DNS Error: multiple RRs of singleton type

This document (7009569) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SLES 10 SP3 DNS

Situation

The DNS server is not resolving for records in a particular zone that it is authoritative for.
The DNS server is returning "Reply code: Server failure (2)" for any record in that zone.
The DNS server is resolving for records in other zones that it is authoritative for.

Error's in /var/log/messages:
zone <zonename>/IN: loading master file master/<zone>: multiple RRs of singleton type

Resolution

This error can be caused by the zone having more than one SOA record, or multiple CNAME records for a given name.

First confirm that there is not more than one SOA record for the zone by opening the .db file for the zone specified in the error and looking at the SOA section at the top of the file.

If you see only one SOA record then the problem is likely multiple CNAME records for a given name.

An example of a set of CNAME records that would cause the error:
record.example.com.     14400   IN      CNAME   one.example.com.
record.example.com.     14400   IN      CNAME   two.example.com.

You can change the CNAME records so that they are not in conflict with each other or change them to be two A records which would have unique IP addresses instead of names.

record.example.com.     14400   IN      A xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
record.example.com.     14400   IN      A yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.