Could some of the experts help me out please, as I'm out of my depth.
Realise it's way OT but unsure where to best seek advice. It's a bit
obscure but please bear with me.

Using my Agent newsreader I'm suddenly getting messages "Unable to
find address of server news20.forteinc.com". That's the service I use
occasionally for binary newsgroups, from Forte, called APN. Hadn't
used it for months but last night returned to it, trying (in vain) to
find a couple of recently missed TV programs.

This morning I used Agent to check for any replies to a post I made
yesterday in the newsgroup mozilla.support.firefox. That's when I got
the message "Unable to find address of server news20.forteinc.com". It
seems that group comes from APN, not from my main, free service
news.individual.net (NIN). I also got the same message when I tried to
use the Update Newsgroup List facility in agent to update the APN
list.

I've emailed APN Support for a starter. What else can I do to isolate
and fix the problem please?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Conflicting info ...
C:\TEMP>ping news20.forteinc.com
Unknown host news20.forteinc.com.
.... suggests server is down, while ...
C:\TEMP>ping forteinc.com

Pinging forteinc.com [67.32.47.151] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 67.32.47.151: bytes=32 time=280ms TTL=44
Reply from 67.32.47.151: bytes=32 time=283ms TTL=44
Reply from 67.32.47.151: bytes=32 time=292ms TTL=44
Reply from 67.32.47.151: bytes=32 time=308ms TTL=44

Ping statistics for 67.32.47.151:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 280ms, Maximum = 308ms, Average = 290ms
.... suggest company is still in business, but ...
http://tinyurl.com/5taa7f
.... standing in for ...
http://www.velocityreviews.com/forum...ewsgroups.html
.... suggests server is up.

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:43:04 +0100, Terry Pinnell
<terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:17:11 +0100, Java Jive passed an empty day by
writing:

The DNS entries for news20.forteinc.com -v- forteinc.com point to
different IP's (see the dig results below) - the former seems to be
pointing at: forte.easynews.com which is replying to ping


; <<>> DiG 9.4.1-P1 <<>> news20.forteinc.com
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 47865
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;news20.forteinc.com. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
news20.forteinc.com. 3600 IN CNAME forte.easynews.com.
forte.easynews.com. 300 IN A 69.16.186.7

;; Query time: 415 msec
;; SERVER: 208.67.222.222#53(208.67.222.222)
;; WHEN: Tue Jun 17 10:20:02 2008
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 82

--------------------------------------------------
WHERE AS forteinc.com is an entirely different IP.
--------------------------------------------------

; <<>> DiG 9.4.1-P1 <<>> forteinc.com
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 52603
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;forteinc.com. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
forteinc.com. 3600 IN A 67.32.47.151

;; Query time: 463 msec
;; SERVER: 208.67.222.222#53(208.67.222.222)
;; WHEN: Tue Jun 17 10:29:01 2008
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 46

--------------------------------------
For news20.forteinc.com Ping gives me:
--------------------------------------
root@linbx3:/home/klunk# ping news20.forteinc.com
PING forte.easynews.com (69.16.186.7) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from forte.easynews.com (69.16.186.7): icmp_seq=1 ttl=56
time=107 ms
64 bytes from forte.easynews.com (69.16.186.7): icmp_seq=2 ttl=56
time=106 ms
64 bytes from forte.easynews.com (69.16.186.7): icmp_seq=3 ttl=56
time=108 ms
64 bytes from forte.easynews.com (69.16.186.7): icmp_seq=4 ttl=56
time=108 ms
64 bytes from forte.easynews.com (69.16.186.7): icmp_seq=5 ttl=56
time=107 ms

but as the dig results suggest, it is resolving to: forte.easynews.com
The crux of it is this, try using forte.easynews.com - looks like the
host may have changed (and possibly the accounts, groups carried etc)

Thanks both. I don't really know what I'm doing, but by a devious
process (I didn't know or had forgotten the 'tracert' method) I found
the 'code' myself. It seems an 'alias' for news20.forteinc.com is
indeed forte.easynews.com. Using
http://www.hscripts.com/tools/HDNT/dns-record.php that in turn
yielded the address 69.16.186.7. So I added that to my Hosts file as
an extra line:
69.16.186.7 news20.forteinc.com

Which seems to have worked!

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:37:05 +0100, Terry Pinnell passed an empty day by
writing:

Job's a goodun ;-)

Terry Pinnell wrote:
by someone else.

Java Jive wrote:

; <<>> DiG 9.3.4-P1 <<>> any news20.forteinc.com
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 50124
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 4, ADDITIONAL: 4

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;news20.forteinc.com. IN ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
news20.forteinc.com. 3600 IN CNAME forte.easynews.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
forteinc.com. 3600 IN NS ns3.mydyndns.org.
forteinc.com. 3600 IN NS dns1.sidell.org.
forteinc.com. 3600 IN NS ns01.backupdns.com.
forteinc.com. 3600 IN NS ns2.mydyndns.org.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns3.mydyndns.org. 33256 IN A 208.78.69.76
dns1.sidell.org. 21600 IN A 67.32.47.133
ns01.backupdns.com. 172800 IN A 199.242.242.199
ns2.mydyndns.org. 33256 IN A 204.13.249.76

;; Query time: 320 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.0.100#53(192.168.0.100)
;; WHEN: Tue Jun 17 16:07:26 2008
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 252

dig any forte.easynews.com

; <<>> DiG 9.3.4-P1 <<>> any forte.easynews.com
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 44934
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;forte.easynews.com. IN ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
forte.easynews.com. 21200 IN NS geo-ns2.newshosting.com.
forte.easynews.com. 21200 IN NS geo-ns1.newshosting.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
forte.easynews.com. 21200 IN NS geo-ns1.newshosting.com.
forte.easynews.com. 21200 IN NS geo-ns2.newshosting.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
geo-ns1.newshosting.com. 21200 IN A 69.16.132.9
geo-ns2.newshosting.com. 21200 IN A 69.16.163.9

;; Query time: 43 msec
;; SERVER: 213.253.16.72#53(213.253.16.72)
;; WHEN: Tue Jun 17 16:09:45 2008
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 152



suggests the DNS record exists somewhere, for me, anyway.

