On February 5, 2006 12:02 am, Rod Giffin wrote: > > The only potential issue here is that the ns1.walma.org entry in the > whois database may not have an IP address associated with it elsewhere > in the whois host database. If you are hosting your own DNS, this is > almost-but-not-quite a requirement. But it is not an absolute necessity > if any of the other DNS's listed in the domain record are listed. You > only need one to be listed, and as long as it's available the root > servers will send the right pointers. (er... providing that one that is > listed is working when a query comes.) > > If one of them is not listed, the domain registrar, or the technical and > administrative contact for the domain can make that change on the > Network Solutions website if they have an account. The Walma.org domain > is registered with Network Solutions through a sponsoring registrar - so > they would be the most likely people to have the account. > > Rod. Well, thanks to all, the problem appears to be resolved. As I mentioned in a earlier post, I moved my secondary DNS to twisted4life and at that point the problem appeared to disappear. Based on Rod's explanation, that would be because ns1.twisted4life.com is registered in the whois database, so, even though ns1.walma.org is not, having one registered was sufficient to resolve the problem. I will contact my registrar to get ns1.walma.org registered as well. I must admit, and I am no DNS expert, that nothing I'd read to date on DNS suggested that this could/would be an issue. My understanding of DNS was that, when trying to resolve a host name, your dns server would query the authoritative name servers for the top level domain, get the names and IP addresses of the authoritative name servers for the domain, then turn to those name servers to completely resolve the host name in question. No whois in the process. I can certainly understand how whois could be used in fighting spam. So, can someone help me with my education? Where in that process does whois occur? Why did DNS work for 99% of the world and only fail for 1%? Either a direct explanation, or a pointer to the literature, would be appreciated. Thanks again to all for assistance in resolving my problem. Michael