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lookupd bug in 10.2.2 causes DNS problems System
Symptoms: Internet applications, web browsers being the most obvious, lose the ability to find host IP addresses resulting in "hostname not found", or similar errors. Though this error is sometimes legitimate, it happens on major sites (Yahoo! Google) and it happens sporadically. Upon further research, I discovered that performing an 'nslookup' on the same host name from the command returns the correct IP address, and I am able to navigate to the IP address without problems. This problem has been traced to the lookupd service used by OSX 10.2.2. Further documentation on the problem can found int this thread on the Apple Discussions site.

Temporary Fix: You can temporarily fix this bug by running the following command (notice that the following command contains backticks not single quotes):
 % sudo kill -1 `cat /var/run/lookupd.pid`
Let's hope Apple fixes this bug soon.

[Editor's note: I can't confirm this bug, as I've had no lookup problems on my 10.2.2 box as of yet...]
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lookupd bug in 10.2.2 causes DNS problems | 24 comments | Create New Account
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Use lookupd -flushcache
Authored by: bobketcham on Nov 20, '02 10:54:31AM
I have experienced this problem on and off since first using OSX at the 10.1 level. I believe it is responsible for some communications problems I recently experienced under 10.2.2. The problem seems to be that any temporary communications difficulties are magnified by being cached. I've found that the simplest way to fix the problem is to clear the cache by using the command

lookupd -flushcache

in the terminal.

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Thanks!
Authored by: osxpez on Nov 20, '02 11:23:58AM

I've had those strange errors for some time. But since I run my own DNS server I have suspected I had some malfunction in that end. Your hint saved me lots of work!



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LookupOrder
Authored by: Anonymous on Nov 20, '02 11:31:53AM

sudo nicl . -create /locations/lookupd/hosts LookupOrder Cache FF DNS NI DS
sudo killall -HUP lookupd

works here, only use if your not binding to an netinfoserver!



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LookupOrder
Authored by: SeanP on Nov 21, '02 09:33:52AM

>sudo nicl . -create /locations/lookupd/hosts LookupOrder Cache FF DNS NI DS
>sudo killall -HUP lookupd

This is what I did in 10.1 and still working in 10.2.2 - you can either use the Terminal or there is a GUI app that will do it for you go here:
http://www.bresink.de/osx/LookupManager.html



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my experience, observations
Authored by: mwhybark on Nov 20, '02 03:05:43PM
http://discussions.info.apple.com/WebX?13@199.0u0GasdneHQ.4@.3bba5ca7/30

this thread contains my experiences with this bug. In essence, counterituitively, I found that adding more DNS increased the nonresponsive lookupd bug, because according to research in the thread cited, under certain circumstances, Apple's lookupd times out and then stops working.

By adding DNS I increased the chances for this event to occur, since each additional DNS was further, physically and by latency, from my IP address.

Copious details in the thread.

Cache flushing and lookupd restarts are what I was using to manage the problem previuosly; once I started using a short list of non-error producing DNS I have not experienced the problem.

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mad props
Authored by: harveyswik on Nov 21, '02 03:08:39PM

I went through and tested each DNS server in my list individually(one wasn't working at all) and my problems have ceased. Thanks!



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Not just 10.2.2
Authored by: Sixkiller on Nov 20, '02 03:36:04PM

I'd just like to add that this bug has tormented me from 10.2.0 on, and a clean install does not fix it. Apple has not responded to this bug in anyway as yet.



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referral problem
Authored by: DavidHolcomb on Nov 20, '02 05:26:18PM

I have been having this problem since I installed Jaguar. I think that it is a referral interpretation problem - It only occurs for high traffic sites (eg yahoo, orbitz, etc.). I can use http://www.dnsstuff.com/ to get a site referral and then directly input the referred site which functions properly. For example, search.yahoo.com yields

How I am searching:
Searching for A record for search.yahoo.com at f.root-servers.net: Got referral to B.GTLD-SERVERS.NET. [took 251 ms]
Searching for A record for search.yahoo.com at B.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.: Got referral to NS1.yahoo.com. [took 125 ms]
Searching for A record for search.yahoo.com at NS1.yahoo.com.: Reports search.yahoo.com. [took 125 ms]
Answer:
Domain Type Class TTL Answer
search.yahoo.com. CNAME IN 10800 newsearch.yahoo.akadns.net.