Klunk wrote:
Until they move servers again, in which case it will break horribly.


It would have been better to let it all sort itself out.

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:43:04 +0100, Terry Pinnell
<terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:

I've got the same problem here today. Couldn't even Ping
news20.forteinc.com. Raised a ticket with Forteinc and received very
prompt reply saying there was a DNS issue which they were trying to
resolve but in the meantime to use the IP address 69.16.186.7
directly. This has resolved the problem for the moment.

Now, my question is where is this 'ere DNS entry missing from? Is it a
problem at my ISP? I get very lost with this technical internet stuff!
Please reply to group - email address is not monitored
Ian

Ian <dalby@hemscott.net> wrote:

It's largely a black art to me too. As you probably saw I fixed it
with an additional line in my Hosts file, which I think is roughly
equivalent to changing it directly in Agent's server settings.

The recent reply I had to my email said "There was a core router
problem at a major backbone in your area. We have worked with the
provider and the access should be restored at this time. You should be
able to connect normally again." Which happily indeed I can.

Elsewhere I was pointed to the tool nslookup. Example:
"To use nslookup on Windows to find the IP address for www.bbc.co.uk:
From a "Command Prompt", enter the following:
C:\> nslookup www.bbc.co.uk <hit enter key>
Server: cache-1.ns.demon.net
Address: 158.152.1.58

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.bbc.net.uk
Address: 212.58.253.67
Aliases: www.bbc.co.uk
Which shows that the IP address for the BEEB's web site is
212.58.253.67"

However, I tried that just now with news20.forteinc.com and got this
obscure result,:
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.1.1: Non-existent
domain
*** Default servers are not available
Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.1.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: news20.forteinc.com

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Ian wrote:

There are about 10 or so 'root' DNS servers on the net. Those hold the
main records like where to look for .com or a .uk. They are absolutely
cast in stome in that ther IP addreses never ever vary.

A nomral biggish name server will know where they are. It will also
possibly be a master for its own domains.

The DNS query system is hirerachica: your PC 'knows' a local name sever.
It aks it where si xyz.abc.co.uk?

If that name server has that record cached, it will return the answer.
If it does not, or the record it ha is timed out, it will go to
abc.co.uk's name server and get a fresh one. If however its cached of
that nameservers address has expired, it will go the main .co.uk name
server, and if that has expired to the .uk one, and if that has expired
to the main rootservers, get a fresh record and walk back down the chain
getting fresh records a it goes and so on.

This multi-level cached hierarchy means that the main root nameservers
dont get blasted too much.

However it does men that an any given time various ages of cahed entry
exist for domains and subdomains.

So when you 'move' a server, until ALL those records expire, some of
them may point to he wrong place. Or nowhere at all. Or not be found
...i.e. expired but not replaced yet. Now what you SHOULD do - and we
used to do regularly is two things.

First of all, a week before changover, we would drop the time to live in
the records. That would mean every server that was correctly configured
(lots are not) would keep refreshing in - say - an hourly basis.

Then when we chaned teh record after te server was up on its new
address, we would get a fatsr ripple down teh hierachy as teh new record
with normal TTL was propagated.

However there was always some bloody DNS server out there that wouldn't
pick up the changes..a lot of the ISPs override caching TTL's to prevent
excessive lookups. And many PC's cache DNS tables as well on a fairly
arbitrary basis. As do routers and the like.

So the first thing to do is to reboot all your local kit and try things
out: If that doesn;'t work try configuring to use someone elses DNS.

I got so fed up with all this that I run my own DNS server..it bypasses
all the ISP's caches and talks direct to the root servers and keeps its
own cache. And allows me to fake local (within my network) addresses for
the PCS that want to talk to the web servers I run here. My router is
not smart enough to route to its own external IP address and back inside
for web access.

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:08:50 UTC, Ian <dalby@hemscott.net> wrote:


http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/teaching/07...ial/lecture-no
tes.html

Select fri-20.pdf and go to pages 4 and 5.

You will then realise it's not your fault!

--
Bob Eager
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:18:49 +0000, Bob Eager passed an empty day by
writing:

Nice link - thanks for that 'Bob Eager'.

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:55:59 +0100, Terry Pinnell passed an empty day by
writing:

Just in passing, is your ISP pipex -aka- Tiscali? I'm just wondering if
it is an issue with their DNS servers. It may be worth trying 'opendns'.

On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:12:08 UTC, Klunk <bill.gates@microsoft.com>
wrote:

Why the quotes round my name? Just wondering..
--
Bob Eager
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:27:57 +0000, Bob Eager passed an empty day by
writing:

To make it stand out - no offence meant ;-)

--
begin outlook_express_repair_patch.exe

On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:45:30 UTC, Klunk <bill.gates@microsoft.com>
wrote:

OK...just wondered if you thiught it was a 'pen name'!

--
Bob Eager
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

Klunk <bill.gates@microsoft.com> wrote:

No, my main ISP is BT Broadband. I do still have a Pipex/Tiscali
'account', 16 years old, and still use that email address and some
free webspace. And my outgoing email uses 'SMTP' - although I've never
really understood what exactly that is! That Pipex complication is one
of the main reasons I'm never sure what the heck is going on when
there's a problem ;-(

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK