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Conference noted::seal

Title:SEAL
Moderator:GALVIA::SMITH
Created:Mon Mar 21 1994
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1989
Total number of notes:8209

1816.0. "Firewall:DNS & mail problem." by TLAV01::CHENSAK () Wed Feb 26 1997 11:29

    I have setup the AV Firewall for Unix v2.0 ,below is the detailed
    picture,
    
     ext WWW Server   Firewall       Internal DNS + MS Exchange Server
                      & Ext DNS
       +------+       +-------+    +--------+
       |      |       |       |    |        |
       |      |       |       |    |        |
       +------+       +-------+    +--------+
           |            |   |10.1.1.3   |
           |------------|   |-----------|
    203.152.13.35  203.152.13.33        10.1.1.2
     www.xyz.com    redgate.xyz.com      exchange.xyz.com
    
    
    The problem is
    
    The firewall DNS is Open type
    1)At the firewall, If the file resolv.conf is
    domain  xyz.com
    nameserver 203.152.13.33
    
    the mail from outside can't reach internal network, from the mail.log
    file of firewall ,it doesn't know the exchange.xyz.com : 
      redgate sendmail[]:   Found non-existent host exchange.xyz.com
    
    - but if I change the resolv.conf to 
    
    domain xyz.com
    nameserver 10.1.1.2
    nameserver 203.152.13.33
    
    the mail from outside now can reach internal users (from my own-idea ,I
    think that now the firewall knows the exchange.xyz.com ,and it can
    relay inbound mail to exchange.xyz.com. (I think that it's very strange
    resolv.conf configuration file)   
    
    2) Now users can send and recieve mail, but they can't browse the
    www.xyz.com , the browser is configured to use proxy at port 8080
    already, I think the cause of the problem is because now the firewall
    doesn't know the www.xyz.com ( I use nslookup at firewall ,it can't
    resolve www.xyz.com ) 
       How can I solve these two problems ?
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
1816.1nameservers not in syncNETRIX::"[email protected]"Jan-Erik PedersenWed Feb 26 1997 12:0512
Ask yourself the question:

Why are the two nameservers for xyz.com not in sync.

My guess is that you run a primary nameserver both on the firewall and
on the NT box. This is not a good idea, you have chose which will be primary
and which will be secondary.

If not make sure that the secondary gets updated, eg.
	check that named-xfer runs correctly
	make sure the serial # gets updated.
[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]
1816.2ZEKE::ranger.zko.dec.com::dilsworthKeith DilsworthWed Feb 26 1997 13:4823
Back when I worked with the Firewall Service this was called "Split 
Brained DNS".

redgate had a primary SOA record for xyz.com that only had entries 
for nodes on the red net (203.152.13.xxx) and had a wild card MX 
entry like "*.xyz.com. IN MX redgate.xyz.com."  Anything from 
the outside trying to resolve using redgate could get to nodes on the 
red net and any mail destined to blue net would be passed to redgate.

redgate, www and other nodes on the red net (203.152.13.xxx) would 
have their resolv.conf pointing to 10.1.1.2 so all DNS translation 
initiated from those hosts would get the real internal IP Addresses.

The primary SOA for xyz.com on 10.1.1.2 would have all the real names 
and IP addresses for all 10.xxx.yyy.zzz nodes and 201.152.13.xxx 
nodes.  10.1.1.2 would also have a primary SOA for 
13.152.201.in-addr.arpa and 10.in-addr.arpa.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT 10.1.1.2 HAVE A "FORWARDERS 203.152.13.33" 
ENTRY IN NAMED.BOOT.  This tells 10.1.1.2 if it doesn't have the 
answer and can't reach a root name server (it can't) then to pass the 
request though redgate who can reach a root nameserver.

1816.3QUICHE::PITTAlph a ha is better than no VAX!Thu Feb 27 1997 05:1317
Re .2: This is NOT NOT NOT called split brain DNS.  This is the other sort of
DNS, called open DNS.  (Split brain DNS is also referred to as Hidden DNS.)

The problem here is alluded to in .1.  When you run open DNS, the whole point is
that your internal DNS for the top level domain is the same as the external DNS.
 In your case, you've broken this rule.

You will fix the problem immediately, if you synchronise the internal and
external (firewall) DNS servers, and ensure that all records from both servers
are included.

I would, however, suggest you think hard about why you're doing open DNS in the
first place.  I've yet to come across a customer who really needs it.  Digital
uses open DNS, and I understand the reason for that concerns our large number of
internal DNS servers and subdomains.

T
1816.4Internal DNS leakage ?TLAV01::CHENSAKThu Feb 27 1997 10:297
    Thanks for your help. I think that I will configure the firewall to be
    the secondary name server of the internal DNS (exchange.xyz.com), this
    will let the firewall to know the exchange.xyz.com. But what about the
    internal DNS information , I guess that the outside world could query
    the internal DNS information. If I 'm wrong ,please clarify me.
           
    chensak
1816.5QUICHE::PITTAlph a ha is better than no VAX!Thu Feb 27 1997 10:406
You are absolutely right.  That is the point of Open DNS.

If you want the internal DNS hidden from the outside, as would usually be the
case, then use hidden DNS!

T