[RHEL 5] What means the error 'nslookup: parse of /etc/resolv.conf failed'

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (all releases)

Issue

  • The command 'nslookup <server_name>' return the error bellow:

              nslookup: parse of /etc/resolv.conf failed

Resolution

  • Check if your /etc/resolv.conf file have any unknow option or any error in some parameter.

Root Cause

  • When you run the nslookup the system check the /etc/resolv.conf file to get informations about domains and about the DNS. If you have any wrong parameter in this file the nslookup command return the error listed above.

Diagnostic Steps

  • Check if you find any error in the /etc/resolv.conf file:

              # cat /etc/resolv.conf

          nameserver 1.2.3.4
          nameserver 4.3.2.1
          options timeout:0.3

In the above output the timeout parameter from the option session have a . (dot). The timeout have to be set in secondas, but it have to be a integer. as you can see in 'man resolv.conf'

timeout:n
     sets the amount of time the resolver will wait for a response from a remote name server before retrying the query via a different name server.   Measured  in  seconds,
     the default is RES_TIMEOUT (currently 5, see <resolv.h>).  The maximum value for this option is silently capped to 30.

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