New MaraDNS install & New user getting Unexpected character errors on load.

Mon Aug 4 11:02:19 EDT 2008

I'm a new Mara User but a 40 year IT vet. I'm also new to DNS Servers. I've
struggled with the Mara setup for days without success.

I have a single high-speed server with 2 IP addresses assigned (e.g.
219.180.18.68, 219.180.18.69). I bought a new domain name (e.g.
mydnshost.com) which will host my DNS Servers. mydnshost.com will reside on
my server along with the other domains it acts as authoritative name server
for. mydnshost.com has been defined to its registrar as a domain name server
using the following (fictitious) IPs

ns1.mydnshost.com 219.180.18.68

ns2.mydnshost.com 219.180.18.69

To repeat, mydnshost.com resides on the same physical hardware (server) as
the domains it acts as authoritative name server for.

I've tried to configure mydnshost.com as BOTH a recursive and authoritative
name server. For testing, I've created a single mararc file that reads as
follows:

[code]ipv4_bind_addresses = "219.18.180.68, 219.18.180.69"

chroot_dir = "/etc/maradns"

csv2 = {}

csv2["mydnshost.com."]     = "db.mydnshost.com"

csv2["homeontherange.com."]     = "db.homeontherange.com"

recursive_acl = "219.18.180.68, 219.18.180.69"

upstream_servers = {}

upstream_servers["."] = "219.239.219.33, 219.239.219.32, 219.239.219.10,
219.239.219.11"

hide_disclaimer = "YES"

[/code]

Here are the two zone files I'm using:

[code]# This is the zone file for the domain mydnshost.com.

# We have two records which handle the serving of web pages.  These

# are simple name-to-ip translations.  In other words, we have one

# record which states "The IP for mydnshost.com. is 219.18.180.68" and

# another that states "The IP for www.mydnshost.com. is 219.18.180.69"

# example.com. 10.10.10.12 ~

mydnshost.com.      NS    ns1.mydnshost.com. ~

mydnshost.com.      NS    ns2.mydnshost.com. ~

ns1.mydnshost.com. 219.18.180.68. ~

ns2.mydnshost.com. 219.18.180.69. ~

mydnshost.com. 219.18.180.69 ~

www.mydnshost.com. 219.18.180.69 ~

mydnshost.com.      MX 10 mail1.mydnshost.com. ~

mail1.mydnshost.com. 219.18.180.69 ~

[/code]

[code] # This is the sample zone file for the domain homeontherange.com.

# We have two records which handle the serving of web pages.  These

# are simple name-to-ip translations.  In other words, we have one

# record which states "The IP for homeontherange.com. is 219.18.180.68" and

# another that states "The IP for www.homeontherange.com. is 219.18.180.68"

# example.com. 10.10.10.12 ~

homeontherange.com. NS ns1.mydnshost.com. ~

ns1.mydnshost.com 219.18.180.68 ~

homeontherange.com. NS ns2.mydnshost.com. ~

ns2.mydnshost.com 219.18.180.69 ~

homeontherange.com. 219.18.180.68 ~

www.homeontherange.com. 219.18.180.68 ~

homeontherange.com. MX 10 mail1.homeontherange.com. ~

mail1.homeontherange.com. 219.18.180.68 ~

[/code]

I'm testing the setup with just 2 domains. I may eventually host 2 dozen.
For testing, the domains are mydnshost.com and homeontherange.com

The error messages I'm getting are:

[code]

myserver:/etc# /usr/sbin/maradns

 Log: Root directory changed

 Log: Binding to address 219.18.180.68, 219.18.180.69

 Log: Socket opened on UDP port 53

 Log: Root privileges dropped

Processing zone homeontherange.com. right now.

Filename: db.homeontherange.com

Error: Unexpected character

Error is on line 9 in file db.homeontherange.com