> I have the unfortunate problem of being on the other end of an ISP
> (no dedicated link for meeeeeeee), so naturally I have a nameserver
> set up to deal with all the necessary resolutions (localhost,
> ISP router, ISP nameserver, and both ends of my PPP link) locally.
> 
> My resolv.conf file looks like this:
> ----begin resolv.conf
> lookup file bind
> domain starwolf.com
> nameserver 127.0.0.1
> nameserver 209.66.121.17
> nameserver 198.41.0.4
> ----end resolv.conf
> 
> Yet every time I do:
> 
> % telnet 127.0.0.1
> or
> % telnet localhost
> or
> % telnet starwolf.starwolf.com
> or
> % telnet starwolf
> 
> [all of which should resolve locally!], I hear my modem dial out and try
> to connect with my ISP.
> 
> Yes, I'm running named, and yes, I have a localhost definition as well
> as a reverse definition.  Why is it insisting on looking elsewhere for
> those definitions which should resolve to localhost?
> 
> nslookup works without a hitch, BTW.  What's up with this?
> 
> If you need any further files, let me know...
> 

current-users is probably the wrong list for this, but since your 
return address isn't in DNS, I've posted here so you'll get the word.
netbsd-help or netbsd-users would probably be better. (current-users 
is for development of the current user-space software).

If you have only one machine at your site, you probably do not need
to run named.

Regardless, there should be listings in /etc/hosts. Your resolv.conf
specifies a lookup in /etc/hosts before turning to DNS.

The problem is, what IPA besides 127.0.0.1 will "starwolf" have? 
Are you guaranteed the same IPA (static IP, so-called) from the ISP?
Or are you 'rolling your own' from the reserved set (10.x.x.x et cetera)?

I guess the question is, what's in /etc/hosts?

I notice that "starwolf.com" (your return addr) is not in the DNS.
Unless it was registered recently, I suspect a problem somewhere.
(You should probably be masquerading your mail as "idiom.com" or wherever
you get your mail, if s'wolf is an unregistered domain)

The nameserver you list:

server 198.41.0.4 (a.root-servers.net) is a *root* nameserver, which you 
should not be using this way, as a general purpose nameserver, even
as a fallback. (It cannot resolve anything, loosely speaking).

The other server,  209.66.121.17, has its own set of problems:

[root@lucy bin]# nslookup  209.66.121.17
Server:  lucy.loco.net
Address:  192.168.0.1

Name:    above.idiom.com
Address:  209.66.121.17

[root@lucy bin]# nslookup 
Default Server:  lucy.loco.net
Address:  192.168.0.1

> server above.idiom.com
*** Can't find address for server above.idiom.com: Non-existent host/domain
> 

Also:

[root@lucy bin]# telnet 209.66.121.17 42  
Trying 209.66.121.17...
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused
[root@lucy bin]#  (note, the machine did answer a ping).

Doesn't look like a nameserver, or it refused me because my IP is denied.
(Which is a misconfiguration, isn't it? Shouldn't an RFC compliant nameserver
accept connections from anywhere?  How else could it work?)

So, off hand, you have troubles, which should be resolved with your ISP.

Dave
-- 
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