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Cixco PIX firewall DNS bug
Authored by: DavidHolcomb on Dec 05, '02 04:00:25PM

I have finally tracked down the DNS problem I have been having - evidenced by erratic behavior on larger websites (yahoo for example). The Cisco PIX firewall I am behind drops DNS responses that are bigger than 512 octets. Cisco has confirmed that this is a bug (Bug ID CSCds58726) - expected to be resolved in the next version of the PIX OS in Jan/Feb 03.

http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/Support/Bugtool/launch_bugtool.pl



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strangely enough....
Authored by: thatch on Nov 21, '02 12:03:31AM

This sort of dns timeout behavior used to happen to me a lot in 10.1.x. I used to go through periods of very little trouble for a month or so and then a lot of problems for the next month, from 10.0.4 through 10.1.5. I spent hours on the phone with my isp, verizon, and they did a lot of stack checking and rebuilding, line tracing and so forth, very nice of them to try to help. But Jaguar seemed to solve most of it. It rarely happens anymore. I'm on 10.2.1 now. I haven't tried 10.2.2 because of this problem which appears to have returned for some and a whole bunch of new ones that I really don't want. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.



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rendezvous....
Authored by: macbiff on Nov 21, '02 06:02:22AM

of all things..my problem with this occurs when i wanted to login to Battlenet to play Diablo II...and in one of the discussions in Apple Support....

one suggestion was to switch Rendezvous OFF via /Applications/Utilities/Directory Access ....

and it sorted out the problem after a reboot....

worth trying this out.



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rendezvous....
Authored by: danimal on Nov 22, '02 08:47:50AM

Hey I think this might have worked... I have disabled everything except AppleTalk and haven't experienced the problem again (only 24 hours so far). Rock on.



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rendezvous....
Authored by: danimal on Nov 26, '02 09:41:24AM

Ack! Nevermind it was wishful thinking. I still have the problem. I may consider 'switching' back to Linux if this keeps up. ;-)



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Not a new problem
Authored by: raw on Nov 21, '02 12:12:28PM

I've had this problem (lookupd stalling) since 10.0.x (when I moved from Linux to OS X). I researched the problem at the time I found references to this problem in OS X Server 1.x (on Stepwise) and NeXT (somewhere). And there were multiple entries in the Darwin bug-tracking system. I've followed every workaround suggestion I could find and still haven't licked the problem.

Of course, I blame myself. :-)

This is because I am using non-Server OS X as my SOHO server: my own BIND (previously my build, now the Apple-supplied version), Apache (ditto), Postfix (instead of sendmail), uw-imapd, and stunnel.

So I get pretty heavy DNS use and I think that makes the situation worse. I would hope that "normal" users wouldn't have this problem, but perhaps that isn't the case.

It is a pain but seems to have gotten better with each release. (In 10.1.x I even got into a state where only a physical reset worked. Yuck.) But I sure hope Apple smashes this bug soon....

Cheers,
Richard



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MacOS X Server also...
Authored by: MarioG on Nov 22, '02 02:00:29AM

Look at: Discussions > Mac OS X Server > Mac OS X Server 10.2 > Network Services > Lookupd and DNSAgent problem: hangs and following posts...
this bug is on MacOS X Server 10.1.4 also... and in MacOS X 10.1.5 or >.
I found it on a Titanium with 10.2.2 and DOING A "kill -HUP of lookupd" NOT ALWAYS SOLVES THE PROBLEM!!
The buggy piece of code is or are lookupd and DNSAgent!
It could also depend on the DNS Server used for lookups...I have these kind of problem on one of my networks only......using a DNS proxy has solved the problem for me..at least till now.....I'll let you know if doing so REALLY solves the problem!
BYE!



