think they should first worry about their crazy transparent proxy and DNS servers.

Ensuring core services like DNS are working correctly is more a maintenance issue than new build/upgrade.

What's disturbing is that in this day and age they don't have some automated tests setup to check dns is working correctly and report to NOC if there are a problem, there are tons of tools for network monitoring, eg naigos, oberservium, openNSM etc etc.

...OR even worse there is monitoring but no one does anything about it.

freitasm

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#1027494 18-Apr-2014 19:01

That they don't we already know. I am told they have monitoring, but every time problems happen it is only solved after lots of complains. So either there isn't monitoring or as you say it's ignored.

Either way, bad Vodafone, bad.

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insane

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#1027500 18-Apr-2014 19:17

Perhaps just one of the load balanced pool members needs a good kick (or better health check), I'd be fairly shocked if each of those IPs are backed by a single server.

Perhaps they use anycast and one server/site is having issues

Ragnor

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#1027501 18-Apr-2014 19:24

insane: Perhaps just one of the load balanced pool members needs a good kick (or better health check), I'd be fairly shocked if each of those IPs are backed by a single server.

Perhaps they use anycast and one server/site is having issues

Yeah it's like 5-10% of dns queries to the server(s) behind that ip address that fail, should be alarms going off I would have thought. Could be Auckland region server(s) issue based or more cable users would be complaining I guess.