[isalist] Re: Came across this little gem...

  • From: Jim Harrison <Jim@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:29:47 -0800

Nope; that's Windows name resolution logic; it (rightly) decides that DNS 
queries should be made to the closest DNS server.
If one is defined for the local network, it tries that first.
For a normal DNS server, if no zone or host is found for that query, will 
return "no record" and Windows will proceed to the remaining DNS servers; to 
include the DNS server defined for the DoD connection.

Jim

From: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Greg Mulholland
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 11:54 PM
To: isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [isalist] Re: Came across this little gem...

Wouldn't that be a split tunnelling issue though? If im connected to my vpn, my 
dns lookups are done by my remote dns servers.

Greg

From: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Jim Harrison
Sent: Wednesday, 30 January 2008 4:11 PM
To: ISA Mailing List; ISAPros Mailing List
Subject: [isalist] Re: Came across this little gem...

Yep - these are the same geniuses that choose to respond for domains they don't 
hold.
Case in point:
C:\>nslookup -d anyhost.corp.microsoft.com. 208.67.222.222
------------
Got answer:
    HEADER:
        opcode = QUERY, id = 1, rcode = NOERROR
        header flags:  response, want recursion, recursion avail.
        questions = 1,  answers = 1,  authority records = 0,  additional = 0

    QUESTIONS:
        222.222.67.208.in-addr.arpa, type = PTR, class = IN
    ANSWERS:
    ->  222.222.67.208.in-addr.arpa
        name = resolver1.opendns.com
        ttl = 82245 (22 hours 50 mins 45 secs)

------------
Server:  resolver1.opendns.com
Address:  208.67.222.222

------------
Got answer:
    HEADER:
        opcode = QUERY, id = 2, rcode = NOERROR
        header flags:  response, want recursion, recursion avail.
        questions = 1,  answers = 1,  authority records = 0,  additional = 0

    QUESTIONS:
        anyhost.corp.microsoft.com, type = A, class = IN
    ANSWERS:
    ->  anyhost.corp.microsoft.com
        internet address = 208.67.216.130
        ttl = 0 (0 secs)

------------
Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    anyhost.corp.microsoft.com
Address:  208.67.216.130

What's the problem with this you may ask (go ahead - I triple-dog-dare ya)?
Take the case of the home (or small business) user chooses to use their DNS in 
their NAT device.
In many cases, this NAT device also acts as the local network "DNS proxy" in 
that the DHCP service it provides assigns its NAT IP (say; 192.168.0.1) as the 
DNS server for the internal hosts.
Now let's this user has the ability to create a VPN connection to Microsoft.  
When this connection is created, the VPN client has two DNS servers to query; 
the local NAT DNS provided by the DHCP assignment and the DNS server supplied 
via the VPN connection.
When Windows tries to resolve <host>.corp.microsoft.com, the closest DNS server 
is the one defined in the non-DoD network, or 192.168.0.1.
This DNS server, being nothing more than a NAT reference to the OpenDNS 
"services" replies to this request with an IUP address that is *not* found 
within MS internal address space.  Thus, the user can never make a name-based 
connection across the VPN tunnel.

Apparently, they query the authoritative DNS services and if they come up 
empty, the respond with an address anyway.
We tried working with them to stop doing this, but to no avail.

While my (real-life) example is Microsoft-specific, it would work if the domain 
was ISAtools.org.
Consider using this "service" carefully; it'll bite you in the butt when you 
least expect it.

Jim

From: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Steve Moffat
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 3:50 PM
To: ISA Mailing List; ISAPros Mailing List
Subject: [isalist] Came across this little gem...

Looks like this could very well compliment your ISA installs guys...

http://www.opendns.com

Thanks
Steve
Steve Moffat
Operations Director
Optimum IT Solutions
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