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A work around.
Authored by: danimal on Dec 11, '02 12:57:54PM
Well I have gone 2 whole days without this problem. The fix? I have replaced my nameserver entries with two new ones which are running a different OS and perhaps a different version of bind (the DNS servers that are having problems did not report a version of bind, and may be running some other DNS service):
//The ones that did not work with OSX but work with other OSs ns1.ameritech.net ns2.ameritech.net Both are running: OS: Solaris 2.6 - 7 (SPARC) AND Solaris 8, respectively BIND Version: "_" //I can't publish the addresses of the nameservers that worked because //they aren't public. But here is the server info: Both are running: OS: FreeBSD 4.5-RELEASE (or -STABLE) Bind Version: 8.3.4-REL
So I have effectively solved this problem for myself. However, it seems that Apple has a bug in DNSAgent that surfaces when communicating with certain DNS servers (running Solaris?). By the way if you want to know how to get this information you must use nmap (nmap-nox in fink) and you can run the following command:
sudo nmap -O --osscan_guess [server address]
and to get the version of BIND:
dig chaos txt version.bind. @[server address]


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lookupd bug in 10.2.2 causes DNS problems
Authored by: mikerose on Apr 27, '03 01:30:39AM

This may be a dead thread, but it's worth mentioning that 10.2.5 fixes
many if not most of the lookupd/DNS conflict issues.



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lookupd bug in 10.2.2 causes DNS problems
Authored by: mhamrick on May 11, '03 02:10:40AM

Hate to tell you... but I'm experiencing this problem with 10.2.5. In fact, I didn't have any problems until I upgraded from 10.2.4.



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lookupd bug in 10.2.2 causes DNS problems
Authored by: mhamrick on May 12, '03 12:07:25PM

I just upgraded to 10.2.6 and am still experiencing this bug. I've added the NetInfo directory key and values as described above, but still no fix. I still have intermittant DNS failures that require me to kill -HUP lookupd about 5-10 times/day.



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lookupd bug in 10.2.2 causes DNS problems
Authored by: pwargo on Jul 09, '03 10:52:54PM
I've only seen this after upgrading to 10.2.6. It's almost random, and only occurs on one of my system, tho it is the most heavily used.

---
Windows sucks. That is all.

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Workaround to lookupd bug in 10.2.6
Authored by: bmosca on Aug 10, '03 02:40:47AM

I have been experiencing this problem in 10.2.6. The kill lookupd solution fixed the problem temporarily, but the frequency of DNS failure was making this rather cumbersome.

It appears that the problem is manifest when there are multiple DNS servers in the network prefs (either from DHCP or manually set).

PERMANENT WORKAROUND (until Apple supplies a fix): Manually enter a *SINGLE* reliable DNS server in the network prefs. You'll have no backup DNS, but this has eliminated the lookupd-related failures on my machine.



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Workaround to lookupd bug in 10.2.6
Authored by: miker71 on Aug 12, '03 01:02:34PM

I also am running 10.2.6 and have this problem.

I thought it was due to some software I'd installed or something.

I reapplied the 10.2.6 update but still no fix.

BUT ...

I do have multiple DNS configured (like, 6 I think - can't tell for sure until I get home to check)

and I think Rendezvous is also running.

So,

I will follow the above hints, and see if they work! (sure hope so!)

I was beginning to think I was the only person running 10.2.6 with this lookupd problem .... !



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Workaround to lookupd bug in 10.2.6
Authored by: miker71 on Aug 12, '03 04:43:57PM

yep, seems to have fixed it.

let's hope Apple address this sharpish, it's been a couple of years already and lookupd is in a truly sad state of affairs for some users ... what would my Windows friends think!

;-)



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From a hint submitter...
Authored by: robg on Aug 13, '03 09:15:48AM
The following was sent in as a hint for posting here, so here it is...
I have encountered the problem with intermittent DNS lookup failures due to a what appears to be a clear bug in lookupd when running OS X v10.2.6.

The problem can (as the above thread indicates) be resolved temporarily by the "kill -HUP lookupd" method described.

My testing indicates that this problem is only manifest when there are multiple DNS entrys (regardless of whether they are set by DHCP or manually). By manually entering a *single* DNS, I have been able to eliminate the problem. Sure, there is no backup DNS in this case, but the absence of the intermittent failures far outweighs the undoubtedly less frequent problems associated with no backup DNS.
-rob.

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